Heavy/Getty Actress Lacey Chabert
Lacey Chabert and her castmates from the iconic 2004 movie “Mean Girls” have been in discussions to appear in a film version of the successful “Mean Girls” Broadway musical, according to Page Six. The Hallmark Channel star has been vocal about wanting to be involved in either a “Mean Girls” reboot or a cameo in the upcoming movie.
But on February 22, 2023, Page Six reported that negotiations had stalled due to disagreements about how much Chabert and her co-stars — Lindsay Lohan, Amanda Seyfried, and Rachel McAdams — should be paid. Here’s what you need to know:
Original ‘Mean Stars’ Co-Stars Reportedly Upset About Payments Offered for Updated Movie
GettyLindsay Lohan, Lacey Chabert and Amanda Seyfried at the 2005 MTV Movie Awards
“Mean Girls” was a runaway hit when it hit theaters in 2004, raking in $129 million globally on a $17 million budget, according to Us Weekly. The script had Chabert’s character, Gretchen Wieners, repeatedly attempt to popularize her phrase “That’s so fetch” among her high school clique — but the movie was so popular, the line actually became a cultural phenomenon. Chabert told Jimmy Fallon in November 2022 that she hears the saying from fans “every day of my life.”
In fact, her friend and fellow Hallmark star Jonathan Bennett, who appeared in “Mean Girls” as Aaron Samuels, gave a subtle nod to the movie in his most recent Hallmark flick, “The Holiday Sitter,” when his character uttered the iconic line.
Tina Fey, who was the lead writer on the original film and appeared as the girls’ teacher, was part of a team of creatives who turned the film into a musical which, according to Bustle, opened on Broadway in April 2018, six months after a trial run in Washington, D.C., and was nominated for 11 Tony Awards. The show closed in March 2020 with the onset of the pandemic.
In December 2022, Deadline reported that Fey and “Saturday Night Live” executive producer Lorne Michaels would oversee a film version of the musical, to be released via the streaming platform Paramount+. The four main characters will be played by Angourie Rice, Reneé Rapp, Auli’i Cravalho, and Jaquel Spivey.
On February 16, Fey revealed on “Late Night With Seth Myers” that she will reprise her role as Ms. Norbury and comedian Tim Meadows will return as Principal Duval. Days later, Page Six reported that all four original “Mean Girls” actresses had also agreed to appear in the new movie, but that negotiations had stalled.
The outlet reported that a “highly placed production source” said “Paramount Pictures doesn’t want to pay the girls what they are worth. All four girls were willing to come back, but Paramount has not been respectful of what they are worth.”
Page Six said Fey secured a “seven-figure deal” for her acting role, in addition to writing and producing the movie, but that Chabert, Lohan, Seyfried, and McAdams were offered a “fraction” of that. Chabert, Seyfried, and McAdams have had very successful acting careers, and Lohan recently returned to acting in November 2022 with the rom-com “Falling For Christmas,” which quickly became Netflix’s top movie.
Paramount Pictures and the movie’s producers haven’t responded to Page Six’s requests for comment. Production on the film, according to The Hollywood Reporter, is set to begin on March 6.
Lacey Chabert & Jonathan Bennett Became Dear Friends Making ‘Mean Girls’
GettyAmanda Seyfried, Jonathan Bennett and Lacey Chabert attend a screening of “Mean Girls” in April 2004
It’s not clear if Bennett has been asked to make a cameo in the upcoming movie, but he’s said he’d love a chance to revisit the film’s characters. In December, he told Salon that he forever grateful for being cast as Lohan’s love interest in the original “Mean Girls.”
“I owe my entire life, my entire career (to the movie),” he said. “Everything about who I am today I owe to Tina Fey, Lorne Michaels and Lindsay Lohan.”
He continued, “It’s not a regular movie. It’s part of people’s lives. They speak it, they talk it and they have parties for it. They dress up like it for Halloween. The lines in ‘Mean Girls’ are in people’s everyday vocabulary now.”
In 2018, Bennett released a tongue-in-cheek cookbook, “The Burn Cookbook: An Unofficial Unauthorized Cookbook for Mean Girls Fans” because, he told Salon, he wanted “to celebrate and pay my homage to all the fans who help make us who we are.”
One of the best things to come out of his role in the movie is his 20-year friendship with Chabert, whom he appeared with at Christmas Con in December.
When Fox News asked what it was like to have a mini ‘Mean Girls’ reunion with her on stage, he said, “It’s not really a mini ‘Mean Girls’ reunion because we see each other every day. So this is just a Tuesday to us.”