When Tina Fey Emails You About Remaking 'Mean Girls' as a Musical: Angourie Rice Talks Playing Cady Heron

Before she was even a teenager, Angourie Rice faced the end of the world. Ever since, she's been living almost everyone's dream. When the Sydney-born Australian actor made her feature film debut, it was in 2013's homegrown apocalyptic thriller These Final Hours, in what was also one of Sarah Snook's (Succession) early movie appearances. Jump to 2024 and Rice has not only a coveted resume to her name spanning everything from Sofia Coppola's The Beguiled to three Spider-Man flicks, but also a role that couldn't be more iconic. Move over Lindsay Lohan, get in Rice as Mean Girls' Cady Heron.

Call it fetch, grool, coolness — when you grew up watching a film on repeat and now lead its 20-years-later musical remake, they all fit. The Aussie star of The Nice Guys, Jasper Jones, Black Mirror, Ladies in Black and Mare of Easttown has made it happen. Rice isn't just living the dream in her acting success, however. She also received an email that anyone who has seen 30 Rock, Saturday Night Live or, yes, the OG Mean Girls wishes would land in their inbox: a note from Tina Fey.

Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures

That's how Rice was first given the script for the 2024 movie that's also called Mean Girls, remakes the 2004 favourite of the same name, but isn't merely a case of telling the same tale again two decades later with a different cast. After Fey adapted non-fiction book Queen Bees and Wannabes for the initial Mean Girls film, a phenomenon was born. Alongside getting the world forever equating Wednesdays with wearing pink, the Lohan (Falling for Christmas)-, Rachel McAdams (Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret)-, Amanda Seyfried (The Crowded Room)- and Lacey Chabert (A Merry Scottish Christmas)-starring feature inspired both a made-for-TV and a graphic novel sequel, plus a smash-hit musical that premiered in 2017. And, in a full-circle moment, it's the latter that the new Mean Girls adapts, with Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez (Quarter Life Poetry: Poems for the Young, Broke & Hangry) directing.

So, a parenting book about the behaviour of girls in high-school cliques became a huge success as a teen comedy, then took to the theatre with songs and dancing, and now returns to the big screen with those tunes intact (not that you could really tell that from Mean Girls circa 2024's first trailer). Fey penned the script again — she wrote the book for the stage version, too — and reprises the role of teacher Ms Norbury as well. The only other cast member making a comeback: Tim Meadows (I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson) as Principal Duvall. 

Familiar faces surround North Shore High School's recognisable educators, however. As well as Rice as Cady, The Sex Lives of College Girls' Reneé Rapp plays queen bee Regina George, a part that first had her leading the Plastics on Broadway. Auli'i Cravalho, the voice of Moana, features as Janis. Jon Hamm (Fargo) Jenna Fischer (Splitting Up Together) and Busy Philipps (Girls5eva) are among the adults. Ashley Park (Only Murders in the Building) falls into that category also, after originating the stage's take on Gretchen Wieners and earning a Tony nomination for her efforts. 

How does as Aussie actor named after a coastal New South Wales town of Angourie become Mean Girls' new Cady? How did she react when Fey appeared in her inbox? How obsessed was she with the original film? And how did she prepare to play such a famous and beloved character? We chatted with Rice about all of the above, as well as why Mean Girls is so relatable, loving musical theatre and what she looks for in a role.

Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures

ON GETTING CAST AS CADY HERON — STARTING WITH THAT EMAIL FROM TINA FEY 

"The journey for me began with, believe it or not, an email from Tina Fey — which I could not believe. When it landed in my inbox, I was like 'what is going on?'. And it was a note from her with the script saying 'we're making this movie — I saw you in this thing, I think you'd be great for Cady'. 

I was just astonished that she even knew who I was, and that she was taking the time to send me a personal note. That is so rare when you receive scripts, so that meant a lot to me.

Also because I just idolise her so much. So that's how it began. I read the script. I worked on the songs, and yeah."

ON BEING A LIFELONG MEAN GIRLS FAN STARRING IN MEAN GIRLS

"I had Mean Girls on DVD. I watched it over and over again between the ages of like five and nine. It was that and High School Musical 2 and The Sound of Music, I just watched over and over again. 

That movie is very, very stuck in my childhood brain — and my adult brain as well. I continued to rewatch it all the way up until I got cast in the movie. And then I was like 'I'm not going to watch it' because I need to have a clean mind going into it."

Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures

ON TAKING ON SUCH A BELOVED PART

"There's a huge sense of responsibility to the people who loved the story of Mean Girls in whatever form, and the sense of responsibility to myself as well. 

So it was daunting, but I realised that I couldn't say no. It just had to be yes because I knew that if I said no and I went to the cinema and watched it, I would feel like I really missed out."

ON PREPARING TO STEP INTO CADY'S (AND LINDSAY LOHAN'S) SHOES

"I prepared in the same way I do for any role, actually. I go through the script. I annotate it. I also write down questions in certain scenes that I can ask the writer or director. 

The directors also gave me a character sheet, which is really cool — just a list of questions that you would answer as your character, which was really helpful."

Mare of Easttown, Michele K Short/HBO

ON DRAWING UPON RICE'S OWN HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENCES TO PLAY CADY

"What I love about Mean Girls is those feelings of being the new kid, feeling left out, feeling like you're not good enough, those are things are universal and you can feel them at any point in your life — starting a new job, or just when you arrive at a party and you only know one person.

I definitely had that experience. I wasn't a new kid in high school, but I would go away and travel and come back, and things in high school move so quickly. So I'd come back and find out that my friendship group dynamic was different, or that someone had had a falling out with someone else and I had to pick a side — those sorts of dynamics. 

So, coming home and feeling like the new kid again because I'd just been away for three months and everything had changed, I did relate to that a lot with Cady."

Ladies in Black

ON WHAT RICE HAS LOOKED FOR IN A PART EVER SINCE THESE FINAL HOURS

"I look for stories that are interesting and characters that have a good arc. That's what I love about Cady. She's got this incredible arc from being naive to being top of the world to falling down and having to get back up again.

For me, it starts with the script and the story, and I think that's why I've been fortunate enough to have experiences in different genres and in different formats — limited series and movies. Because it's the story that comes first, and then the genre, and then the time period. 

I feel very fortunate that I have had lots of different opportunities."

ON ALWAYS WANTING TO MAKE A MUSICAL

"I love musicals. I love musical theatre. So I was just overjoyed.

One of the main reasons I took it was simply because I just wanted to be in a musical. I love the feeling that musical theatre gives me, so I just really wanted to be a part of it."

Mean Girls opens in Australian cinemas on Thursday, January 11 and New Zealand cinemas on Thursday, January 18. Read our review.

Mean Girls 2024 images: Jojo Whilden/Paramount © 2023 Paramount Pictures.