Angourie Rice steps into Lindsay Lohan’s shoes in ‘Mean Girls’ remake

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If there was a role Angourie Rice was born to play, it might be stepping into the iconic shoes of Cady Heron in a musical remake of 2004’s Mean Girls.

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Growing up in Australia, Rice, who is known for her work in the Spider-Man films, The Nice Guys, Mare of Easttown and The Last Thing He Told Me, was obsessed with the original high-school based social satire penned by Tina Fey.

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“It was a movie I watched a lot growing up because we had it on DVD,” Rice, 23, says in a Zoom call from New York City. “I would watch it over and over again. During high school, anytime there was a sleepover, it was like, ‘Let’s watch Mean Girls.’ It was on constant rotation. I know this movie so well.”

In the update — adapted from the 2018 Broadway musical — Rice plays a new version of Cady, the home-schooled math genius originated by Lindsay Lohan who is thrust into the world of high school cliques after arriving in suburban Chicago from Kenya. In a bid to be one of the “cool kids,” Cady falls in with the Plastics, led by queen bee bully Regina (played by singer Reneé Rapp), and her minions Gretchen (Bebe Woods) and Karen (Avantika Vandanapu) who rule the high-school cafeteria.

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As she expresses herself through song (the film also features powerhouse performances by Moana’s Auli‘i Cravalho and Tony nominee Jaquel Spivey), Cady has to learn to live by the Plastics’ rules, one of which is: you can’t date someone’s ex.

But with the help of her outsider pals Damian and Janis (Spivey and Cravalho), Cady plans to do that — and take down the Plastics. Making her … one of the mean girls.

Rice says Fey’s story has endured and enjoyed many different iterations because of the timelessness of the jokes written by the former Saturday Night Live star.

“She made up ‘fetch,’” Rice says referring to one of the original’s iconic catchphrases, “because she knew any other slang would go out of date. Then ‘fetch’ became one of the most iconic, timeless slang words ever.”

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But beyond the comedy, Rice thinks that the themes of Mean Girls transcend generations.

“It’s about young women navigating social dynamics, and I don’t think it matters if you’re a young woman in high school. We’ve all had that experience where we’re coming into a social space and we have to try and figure out the social dynamics. Trying to get people to like you and trying to fit in, that’s a really universal theme.”

Still, Rice says starring in a new version of a film as universally known and loved as Mean Girls wasn’t an automatic yes.

“I was very nervous. I felt not only a responsibility to fans of the movie, but to myself — I’m a huge fan of the movie and the Broadway show itself. This character has been played by so many wonderfully talented actresses (Erika Henningsen originated the part on Broadway). So I wanted to do it right and add to the legacy of the actors who have done it right before me.”

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Not every movie was meant to be turned into a stage show. But as Rice makes the press rounds, she’s had plenty of time to ponder other films she’d like to see get a musical makeover.

“I was thinking about this the other day. There are a lot of teen movies from the early 2000s and late ’90s that I love. One of my favourites is 10 Things I Hate About You. That would make a great musical. Also because I love modern adaptations of classics and that one is based on The Taming of the Shrew, so I think you’d have lots of opportunity to add so many more clues and references to Shakespeare if you turned it into a musical.”

With Lohan returning to the film in a surprise cameo as a Mathletes judge (a part that notched her a six-figure payday), Rice said it was a dream filming alongside the actress who popularized the character.

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She also had some time to ponder where Lohan’s original Cady might have ended up.

“I think she went on to be a math professor at a university,” Rice says smiling. “But I also think — and you can see this in the Christmas talent show dance scene — that she has a lot of fun dancing. … So I think she has some fun hobby on the side, whether it’s dancing or singing or doing crafts or hanging out with Gretchen. She definitely does something else fun.”

Mean Girls is now playing in theatres.

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X: @markhdaniell

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