"Tina Fey Did Not Know October 3rd Was a Thing "

Gayety

Dive into the Mean Girls comeback! Tina Fey reveals the timeless magic, unexpected lines, and the talented cast bringing authenticity to 2024.

Transcript

00:00 On a scale of 1 to 10, how fetch are you feeling?

00:03 Today? Oh my gosh, I'm feeling a solid 8.

00:07 I'm feeling like a solid 8 today, yeah.

00:10 Amazing! So I know that everyone knows Mean Girls.

00:15 We've all been anticipating this comeback.

00:17 And I love that it really feels new and fresh,

00:21 but at the same time, you know, you're still getting all the nostalgia.

00:23 So I just wanted to ask, what makes Mean Girls so timeless?

00:27 I think the relationships and the kind of journey that Katie goes on of like,

00:34 "Oh, I came to a new place. I didn't know anyone. I made some huge mistakes.

00:38 And now I have to kind of undo them." I think it's a very relatable human story.

00:43 I think Regina George, you know, very much because of Rachel McAdams' original performance,

00:50 Regina George is a fantastic villain. And I think what makes Regina a good villain is that

00:54 no one's the villain in their own story, you know? So both Renee's, Regina and Rachel's are

00:59 pretty three-dimensional and they have their own stresses and their own pressures and

01:03 they make their own mistakes. I think that's part of it.

01:06 Absolutely. And I love Renee's take on this, Regina. I mean, it's really, really good.

01:10 And I talked to her and she really talked about, you know, just bringing her own into it.

01:14 So I really enjoy how all of these characters really got to bring the actors, got to bring

01:18 themselves into these roles, which just makes it feel even more authentic.

01:23 And just talking about the first rendition of this, there are so many lines that have stuck

01:28 with people that have become part of our regular language. Was there any of those that shocked you?

01:33 Like you were not expecting those to be a thing?

01:36 The one that I didn't even realize was a thing until we started working on the Broadway musical

01:41 was the thing of October 3rd that people remembered anything to do with her saying,

01:46 "It's October 3rd," because that's just sort of barely even a joke in the original movie.

01:51 Yeah.

01:51 It's just how I was trying to move time forward in the story.

01:54 Absolutely.

01:55 So that's probably the craziest one.

01:56 Yeah.

01:57 Which is like the biggest one, because it's Mean Girls Day. So...

02:00 Yeah.

02:00 And was there a challenge to kind of bring those moments into this new one or into the

02:07 musical version, or was you just knowing that, you know, something's going to stick?

02:11 Yeah. Some of the things, you know, we sort of learned along the way with the stage musical that

02:16 my feeling was if it's something textural, like October 3rd, we can weave that in and use that.

02:23 But if it's a joke, like I try not to repeat, just to repeat a joke, because then it won't

02:29 really work anymore as a joke. But things that are just familiar, but they're not jokes, like

02:36 that felt okay to weave through.

02:38 And then just chatting about this cast, and we kind of already talked about Renee, like

02:42 I love that there's so much representation in these characters. What were you looking for in

02:46 these actors to really bring that into the 2024?

02:49 Well, I mean, the thrilling thing of all the iterations of the musicals we've seen that it...

02:53 I already knew that it's really fun to watch different actors bring their own take to these

02:59 characters. And so, I mean, we just wanted the best, most charismatic, most talented people.

03:05 And I think we really got them. You know, I think Renee is incredible, and Gowrie is

03:09 incredible. There's so much intelligence, you know, behind her eyes. You really believe that

03:15 she's a kid who could do calculus. I don't know if Anne Gowrie can actually do calculus.

03:19 And Ali'i is bringing that kind of edginess that's really vulnerability. It's erratic

03:27 behavior, but it's because you know there's a lot of hurt there. Everyone just had this

03:31 deep understanding. Jaquel is perfect as a narrator figure who takes us through, but also

03:38 as Damien as this supportive best friend to Janice. They're all just fantastic.

03:46 I agree. It's really, really good. It's so fun. It's so campy. I'm so excited for everyone to

03:51 see it. Thank you so much for chatting with me, and congratulations.

03:54 Thank you so much.

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