Rachel McAdams Explains Why She Opted Out Of 'Mean Girls' Reunion
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Audiences yearning for a “Mean Girls” sequel got their wish granted ― well, sort of ― last month when actors Lacey Chabert, Lindsay Lohan and Amanda Seyfried reprised their roles from the 2004 film for a buzzy Walmart campaign.
Still, it was impossible to ignore the absence of Rachel McAdams, whose queen bee character, Regina George, delivered some of the movie’s most-quotable lines and was its main antagonist.
Speaking to Variety in an interview published Wednesday, McAdams explained why she’d chosen to sit out the reunion.
“I guess I wasn’t that excited about doing a commercial if I’m being totally honest,” she said. “A movie sounded awesome, but I’ve never done commercials, and it just didn’t feel like my bag.”
She went on to note that she wasn’t aware that Chabert, Lohan and Seyfried ― who portrayed fellow “Plastics” Gretchen Weiners, Cady Heron and Karen Smith, respectively ― had signed on before making her decision.
“Also… I didn’t know that everyone was doing it,” she said. “I would, of course, always love to be part of a ‘Mean Girls’ reunion and hang with my Plastics, but yeah, I found that out later.”
Lacey Chabert (left), Rachel McAdams, Lindsay Lohan and Amanda Seyfried in 2004's "Mean Girls."
It’s possible that timing was also a factor. McAdams returned to the big screen this spring in the film adaptation of Judy Blume’s coming-of-age classic, “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” and received widespread praise for her performance. She and her longtime partner, screenwriter Jamie Linden, are also parents of two young children.
And from the sounds of it, fans shouldn’t expect to see McAdams appear among a new generation of Plastics next month when the musical adaptation of “Mean Girls” opens in theaters.
Though multiple reports suggested that McAdams, along with her three principal co-stars in the 2004 film, were in talks for cameos in the new version, the actor said nothing came to fruition.
“Tina [Fey] and I sort of dabbled with a few ideas, but it was tough to make it all work in the end,” she said of her conversations with the film’s screenwriter. “I was really down for whatever she wanted to do. I think the direction it went in will be fantastic and I cannot wait to see it.”
McAdams is preparing to kick off a new professional chapter next spring, when she’ll make her Broadway debut in a new production of the play “Mary Jane,” portraying the single mother of a chronically ill child.
