The late nineties had loads of hilarious television shows. From laughing at ultra-nerd Steve Urkel in “Family Matters” to watching the sassy sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” viewers at home enjoyed the thrilling, comical moments when those shows aired.
Away from television shows, one rom-com film that earned much love back then was “She’s All That.” It starred popular actor Freddie Prinze Jr. and remains a classic till today.
American streaming giant, Netflix, made fans relive those warm moments when they premiered an alternate sequel to the original, titled “He’s All That.”
The new movie also brought back old faces like Rachael Leigh Cook alongside new faces such as Addison Rae and Tanner Buchanan.
Below is everything you need to know about the stars of the teen rom-com.
Rachael Leigh Cook Returned For A Different Role
Many fans of the initial classic were already familiar with Cook’s face. She has featured in nearly 100 acting roles throughout her career making her a veteran in the entertainment industry.
In the classic, the actress and model starred as Laney Boggs, the female nerd of the school. She suddenly receives interest from sought-after high school jock Zack Siler (Freddy Prinze Jr.) when he gets jilted by his chic girlfriend.
Zack planned to use her as a pawn to help regain his popular status within his clique. He made a bet to date Laney and turn her into the school’s most talked-about female just a few weeks before prom.
Moving on to the sequel, Cook returned as the mother of a popular teen, Padgett Sawyer (Rae). Her character, Anna, guided her daughter through the social hassles that came with her popularity.
Cook’s View On The Reboot
The actress, 46, was initially skeptical about returning for the role. Since her leading part in the first installment, she had swung her career in a different direction which rightly justified whether coming back was worth it.
“I had to think about if I thought it was a good idea,” Cook disclosed to Yahoo Canada. “I wasn’t sure at first if it was a little bit distracting for me to be in the movie, I thought to myself, they’re trying to make something new, you don’t need the relic to like come around and just do a, ‘hey, I’m still here’ tour,” she said.
“But then I thought to myself, if this is something I can do that is a pat on the back, a nod, a validating thing for this new version, then I want to be supportive. I want to be behind what they’re doing; I don’t want to just be asked to comment on what I thought of the movie later.”
Who Is Addison Rae?
Rae’s path to the movie industry seemed quite unconventional. Before taking up any acting roles, she was famous for bossing the social media platform TikTok as one of its renowned influencers. She has amassed 84.6 million followers and counting on the app.
Her TikTok fame eased her switch into the realm of acting. She debuted her acting career in Netflix’s “He’s All That,” released on August 27, 2021.
It portrayed her character, Padgett, in a manner that mirrored her current reality. She played the role of an Instagram influencer on a mission to turn the school’s social outcast Cameron Kweller (Buchanan) into a prom king.
The new film shares a slightly different storyline from its original. Fans got to see the high school jock role from the classic switch to a popular girl while the school’s female social outcast got swapped with a nerdy guy role.
Rae And Buchanan Love Horses
Before acting in this sequel, Tanner Buchanan took a lead part in “Cobra Kai,” a series that shared its roots from the “Karate Kid” movies of the ’80s.
Onset, Buchanan showed his versatility as he played a mushy scene with Rae while they rode their horses. Recently, both actors gushed about their love for equines.
“We both love horses,” Rae told Yahoo Canada. “I had a horse when I was a little girl, my mom loves horses, so I’ve always been comfortable around any animal.”
“It was so fun; we took advantage of the fact that we got to do that, and we were riding them everywhere.”
“We had a lot of horse training too, riding training, leading up to shooting a lot of the stuff, which was incredible,” the “Cobra Kai” star added.
“I loved it so much I tried to buy one of the horses, but our horse trainer wouldn’t let me because it was one of his horses.”
