Development
Mean Girls writer Tina FeyTina Fey read Rosalind Wiseman's Queen Bees and Wannabes and called Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels to suggest it could be turned into a film. Michaels contacted Paramount Pictures, who purchased the rights to the book. As the book is nonfiction, Fey wrote the plot from scratch, borrowing elements from her own high school experience and her impressions of Evanston Township High School and New Trier Township High School from her time living in the Chicago area[5], upon which the film's fictional "North Shore High School" is based.[6]
Fey named many characters after real life friends. In a 2014 interview about the movie, she told Entertainment Weekly, "I tried to use real names in writing because it's just easier."[7] Main character Cady Heron was named after Fey's college roommate Cady Garey.[8] Damian was named after Fey's high school friend Damian Holbrook, who went on to become a writer for TV Guide.[9] Minor character Glenn Coco is named after a friend of Fey's older brother; the real Glenn Coco works as a film editor in Los Angeles.[7] Janis Ian was named after singer Janis Ian, who was one of the musical guests on the first Saturday Night Live episode, in which she sang the song "At Seventeen", which can be heard playing in the background when the girls are fighting at Regina's house.[10] The movie was originally going to be called "Homeschooled".[11]
Casting
Fey, Michaels and Paramount's chairman Sherry Lansing wanted to cast Lindsay Lohan after seeing her performance in Freaky Friday (2003). Lohan was originally set to play Regina George, but the casting team ended up feeling she was their strongest choice for the role of Cady Heron, and since executives feared the "mean girl" role would alienate her audience, she eventually agreed to play the lead. Rachel McAdams was cast as Regina because Fey felt McAdams being "kind and polite" made her perfect for such an evil-spirited character and Waters felt Lohan was "a little intimidated" by her which made him like their dynamic. McAdams had originally auditioned for the role of Cady but was deemed "a bit too old" for the character.[12] Kristen Stewart, Michelle Trachtenberg and Mae Whitman were considered for the role of Cady opposite Lohan's Regina George early on.[13] According to casting director Marci Liroff, Blake Lively was the top choice to play the role of Karen Smith, but was told by the producers to keep looking. Amanda Seyfried originally auditioned for Regina, and although director Mark Waters thought she was "fantastic", the producers instead suggested her for Karen due to her "spacey and daffy sense of humor".[14][15] Leighton Meester, Haylie Duff, Kate Mara and Megan Fox were also up for the role of Karen. America Ferrera and Kat Dennings were both heavily favored for the role of Janis Ian.[16] Lizzy Caplan was at first considered too beautiful for that role, for which Waters felt a "Kelly Osbourne-type" was necessary, but Caplan was chosen for being able to portray raw emotion. Evan Rachel Wood was offered a role in the film, but turned it down due to scheduling conflicts, a decision she later regretted.[17] Mary Elizabeth Winstead was asked to audition for the role of Gretchen Wieners, but her mother declined as she disliked the script.[18] Ashley Tisdale and Vanessa Hudgens also auditioned for Gretchen.[16][12] Jonathan Bennett was a last-minute replacement after the actor originally slated to play the role of Aaron Samuels was fired. James Franco had previously been considered for Aaron, and Penn Badgley, Jared Padalecki and Max Minghella all auditioned as well.[19][20] Fey's decision to hire Bennett was due to his resemblance to her longtime SNL co-star Jimmy Fallon.[21] Lacey Chabert and Daniel Franzese were the last actors tested for their roles. Fey wrote two roles based on fellow SNL alumni Tim Meadows and Amy Poehler, the latter of whom Fey thought the producers would perceive as too young to portray a teenager's mother. The cast additionally ended up with a fourth veteran of the show, Ana Gasteyer.[10]
Filming
Although set in Evanston, Illinois, the film was mostly shot in Toronto, Ontario, at Etobicoke Collegiate Institute and Malvern Collegiate Institute, as well as at Montclair High School in Montclair, New Jersey.[22] Landmarks include the University of Toronto's Convocation Hall and Sherway Gardens. Principal photography commenced on September 27, and concluded on November 25, 2003.[23]
