Busy Philipps Teases a 'Twist' on Famous 'Mean Girls' Line

She also called Tina Fey the 'fairy godmother' of 'dream jobs.'

The internet went wild when it was announced that Busy Philipps would be joining Jenna Fischer, Tina Fey, Tim Meadows, and more in the Mean Girls musical film adaptation.

But it's unlikely anyone was as excited as the actress herself, who exclaimed, "You and me both!" when Parade expressed our own anticipation for her take on Mrs. George.

While we couldn't draw any spoilers out of her, she did offer a little teaser about her turn in Mrs. George's designer shoes, filming for which she's already wrapped.

"Well, so obviously, the most iconic line, to me, is, 'I'm not a regular mom, I'm a cool mom,'" she exclusively shared with Parade. But you should expect a "little bit of a twist" on her rendition of the phrase.

"I'm doing my own, 2023 version of a cool mom," she continued, "or what that mom is [today]—the mom that wants to party with the kids, and know all the gossip, and be their teenager's best friend."

To shape her own version, she says "there was a lot of wardrobe specificity...to make sure we kind of hit. The hair, the makeup, [and] the clothes were definitely a part of building Mrs. George for Mean Girls' musical movie."

That said, for as much work as she put into separating herself from those that came before her, it wasn't a role she sought out. In fact, when she got the call asking her to play Mrs. George, she thought she was going to be offered another job entirely.

Fey, who Philipps calls her "fairy godmother" when it comes to "dream jobs," seemed to have the actress in mind from the start. She and her kids, Birdie, 14, and Cricket, 9, have been fans of the musical—and Kerry Butler, the original Mrs. George (as well as Mrs. Norbury/Mrs. Heron) on Broadway, who she calls "a genius"—for years.

"I remember like 2019ish, 2020, when Reneé Rapp came into the show as the new Regina on Broadway," she recalled. "Tina said to me at the time, 'Have you seen this girl, Reneé Rapp? You've got to come see her, Busy. She looks so much like you; it's crazy...It would be my dream for you to be Mrs. George in the musical. Maybe we could figure something out in the summer.'"

Sadly, Mean Girls fell victim to the Covid-19 shutdown, ending its Broadway run that March.

"But I'm so glad Reneé [who is reprising her role in the film] gets to do it on camera," she added. "She's an actual genius. She's brilliant."

Still, Philipps was blindsided when the offer came in. "It wasn't really even on my radar," she said of booking the musical movie. "It wasn't a thing that I was even thinking was a possibility."

Thankfully it was on Fey's mind, who gave her a call and opened the conversation by saying, "I have another weird job offer for you." Philipp's mind went immediately to the joint comedy tour she and Amy Poehler had just announced, thinking that she was going to ask her to open for the pair on the road.

Instead, Philipps said Fey asked, "'Well, Busy. Would you be Mrs. George in the Mean Girls musical movie?'"

According to the Busy Tonight host, she was so shocked, she started to cry.

As for Birdie, Philipps' teenager was more than shocked that their mom landed the big screen adaptation. "'Wait, wait, wait, the movie? With Reneé Rapp?!'" Philipps said of Birdie's reaction. "'Oh, that's a really big deal, Mom!'"

And such a big deal deserves a big treat. During the conversation, Philipps signed up for Zulily's For All Moms Gifting Advisor, a text service they've launched to help you find the perfect Mother's Day gift for any and every maternal figure in your life.

She went on to share her own gift guide, revealing, "I got all of these suggestions while we were on the phone, and they're perfect for me! I got Hydro Flasks, which I really actually need a lot of. And I got cute matching luggage, which I love, and I got really cute fanny packs that you can wear over your chest."

As Philipps concluded, "The expression it takes a village exists for a reason. It actually literally takes a village—we just don't live in villages anymore. So we have to figure out how to build our own."