Mean Girls will always be on the list of iconic Hollywood movies that are old but gold. A list that also includes Clueless and Legally Blonde.
And while fans of the movie may know every scene by heart and a lot of behind-the-scenes facts about Mean Girls (including the iconic line – “On Wednesdays we wear pink”), a lot of people don't know that Jonathan Bennett was not the first choice for Cady Heron's crush Aaron Samuels in the movie.
He only got the role because the previous actor messed up and got fired.
Mean Girls Cast Didn't Want To Reveal Which A-Lister Got Fired
The cast of Mean Girls reunited after 16 years in 2020 over a Zoom meeting moderated by Katie Couric to encourage fans to go out and vote. And they dropped a lot of juicy details during it.
One of the things revealed was that Jonathan Bennett was not the original choice for Aaron Samuels in Mean Girls.
“I was actually cast last minute,” Bennett said during the reunion. “I was flown up the night before because they did a switch or something.”
“Yeah, someone got fired,” Tina Fey added.
But they didn't reveal who.
Mark Waters, the director of Mean Girls, revealed this during a different interview:
“There was another actor – whose name I won’t mention here – who was cast as Aaron. He had a great audition but came to the table read, sat with his nose in the script, and mumbled the whole way through.”
Apparently, Lorne Michaels, the producer of Mean Girls, approached Waters after the table read and asked him to switch to their second choice.
“[Lorne Michaels] came over to me and said ‘That’s a shame, we’re going to have to go with that other guy.’ It was brutal and quick, but that ended up being a happy accident as Jonathan was amazing and brought a lot to that part.”
Turns out, brutal firings are part of the game when one is an actor in Hollywood.
It Was Not James Franco
A lot of people think the A-lister who got fired as Aaron Samuels was James Franco, but that's not true. He was being considered for the role but it went to the unnamed actor instead.
In an interview with Cosmopolitan, Daniel Franzese – who played Cady's friend Damien in Mean Girls – revealed this:
“I met Lindsay [at the cast meeting dinner], and Lacey Chabert too. I hit it off with everyone and I remember leaving, saying, 'I’ll see you all tomorrow at the table read. I’m the only one who doesn’t have the part yet,'” Franzese said.
“Jonathan Bennett wasn’t cast yet either. There was another actor who was playing Aaron Samuels at the dinner.”
Then he shared details about the cast's experience with the A-lister the next day.
“The next day at the table read, this other actor hadn’t shaved and he didn’t take his hat off; he was playing it really cool. People kept coming over to him like, 'You know, you should really take your hat off.' And then, right after the table read, he got fired and they called Jonathan Bennett, who I guess was their second choice.”
He didn't reveal who the actor was though.
“I don’t want to embarrass him, I’m afraid. He has worked consistently, he’s a good guy.”
Franzese emphasized though that it was not James Franco. Apparently, Lohan had shared with him that Franco was once considered for the role.
“Lindsay recently told me that, even before [the actor who got fired], James Franco was considered for the role of Aaron Samuels,” Franzese said. “I thought that was so cool. Bennett was great but that would’ve been cool.”
There Were Other Casting Changes In Mean Girls Before They Started Filming
Jonathan Bennett switching out an unnamed A-lister last minute wasn't the only casting change that happened before Mean Girls started filming.
Lindsay Lohan was originally slated to play Regina George. But the role went to Rachel McAdams eventually.
In a different interview, Mark Waters revealed that he wanted to cast Lohan as Regina because of her “aggressive, testosterone-laden energy.”
“When I gave [Regina's role] to [Lindsay Lohan], she was like, ‘I f****** 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... who felt strong enough to go up against Lindsay.”
Lohan became really popular because of Freaky Friday around that time, and so he was advised to make her the lead instead of the villain.
And though one would think that Rachel McAdams was an obvious choice for Regina once Lohan got cast as Cady, that wasn't really the case. Amanda Seyfried was also on the consideration list. But McAdams beat her out, according to Waters, because the former was "more intimidating."
McAdams was really dedicated to playing Regina and prepared for her role extensively before filming. This ultimately solved the casting problem of who was strong enough to go up against Lohan's Cady Heron.
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