Tina Fey's Daughters' Advice Helped Keep New 'Mean Girls' Fetch

Will it be as fetch as the original "Mean Girls" movie? That's what's on the minds of many as they gear up to watch the new "Mean Girls" musical that's being released on Friday, January 12, 2024.

The new film, adapted from the original 2004 high school comedy and 2018 Broadway show, was written by Tina Fey. To ensure the new movie was still as "grool" as the original, Fey consulted two important people in her life that have some insight into the new generation.

"This isn't your mother's 'Mean Girls'."

When the tagline for the new movie was revealed in a trailer, some confusion and outrage hit fans in their late 20s to early 40s. Fey wasn't too happy about the millennial reaction, calling it "millennial narcissism."

"That was the Paramount marketing department and then the millennials were so butthurt," Fey told USA Today, referring to the tagline. "It was like, yes, you guys are getting old! It did expose a little millennial narcissism. When you went, there were other people in the theater too. And some of them may have been older than you. It was so centering themselves in the story."

Fey's 18-year-old daughter had some wise advice for her mom when she was consulted on the new film - "Yeah, no. Don't let those millennials overthink it!"

"I do sometimes run things by my kids," Fey said about daughters Alice, 18, and Penelope, 12. "Early on, there was conversation of, 'Would the Burn Book still be a physical book or should it be a private Instagram?' I knew what my instinct was, but I ran it by my kids."

The new musical film came close to being a fun blast from the past reunion for the original four leading ladies but ultimately didn't happen.

During a recent interview with The New York Times, Fey confirmed that there were talks about getting Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Lacey Chabert, and Amanda Seyfried to all play small roles in the film, but sadly, that didn't become a reality.

"They're busy people, so it didn't come together," she said. "But we tried, and we all love each other."

When asked what their roles would have looked like in the new film, Fey responded, "We'll never know."

Fey, who not only wrote the original screenplay and starred as math teacher Ms. Norbury in the original film, reprised her role in the new movie. Her desire to revisit the iconic 2004 movie came from the gratitude she had for it.

"I have other things that I'd like to do. But I have so much gratitude that this movie seemed to stick with people," she said. "When I look at it, I am reminded of how hard I worked on it in the first place. I feel like the bricks and mortar of it were the absolute best possible job I was capable of at the time. It's not perfect, but it holds water."

Rachel McAdams, who played the coveted role of Regina George in the original, recently told Variety that a Regina George cameo almost became a reality in the new film.

"Tina and I sort of dabbled with a few ideas, but it was tough to make it all work in the end," she said. "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."

When asked if a sequel that brings back the original cast to play their characters as adults could be a possibility, Fey said, she hasn't really "thought much about that."

"To me, part of why the stakes are so high in the story is because everyone's so young and feelings are huge, love is huge and friendship is huge in a way [that it isn't with] middle-aged moms," Fey told the Times. "I love writing about middle-aged people, but I don't know."

"Mean Girls" opens in theaters on Friday, January 12, 2024.