Mean Girls is a must-see movie. But did you know that one of the most iconic scenes in the film could have been shot completely differently?
According to director Mark Waters, he wanted the Plastics' "Jingle Bell Rock" dance to be much "racier" than what was originally shown onscreen.
In fact, he wanted the girls to do a "sexually embarrassing dance move" that would have everyone squirming in their seats.
"They were going to turn and stick their posteriors up in the air," Mark told Entertainment Weekly. "And then they showed it to me and I was like, 'Whoa, that’s too much! Go with something else.'"
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After a few more rehearsals, Lacey Chabert, Rachel McAdams, Lindsay Lohan, and Amanda Seyfried were given the famous "thigh slap" at the beginning of the choreography.
"That's how we got this idea of, 'Let's do this stripper thigh slap simultaneously,' and it just germinated out of the rehearsals organically, which ended up being the funniest part of the scene," Mark said.
But that's not all. Because Lindsay was a minor, it was hard for her to find time to shoot a "much more elaborate dance" with the rest of her castmates. So they did what they could to make the scene work.
"Because we couldn't book the time with her, it ended up being a little more roughshod and a little messier than we were intending, but that ended up being the greatest thing," Mark said.
"We're actually able to do this for real and have it feel messy, like it should [for a high school talent show]. That worked for the movie."
Even though things didn’t go according to plan, it obviously worked out for the best because the Mean Girls "Jingle Bell Rock" dance is forever iconic.
