Lindsay Lohan revealed why Tina Fey wouldn’t let her play Regina in ‘Mean Girls’

“She doesn’t even go here!” That’s what we all might be saying today had Lindsay Lohan refused to play her iconic role in Tina Fey’s 2004 high school romp Mean Girls. According to Lindsay, she was more interested in tackling the Regina George character (played impeccably by Canadian actress Rachel McAdams) rather than transfer student Cady, and had to be talked out of insisting.

“The story behind me playing Cady in Mean Girls is actually really unknown by a lot of people,” she says in a new interview with Vogue where the Freaky Friday star takes a look back at her most iconic fashion lewks from the past 20 years. 

Calling Mean Girls, which was shot in Toronto, a “loveable movie,” Lindsay admits to camera, “I had wanted to play Regina, because I'd just come off of Freaky Friday, and I really wanted to play a pretty, normal girl now. I wanted to have a different kind of role than just the damaged teenager again." 

It took two people, director Mark Waters, and Tina Fey herself, to talk her out of making ‘Fetch’ happen. “They're like, 'No, no, no, you're the lovable one, you have to play Cady!'” she revealed. "I was so eager to get into the transitional part of, 'Okay, let's get to the pretty part of Cady.’”

Not only are we so glad she was convinced to take on Cady, so is Lindsay herself, as she admits to Vogue that while she was originally hoping to "wear the skirts and just dress more girly" than she had in previous roles, she ended up loving her wardrobe that allowed her to dress super casual and wear runners. "I got to chill and just relax, and everyone was kinda jealous because I was wearing sneakers and they couldn’t everyday.”

It’s true, Regina’s high heels and short skirts looked so binding. Of course, Lindsay would go on to play sexy roles, like in The Canyons where she starred opposite adult film star James Deen, and in her music career, where her music video for “Rumours” really left everyone’s jaws on the floor.  

This isn’t the first time Lindsay has spoken out about her original determination to play Regina George. Back in 2014 for the film’s tenth anniversary, she revealed to EW in more detail how the Rachel McAdams character just appealed to her more at that stage in her life. 

“I had gone to Toronto and I was doing Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen,” she said at the time. “Mark came out to scout locations for Mean Girls and came to see me at my hotel and said, “Do you wanna do this movie?” I wanted to play Regina. I had just played—in Confessions and Freaky—not the cool girl in school. I was still 17 years old and I wanted to be the cool girl on set. So I had a war with him, and he goes, 'No, Cady is the heroine, and that’s who you are.' Then I sat in all the auditions. Amanda auditioned to play Regina as well. It ended up being Rachel, and she’s wonderful.”

Also in that EW interview, Rachel McAdams reveals she originally auditioned to play Cady. The movie we know and love today could have been so different!