“I Didn’t Want To Get In My Head”: Angourie Rice On Living Up To Lindsay Lohan’s Mean Girls Legacy

As soon as the Mean Girls: The Musical trailer landed, the internet collectively went into overdrive. Mixed reactions flooded our feeds. Some were shocked they were old enough to see a 'remake' of the iconic '00s film hit the screen. Others squealed with glee at the first hints of the Broadway musical songs, with Reneé Rapp uttering the first words of 'Meet The Plastics'. Others commented on the fact that Regina George would never be caught dead wearing Dr. Martens (yet here she is).

Whatever your reaction, one thing is for certain: we're all pretty damn curious as to how the new Mean Girls film will really be, with the trailer presenting the film as an almost shot-for-shot remake. But what's not clear from the trailer is that the film will have music in it — a lot of it. The new Mean Girls movie is based on a Broadway musical of the same name, which was written by Tina Fey and with music by Jeff Richmond (Fey's husband). This Broadway show was based on the 2004 movie (also written by Fey), which was inspired by Rosalind Wiseman's 2002 book, 'Queen Bees and Wannabes'.

Australia's own Angourie Rice, who plays the Cady Heron, says that in a lot of ways, the new Mean Girls: The Musical flick will be everything you know and love about the OG. "What I love about the 2004 Mean Girls is that it's about the high school experience for girls and the power struggle that is included in that," Rice tells Refinery29 Australia. The 2004 film, which discusses ideas of what it meant to be a teenager in the noughties, was widely praised for its commentary on high school cliques, bullying, and internalised misogyny. "I think those dynamics are still very relevant to today. So it feels very honest and truthful, even though the context has changed a bit."

The context in question refers to the obvious increase in technology that the world has seen since the original movie graces our screens in 2004. In 2023, bullying isn't always done overtly on the school playground. It's happening over Snapchat, TikTok, and Instagram. For Rice, this reliance on technology has been a key twist in how the film has been updated for 2024 cultural ideals. "Social media is a huge part of today that was not a part of 2004," she says. "So that is a really big difference."

"But I like the way that it's incorporated in the film — it doesn't overpower the same sort of themes from the 2004 film. Social media is included, but ultimately, the story is about those power struggles. Social media isn't included in that — it's just the means through which Regina George can assert dominance or the means through which the Burn Book is sent to everyone in the school."

Rice assures us that while it's been almost 20 years since Mean Girls first graced our screens, part of its cult-classic quality is because it's simply just so timeless — something that she hopes the new musical iteration will tap into. "I think what makes Mean Girls so timeless... is that no matter the context, the themes are still very relevant."

While the original 2004 Mean Girls film was directed by a man, Mark Waters, the new musical on-screen iteration will be co-directed by a woman, Samantha Jayne along with Arturo Perez Jr. Add in the fact that Tina Fey is back holding the reigns as writer, producer, and actress (is there anything she can't do?!), and a stacked cast of women, including the iconic Reneé Rapp, it's unsurprising that we're expecting big things.

"I'm constantly in awe of the incredible women that I work with," Rice says. For her, being in the presence of so many women was fundamental to her process, especially given the actress had never had the chance to see the Broadway musical due to location difficulties (just Aussie things!), and of course, the show's eventual shutdown due to the pandemic. "It was truly a privilege to be in that room and to watch Tina work," she says, explaining that conversations with her cast were key to how she approached her characterisation of Cady. "I asked Reneé about her experience on the Broadway show and I asked Tina about her experience filming it in 2004."

But it's almost impossible to ignore the huge legacy of the original Mean Girls film — something Rice has previously said she "grew up on". The Australian actress explains that because of her clear admiration of the film, she had to actively stop herself from watching it in the lead-up to production. "I did make the conscious decision to not re-watch Mean Girls," she says. "When I got the part, I decided 'okay, I'm not going to rewatch it in the lead-up to filming because I didn't want to get in my head about it'. There are some lines that in my head so embedded as Lindsay Lohan's voice."

While perhaps one of the biggest strengths of the original film is in its quotability, Rice explains that she had to "let go of" the original and trust that the new musical iteration wouldn't be the same — and that her performance as Cady wouldn't be the same as her predecessor, Lindsay Lohan. "I trusted that it would be different. I didn't try to do anything specifically different because I just knew that it would be a different script," she explains. "It's updated. It's different directors, I'm a different actor. So I just trusted that it would be something new without trying too hard for it."

"There's a certain point where you have to just let go of what everyone else says and just focus on what you do," she says. "I just read the script and made character notes... and that's what I do for every character, so I took comfort in doing that with Cady as well."

As for what we should expect from the film, Rice hints that it's a "fun theatrical experience" with familiar elements, as well as some completely new parts. "It's got elements of the Broadway musical. It's got new elements that no one has ever seen before," she explains. "No matter what your previous experience with Mean Girls is or if you've never seen it before, I think you'll enjoy it. I think you'll get something out of it."