New Hollywood Podcast: Rachael Leigh Cook Talks ‘Love, Guaranteed’, Dating Apps And Pop Culture Legacy Of ‘She’s All That’

Dino-Ray Ramos and Amanda N'Duka
·2 min read

The late 1990s and early ’00s was a very specific era of cinema, with romantic comedies and slasher films that were populated with bright-eyed and super-cool “teen” stars of the TRL ilk that would later become some of the most notable names in film and TV. In particular, 1999 gave us a movie by the name of She’s All That, which proved a breakthrough movie for Rachael Leigh Cook.

The actress played Laney Boggs, an individualistic artsy student that catches the eye of the dreamiest and most popular guy in high school appropriately portrayed by Freddie Prinze Jr. — but this was all part of a “stupid bet.” At first glance, She’s All That seems to follow the predictable movie trope of ordinary girl-gets-most-popular-guy-in-high-school, but Laney presented a new type of underdog that continues to resonate and finds new audiences with each generation.

Cook doesn’t shy away from talking about her experiences on She’s All That and the impact it had on her career and life. With her latest project, Love, Guaranteed, she revisits her roots, giving us a modernized story for the Tinder era while still serving early-2000s rom-com energy.

She visited Deadline’s New Hollywood Podcast and we asked her an endless list of questions about She’s All That (we are fans of the movie, obviously) and talked about what it was like starring in and producing Love, Guaranteed, which is on Netflix now. She also spoke about the bad rap feelgood movies receive, dating horror stories, her first role as Mary Anne in the 1995 adaptation of The Baby-Sitters Club, and how Hollywood tends to ignore female actresses after they reach a certain age. We also throw around ideas for a She’s All That sequel.

Listen to the episode below.

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