InstagramDid Lindsay Lohan ever give Daniel Franzese his pink shirt back?
The former Mean Girls costars, who played Cady and Damian in Tina Fey's satirical comedy about high school students, reunited on Wednesday, Feb. 5. Lohan, 27, shared a picture from their outing via Instagram, writing, "@whatsupdanny #soquiche #werknyc." Franzese, 35, regrammed the photo and added, "Classic NYC moment after an amazing dinner at #BodegaNegra You can't sit with us!"
Lohan and Franzese's night out comes just as Mean Girls director Mark Waters reflected on the film's 10-year legacy. According to the filmmaker, Lohan originally wanted to play the role that went to Rachel McAdams. "Her energy is a very aggressive, testosterone-laden energy, and that's exactly what I knew I needed for Regina George," Waters told Vulture. "When I gave it to her, she was like, 'I f--king love Regina George! This is exactly the part I want to play.' So we did a read-through, and we were trying to look for somebody to play the role of Cady, but frankly, we didn't find anyone we liked who felt strong enough to go up against Lindsay."
After the success of Lohan's Freaky Friday, studio executives wanted the famous redhead to take on the narrative role. "Lindsay kind of begrudgingly said, 'Okay, I guess I'll play the lead. At least I get to have more lines.'" Ironically, McAdams had originally auditioned for the role of Cady before she was cast as Regina, North Shore High School's queen bee and leader of The Plastics.
"I remember watching her do the scene," Waters recalled, "and after it was over, I told her, 'I think you're a movie star, but you're way too old for this character. You just aren't going to be able to play the ingénue.' And she said, 'No, I understand, I get it.'" When Lohan switched to Cady, he decided to cast McAdams as her blond frenemy. "When Lindsay was acting with Rachel, she got very shy, because Rachel was older and a very accomplished actress," Waters said. "She'd come in the room and not talk to Lindsay—she was very focused. Lindsay kind of got nervous around her, and I thought that, more than anything, was going to be the deciding factor, the fact that she affected Lindsay in that way."
According to Waters, McAdams had some stiff competition for the role of Regina.
"The person who was neck and neck for the role of Regina—and we agonized over which one we were going to cast—was Amanda Seyfried," he said of the actress, who'd been a soap opera star. "She tested for Regina and was kind of brilliant, and very different than Rachel's approach. She played it in a much more ethereal but still kind of scary way. She was more frightening, but oddly, less intimidating."
When the time came to cast ditzy Karen, a producer suggested hiring Seyfried. "Lorne Michaels...had the genius idea of saying, 'What about the dumb girl? I think Amanda could play the dumb girl,'" Waters told Vulture. "So she came in and read it and nailed it, and we got the best of both worlds."
Mean Girls became a pop culture phenomenon, grossing more than $129 million since its April 2004 debut.