Mean Girls 2024 Cast on Diversity and Identity in New Film

The very first shot of the 2024 musical reimagining of “Mean Girls” is a vertical body. Two characters, Janis (performed by Auli’i Cravalho) and Damian (Jaquel Spivey), movie themselves singing a music that units the stage for the story to comply with. They’re troubadours for the TikTok set — and it is a “Mean Girls” for a brand new technology.

The Cady Heron, Regina George, and Aaron Samuels of the unique movie, launched in 2004, had by no means seen an iPhone — these would not debut for an additional three years. “Instagram,” “Twitter,” and “Snapchat” would have gave the impression of gibberish. Karen was only a title, and Donald Trump was only a enterprise mogul.

Twenty years later . . . nicely, issues are completely different. We’ve seen not only a technological revolution, however a cultural one. More Americans have turn into extra conscious of how rampant racism and discrimination — from microaggressions to hate crimes — are in this nation. And, whereas we nonetheless have an extended technique to go, individuals have a better understanding of the hurt attributable to failing to adequately symbolize a range of identities on display screen.

In 2004, the unique movie did make jokes about racial stereotypes (“If you’re from Africa, why are you white?”), however it did not go as far as to forged an individual of shade in any of the primary roles. (Actually, that was a joke in the unique film, too: Kevin G asks Janis if she’s Puerto Rican. “Lebanese,” solutions Janis, performed by Lizzy Caplan, who’s white.)

The new “Mean Girls” forged is notably extra numerous than the unique, and the forged tells POPSUGAR that they are grateful for the flexibility to convey their characters into 2024 by integrating extra of their particular person identities.

“I got to bring a little bit of myself to the character,” says Bebe Wood, who performs Gretchen Wieners. “I was talking with [director Arturo Perez Jr.] and he was like, ‘Wait, I heard somewhere that you’re Latina . . . We should just add something in there.'”

The addition to the script was small — a single point out of her abuelito — however for Wood, the affect was large. “I’ve never been able to play Cuban American before,” she says. “So it was exciting to add just a little nod to my heritage within the role.”

Avantika, who performs Karen Shetty in the brand new movie, was equally grateful to have the ability to embrace her background on display screen. “It really meant a lot when . . . at the initial table read, [screenwriter Tina Fey] was like, ‘Is there anything about the name like Karen Smith that you want to change?'” Avantika says. “And I was like, ‘I’m South Indian, I’ve never gotten to play someone who’s openly South Indian, and I speak Telugu at home; would it be possible to bring in the last name from my culture?’ . . . And so we decided on Karen Shetty. That’s really special to me that [Fey] gave me the space and freedom to bring that.”

Karen is not the one character to get a brand new title: Janis Ian is now Janis ‘Imi’ike, reflective of Cravalho’s Hawaiian heritage. Cravalho desires to get to a spot the place range in movie is the rule, somewhat than the exception. “Every film that I’m in, I get asked about: ‘Why is representation important in films?'” she says. “Thank you for asking me that question — but can we move on a little bit? A space that I’m trying to move out of is being asked always about, ‘How important is it to you to be the first pioneer?’ I am excited to open the doors and just break through. [But] I don’t want to be the first.”

This name-claiming is very significant in a movie the place name-calling and misnaming trigger a lot hurt. The Plastics, “fugly slut,” “dyke” (in the brand new model, up to date to “pyro lez”): they’re all names and labels doled out like candy-cane grams, and the scholars of North Shore High really feel the burn.

Spivey says that he tries to disregard labels that different individuals stick on him; they don’t seem to be the reality, he says. “Even in the film, Regina calls Karen stupid, so therefore Karen feels like she’s stupid. But I have a strong feeling if Karen didn’t listen, she wouldn’t feel stupid. You know what I mean?” Spivey tells POPSUGAR. “So for me, I think a lot of people can be like, ‘Oh yeah, you’re a plus-size queer actor.’ I am, but I’m also just an actor. So maybe you don’t label me and I won’t label myself and I can just be whatever I want.”

This sentiment is echoed by this technology’s Regina George, Reneé Rapp. Rapp is overtly bisexual (and has hinted in prior interviews and on social media that her Regina won’t be as straight because the character’s relationships with Aaron Samuels and Shane Oman may point out). But she additionally makes clear that solely she has the best to remark on her sexuality.

“I’ve come out a lot of different times in my life and with a couple of different things, and it recently has changed a lot for me,” says Rapp, maybe referring to her portrayal of Leighton Murray, a school freshman who comes out as a lesbian on “The Sex Lives of College Girls.” “But I cannot tell you how many times I’ve received comments in the last month or two that are just like, ‘Oh, congrats on [coming out] again,'” she says, her tone altering to the vocal equal of an eye fixed roll. “And I was like, bro, actually fuck you. You suck.”

There’s energy in claiming and coming into your id. And the individuals who attempt to put you in a field or use your individuality to harm you? Rapp is correct: they suck.

Angourie Rice says she’s studying to let go of the opinions and expectations others have of her — not not like her character, Cady Heron. “When I was 17, I had a really great year in terms of work and publicity, and it was my final year of high school and I graduated. And that felt like a really successful year for me. I think when you’re a young person working in the industry and you get success at a particular point in your life, there’s maybe a pressure to sort of stay at that point in your life,” she says. “[You think], ‘Oh, that’s when I got the most validation, therefore I should be like that always.'”

But Rice is trying to develop and sees how relying on exterior affirmation for her sense of self-worth might be holding her again. “For me, [I’m working on] releasing that constant need for validation because I got it so much at this particular point in my life,” she says. “I’m not 17 anymore.”

Stepping into the position of final teen heartthrob Aaron Samuels got here with comparable pressures for Christopher Briney. But in enjoying Aaron, “I just tried to be Chris,” he says. “I really wanted to break free of expectations of what I thought people wanted to see when they see Aaron Samuels.”

It takes a particular form of setting to have the ability to foster a lot freedom and vulnerability in the actors’ performances — and the forged says they felt supported by each other instantly.

“The friendships came easy. It was so easy, so fun to work with these people. I loved it so much,” Rice reminisces. “I think also we were all so committed to making the movie the best it could possibly be, and I learned a lot from both Jaquel and Auli’i. Auli’i stands up for herself so much. Jaquel is one of the funniest performers I know. And so just being in a room with these two people and learning so much from how they work and who they are was a treat.”

Spivey agrees. After all, he says, Fey set the tone from day one which the entire movie is about highschool — that you must have enjoyable for it to essentially translate. As he places it, “It’s an actor’s dream to be able to step into a space and feel comfortable enough to play — and to play as much as you can and discover.”