TINA FEY AND MEAN GIRLS

Tina Fey read Rosalind Wiseman's "Queen Bees and Wannabes" and called "Saturday Night Live" producer Lorne Michaels to suggest it could be turned into a film. Michaels contacted Paramount Pictures, who purchased the rights to the book. As the book is nonfiction, Fey wrote the plot of "Mean Girls" (2004) from scratch, borrowing elements from her own high school experience and her impressions of Evanston Township High School, upon which the film's fictional "North Shore High School" is based.

Lindsay Lohan first read for Regina George, but the casting team felt she was closer to what they were looking for in the actress who played Cady, and since Lohan feared the "mean girl" role would harm her reputation, she agreed to play the lead. Rachel McAdams was cast as Regina because Fey felt McAdams being "kind and polite" made her perfect for such an evil-spirited character. Amanda Seyfried also read for Regina, and the producers instead suggested her for Karen due to Seyfried's "spacey and daffy sense of humor". Both Lacey Chabert and Daniel Franzese were the last actors tested for their roles. Lizzy Caplan was at first considered too pretty for the part of Janis, for which director Mark Waters felt a "Kelly Osbourne-like actress" was necessary, but Caplan was picked for being able to portray raw emotion. Fey wrote two roles based on fellow "SNL" alumni, Amy Poehler (whom Fey thought the producers would not accept because of being too young to portray a teenager's mother) and Tim Meadows, and the cast ended up with a fourth veteran of the show, Ana Gasteyer.

In an interview about the film, Fey noted, "Adults find it funny. They are the ones who are laughing. Young people watch it like a reality show. It's much too close to their real experiences so they are not exactly guffawing." Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "'Fetch' may never happen, but 2004's eminently quotable movie is still one of the sharpest high school satires ever. Which is pretty grool, if you ask me!" In 2006, Entertainment Weekly also named it the twelfth best high school film of all time, explaining: "There was a time when Lindsay Lohan was best known for her acting rather than her party-hopping. Showcasing Lindsay Lohan in arguably her best role to date, this Tina Fey-scripted film also boasts a breakout turn by Rachel McAdams as evil queen bee Regina George (Gretchen, stop trying to make 'fetch' happen! It's not going to happen!). While 'Mean Girls' is technically a comedy, its depiction of girl-on-girl cattiness stings incredibly true."

A 2018 Broadway musical version of the film was adapted into a film version in 2024. Fey and Meadows reprised their characters of Ms. Norbury and Mr. Duvall respectively 20 years after the original film...

RECENTLY VIEWED: MEAN GIRLS (2024)

Yes, I was excited to go see the remake of the 2004 classic Mean Girls. Now the movie has music! Directed by Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr. (in their feature directorial debuts), it is base on a screenplay by Tina Fey. It is based on the Broadway musical of the same name, which in turn was based on Mark Waters's 2004 comedy film, both written by Fey and based on Rosalind Wiseman's 2002 book Queen Bees and Wannabes. It stars Angourie Rice, Auliʻi Cravalho and Christopher Briney with Reneé Rapp reprising her role from the stage musical, while Fey and Tim Meadows reprise their roles from the original film. I took my daughter to the opening weekend showing, and I thought the movies was pretty fetch.

Paramount Pictures announced the film's development in January 2020, with Fey returning to write the screenplay and serve as a producer alongside Lorne Michaels, who produced the 2004 film. Composer Jeff Richmond and lyricist Nell Benjamin returned to rework their songs from the stage musical, while Richmond also composed the film's score. Casting began in December 2022. Principal photography took place in New Jersey between March and April 2023. Mean Girls premiered in New York City on January 8, 2024, and was theatrically released in the United States by Paramount Pictures on January 12.

The plot of this version is pretty much the same as the 2004 version. There are some easter eggs calling back the old film. I won't ruin any surprises for you! A surprise for me was how catchy the songs were. They were really good. My daughter was familiar with the score being a musical lover, but they were all new to me. It was not a perfect movie, but it was a fun movie. I would have liked to have seen more of the old cast in this version, but the movie had some surprises. Tina Fey did an awesome job updating the script for 2024 audiences. I can not believe the original movie is 20 years old now, but this new version is pretty fetch as well...

MY RATING: 9 out of 10

MY FIVE FAVORITE SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE STARS

As we celebrate a week of Saturday Night live stories, I wanted to start out with a list of my five favorite alumni from the show. That show, which has been on for 40 years has been the showcase from some of the greatest comedians our present entertainment industry has ever known. Here are my five favorites...

5. TINA FEY (2000-2006)

Tina Fey breathed new life into Weekend Update, bringing sharp, literate political satire to what had been a regularly scheduled dead spot for years. It says a lot that the show's best political joke since her departure has been the Sarah Palin impression she started doing as a special guest.

4. WILL FERRELL (1995-2002)

Long before Old School, Ferrell looked like the friendly, super-straight guy at the fraternity beer bash who'd been putting off graduation for too long because he wasn't looking forward to managing his dad's construction firm. Watching strange demons take over that normal-looking countenance was a joke that seldom got tired. His surrealist sensibilities carried the show for years. 

3. JOHN BELUSHI (1975-1979)

John Belushi brought the pleasures of brash slapstick to a show that otherwise tended towards hip and cerebral. He made it look easy to dominate the stage and make audiences laugh by brute force. But if you look at the performers influenced, including Chris Farley and his own brother Jim, you can see that it isn't that easy after all.

2. GILDA RADNER (1975-1979)
Gilda Radner won an Emmy for her performance on SNL in 1978 and carried many a sketch amongst the original "Not Ready for Prime Time Players." Her Barbara Walters and Roseanne Roseannadanna characters remain legendary.

1. BILL MURRAY (1977-1980)

Bill Murray's stature as the most beloved of all the SNL alumni was hard-won. He basically made it onto the show over Lorne Michaels' dead body, and he had a rough couple of weeks trying to win over an audience that was hell-bent on hating him because he'd replaced the show's first breakout star, Chevy Chase. But by the time Chase returned to guest host, it was Murray's show he came back to. Murray really proved his mettle when he himself hosted the only exciting episode of the notorious 1980-81 season. It looked then and still looks today as if Golden Age SNL is something Bill Murray carries around in his back pocket in case of emergency. ..