The ‘Mean Girls’ franchise has quite the origin story and you may not be aware of how the plastics came to life. This year we saw the re-imagined version of Tina Fey’s 2004 ‘Mean Girls’ be created into the musical spectacle, where we saw some old and new cast come back to speak to a brand new generation. Though to get to where we are now, there have been many different parts to making it the iconic story that it is. That is of course a massive thank you to Tina Fey, but where did she get her ideas from?
It all started with a book!
Queen Bees and Wannabes: Helping Your Daughter Survive Cliques, Gossip, Boyfriends, and Other Realities of Adolescence (May 2002)
‘Queen Bees and Wannabes’ is a self-help book written by Rosalind Wiseman which was published in 2002. The book was written to help parents with teenagers, to better understand the nature of their kids’ adolescence, toxic social circles, unrelenting gossip and crippling insecurities. A lot of the book is made up of real stories taken from girls in high school, about bullying or social expectations, which really gives a personal look into the world of high school and what first inspired Tina Fey to write ‘Mean Girls’.
Mean Girls (June 2004)
Tina Fey read Wiseman’s book and was struck by the power certain girls wield over others. However, she decided to see the funny side of these stories. She said, “The thing that I was so drawn to was they were insidious in their intent, but also so fascinatingly clever. … You had to kind of admire the intelligence and power of it. At the same time, it has to stop. It was like a book full of Bond villains.”
She pitched a movie version to the ‘Saturday Night Live’ creator and producer Lorne Michaels, who loved the idea. Fey told Entertainment Weekly, “When I first pitched it to Lorne, I was thinking I’d like to write a movie about what they call ‘relational aggression’ among girls.” Fey took scenarios and real quotes directly from the book and added them into the film, as well as some of her own unfortunate experiences from her adolescence. For example, the scene where Regina calls Cady “pretty”, with Cady saying “thanks” and Regina replying, “So you agree?” – this happened to Tina Fey during high school! And so, this perfect combination of Fey’s personal stories and extracts from ‘Queen Bees’ formed the screenplay for ‘Mean Girls’, the feature film screenwriting debut for Tina Fey.
The OG ‘Mean Girls’ movie was huge. Initially, Lindsay Lohan was cast as Regina, but she decided to play the “nice girl” (Cady Heron) so the public would not base her real personality on Regina’s. Rachel McAdams was chosen to play “Mean Girl” Regina George because “only nice girls can play mean girls,” according to the producer. Since its release, the film has become a pop-culture phenomenon. The film’s influence has even crept into education, with universities teaching ‘Mean Girls’ modules in their sociology seminars!
Mean Girls: The Musical
Fey’s husband, composer Jeff Richmond, came up with musical ideas for Fey’s movie, spawning her idea to adapt it into a musical. The music for ‘Mean Girls’ was composed by Richmond, who had to get in touch with his inner teenage wannabe. He played the sax in the marching band and remembers a particular group of girls for inspiration, saying, “They were the cheerleaders, and they were powerful. And you just kind of wanted to — ‘Boy, if I could just make them laugh at something I do, I think that’s going to get me in.'” A musical adaptation of the 2004 film was in the works by 2013.
The world has changed since the first ‘Mean Girls’ in 2004. In the movie, only one girl had a device, and even then it was a flip phone. The musical had to make adjustments to account for social media and how it affects girls’ lives every day. Fey said, “It’s sort of like the difference between the Civil War and a modern-day war where the battles are drawn, but the weapons are just so much stronger and more devastating.” She believes that one of the main reasons the core ‘Mean Girls’ story still holds up, and can keep being reimagined, is because older women and teens both see themselves playing out their worst behaviour. The musical was nominated for 12 Tony Awards in 2018, including Best Musical.
Mean Girls 2024
After 20 years of trying to make fetch happen, a musical movie based on the show hit cinemas. This time, however, it’s a musical, obviously. Due to the huge amount of success and appreciation the musical found on Broadway, as well as the undying love and relatability people find towards the ‘Mean Girls’ story, Tina Fey decided to bring it back again for a whole new generation. There are loads of fun references and easter eggs to both the musical and the original film throughout. It’s totally grool.
The cast list for starters has the likes of Ashley Park, who originally played the role of Gretchen Wieners on Broadway. Park appears as a French teacher at the start of the movie. Tina Fey and Tim Meadows both reprised their roles as Ms. Norbury and Mr. Duvall, who appear to be a couple in this new iteration. Last but not least, of course, Lindsay Lohan makes an unannounced cameo appearance as the mediator at the mathletes final towards the end of the film. Plus, this new version debuts on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD on 29th April, which just happens to be one day short of the 20th anniversary of the contemporary classic original ‘Mean Girls’. This OG ‘Mean Girls’ is also arriving on 4K Ultra HD for the first time, like, ever on a limited edition 4K UHD + Blu-ray SteelBook on 29th April.
‘Mean Girls’ (2024) arrives on Digital March 18th 2024, and arrives on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD 29th April 2024.
