All time favorite: Mean Girls, Lindsay Lohan almost became Regina George when Rachel McAdams was ruled “too old” for Cady.
Mean Girls hit theaters over two decades ago, becoming a box office success and later a cult classic.
The teen dramedy, with Lindsay Lohan as the new girl and Rachel McAdams as the queen bee, almost turned out very differently. Lohan was originally eyed for Regina George, but director Mark Waters—who had just worked with her on Freaky Friday—struggled to cast Cady Heron and felt McAdams was “too old” for the role. At the time, McAdams was 25 while Lohan was only 18.
“I read an actress from Canada for the role and told her, ‘You’re way too old for this part, but you’re a movie star—you’re incredible.’ That actress was Rachel McAdams,” the director told Variety.
He added, “Tina Fey, Lorne Michaels, and Sherry Lansing saw an early cut of Freaky Friday and decided they wanted both me and Lindsay.”
“I persuaded everyone that Lindsay was better suited for Regina, not Cady,” he recalled.
“Lindsay’s energy aligned more with Regina—not in a bad way,” he explained. “She had a strong, forceful personality, and when she read Regina’s lines, she was incredible.”
‘When we went to cast Cady, we couldn’t find anybody,’ the American Film Institute award winner said.
Water explained that ‘when we couldn’t cast Cady, we went back to Rachel for Regina. And her reading a little bit older worked because it brought a certain power and maturity to it.’
Lohan, who was 17 at the time, was disappointed but went along with the casting change.
Waters revealed that Paramount Pictures CEO ‘Sherry Lansing pointed out that with Freaky Friday such a big hit, she had to be the lead of the movie. It all worked out for the best. ‘
Lohan confirmed the casting change in a New York Times interview with her Freaky Friday co-stars Julia Buttars and Sophia Hammons.
“You’re lucky to be close in age,” she told them, recalling how she struggled to fit in with her older castmates while filming Mean Girls.
“It was tough because Rachel McAdams was so much older,” Lohan told the outlet.
At the time, co-stars Lacy Chabert, 21, and Amanda Seyfried, 17, were already finished with school, while Lohan was still balancing her studies. “Amanda and Lacey were always hanging out, and I struggled to find where I fit in,” she admitted.
Despite the challenges, Mean Girls went on to gross over $130 million worldwide, later inspiring a Broadway musical with 12 Tony nominations—and that production eventually led to the 2024 Mean Girls movie musical, which earned more than $104 million globally.
