'We were like Harry Styles could be Glen Coco!': Arturo Perez Jr contemplates including English singer in 'Mean Girls' reboot
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Harry Styles was close to playing one of the characters in ‘Mean Girls’ reprise.
The filmmaker Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr on Saturday, January 13, told The Hollywood Reporter, that there were quite a few iconic lines that Styles suited for.
“There are certain iconic lines where we would joke that there would be riots in the streets if it wasn’t in there. Like ‘You go, Glen Coco!’ Give the people what they want. Give me what I want! But when we were like, ‘Who’s Glen Coco?'” Jayne asked.
“Who can it be?” Perez interjected, “I remember us going, could we ask, like, Harry Styles?”
Jayne agreed: “We were like Harry Styles could be Glen Coco!”
“Then we were like, hold on, we love to break the fourth wall: What if we are all Glen Coco? So, after 20 years, we can all feel like Glen Coco.”
Who all features in 'Mean Girls' reprise?
The film's main cast was unveiled in December 2022, with Angourie Rice taking on the role of Cady Heron, and Renee Rapp, known for 'Sex Lives of College Girls,' reprising her Broadway character as Regina George.
Avantika and Bebe Wood join the cast as Karen and Gretchen, Regina's Plastics cohorts.
The original 'Mean Girls' from 2004, starring Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Lacey Chabert, and Amanda Seyfried, rapidly achieved the status of a cult classic after its debut.
Talking more about the project, Perez told the outlet, “We tried to make it feel like a camp. Especially, with so much pressure that they were putting on themselves from the cultural zeitgeist. We wanted to keep it safe and happy and just positive.”
New 'Mean Girls' depicts social media presence
On being asked about bringing in phone screens and social media in the screenplay, Jayne said, “We tried to use it a few different ways. We didn’t try to make it all violent bullying and bad, but in the many ways that kids use their phones. Gen Z and kids in high school, now, are all creators.”
“They make their own films, and they make them really well and they only use their phones. We wanted to speak that language and move the camera with that fluidity like one can move an iPhone,” he added.
Perez picked his favorite song from the movie to be ‘I’d Rather Be Me.’ He explained, “Because that’s the message of the film, and it’s such a good message."
"And Janice [who sings it] would be so critical of it, making sure you got everything just right. It’s all one take and, of course, it had to be, because Janice would say, ‘Follow me and don’t you dare cut,’” he added.
