Rachel McAdams: The Real Life Mean Girl

This year marks the tenth year since the infamous Mean Girls movie was released. Not only was this movie the highlight of Lindsay Lohan’s career, thus far, it marked the launch of Rachel McAdams’ career as she portrayed the typical high school “mean girl” Regina George.

While each character seemed to fit their role perfectly, Mark Waters, the director of the box office hit, reveals that he had originally cast McAdams as Cady Heron, the new target of the “Plastics”.

Because Waters had previously worked with Lohan on the 2003 hit Freaky Friday, he knew what kind of actress she was, and wanted her to play the role of Regina.

“Her energy is a very aggressive, testosterone-laden energy, and that’s exactly what I knew I needed for Regina George,” Walters explained, during an interview with Vulture. “When I gave it to her, she was like, ‘I f*****g love Regina George! This is exactly the part I want to play.'”

When Waters and Lohan did a read through, he instantly knew that she would be perfect for the part. However, they couldn’t seem to find the right person to play the innocent Cady. McAdams originally read for the role, but was told she was “too old” and “too mature” for the part. That is when Waters approached Lindsay about taking on the lead role, and letting Rachel have the part of Regina.

“I remember watching her [McAdams] do the scene,” said Waters, “and after it was over, I told her, ‘I think you’re a movie star, but you’re way too old for this character. You just aren’t going to be able to play the ingenue.’ And she said, ‘No, I understand, I get it.'”

Surprisingly, Lohan did not want the lead role, but she agreed after realizing she would have more lines. “Lindsay kind of begrudgingly said, ‘Okay, I guess I’ll play the lead. At least I get to have more lines'” Waters explained.

It turns out that the switch of roles was for the best, seeing as though their chemistry off set played a major role on their energy on set. Maybe Rachel wasn’t a “mean girl” per say, but she definitely intimidated Lindsay, which led Waters to make the final decision to cast her as Regina.

“When Lindsay was acting with Rachel, she got very shy, because Rachel was older and a very accomplished actress,” said Waters. “She’d come in the room and not talk to Lindsay — she was very focused. Lindsay kind of got nervous around her, and I thought that, more than anything, was going to be the deciding factor, the fact that she affected Lindsay in that way.”

What did you think about the casting decisions in Mean Girls? Leave your comments below.

[Image via Bing.com]