Rachel McAdams and Lindsay Lohan shared the screen in the classic teen comedy, Mean Girls and according to the film’s director, the latter was a bit intimidated by her co-star. The movie follows Cody Heron in a new public school, where she gets indulged in drama with the popular mean girl, Regina George. Lohan portrayed the lead character, while McAdams starred as the mean girl of the school.
On the tenth anniversary of the film, Mark Waters, shared some behind-the-scenes details, revealing that both actresses were up for each others’ roles initially. During the same interview, he also revealed why Lohan got nervous around The Notebook star.
Lindsay Lohan Was Intimidated by Rachel McAdams
Director of the 2004 teen comedy film Mark Waters sat down with Vulture on the 10th anniversary of the movie to share some interesting behind-the-scenes stories. Talking about the movie’s stars, Lindsay Lohan and Rachel MacAdams, he shared that Lohan was initially considered for the role of Regina George, and MacAdams actually auditioned for the lead role in the movie.
However, the director was unable to picture the About Time star as Cody, as he believed that she was too old for the role. “I told her, ‘I think you’re a movie star, but you’re way too old for this character,” he shared. Later, the Freaky Friday star was cast as the lead, and MacAdams landed Regina’s part.
Waters shared that every time Lohan had to do a scene with McAdams, she would get very shy. The director shared that the Oscar nominee was an older and accomplished actress who was quite focused on her work and seemed to have intimidated her co-star.
“She’d come in the room and not talk to Lindsay,” he said before adding, “Lindsay kind of got nervous around her.” The filmmaker took it into consideration, believing that it was going to be the deciding factor for the casting, as McAdams’ experience and presence made her more accurate for the role of Regina.
Rachel McAdams Almost Lost Her Mean Girls Role to Amanda Seyfried
During his interview with Vulture, Mark Waters also revealed that Amanda Seyfried, who played one of the members of The Plastics Karen Smith, was also a contender for Regina George’s role. The director shared that Seyfried was “neck and neck for the role of Regina.” He said,
“She tested for Regina and was kind of brilliant, and very different than Rachel’s approach. She played it in a much more ethereal but still kind of scary way.”
Waters shared that although she stood out in her audition, her version of Regina George was not as intimidating as Rachel McAdams’. However, the Mamma Mia! star was still able to join the Mean Girls squad after she read for the role of Karen Smith. “So she came in and read it and nailed it, and we got the best of both worlds,” the Mean Girls director said.
Mean Girls is available on Paramount+.
