No one can deny, Mean Girls is a timeless classic that will continue to be quoted for many years to come. While it is not technically classified as a Christmas movie, there’s one major scene in the 2004 comedy that makes the film a necessity on my holiday watch list. However, it turns out that scene was hard for Lacey Chabert to film for a very understandable reason.
Those who have seen the cult classic know exactly what scene I’m referring to. It’s about halfway through the movie, and the Plastics are performing their annual promiscuous dance to “Jingle Bell Rock.” It happens to take place while Cady, Janice, and Damian are on their mission to “crack Gretchen Weiners,” who was played by Lacey Chabert. The scene shows a frustrated Regina as Gretchen continuously messes up the dance, and Chabert got real with People about how it actually wasn’t all an act, saying:
Dancing is not my strongest suit. … I just remember Mark Waters, the director, who's just wonderful, yelling out, definitely more than once, ‘Cut. Lacey's offbeat. Someone help her.’
Her two left feet kind of worked out in the end, as it plays right into the plot. Gretchen being lost during the performance because of Cady’s new addition has become just as essential to the dance as the actual moves.
I wonder if the four actresses on stage (Chabert, Rachel McAdams, Lindsay Lohan, and Amanda Seyfried) knew just how iconic this “Jingle Bell Rock” dance was going to become. A lot of Mean Girls has become ingrained into pop culture, but this scene in particular has been recreated many times, most famously in Ariana Grande’s “Thank U Next” music video. Recently, though, pop star Tate McRae surprised audiences at iHeart Radio’s Jingle Ball by recreating the scene as the intro to her set. Also included in her Tik Tok that captured the moment was Gretchen and Regina’s exchange right before taking the stage, showing that this dance is still very fetch.
At the time of filming though, the Christmas In Rome actress was not thinking long term, saying she was only trying to make it through the scene without breaking:
I just remember every day of that movie laughing and trying not to laugh, trying not to break character. And actually, when Gretchen kicks the stereo off of the stage accidentally, I remembered we were genuinely laughing. If you look close enough, you can see I’m about to break and laugh. It was such a fun scene to film.
I can imagine I would’ve been the same way. The scene is so laugh-out-loud funny, especially seeing everyone’s reactions to the dance and the events that unfold. The way the stereo flies into Jason’s face is so comedic, and it feels like it is something I would see on SNL. Which checks out given Mean Girls was written by SNL legend Tina Fey and produced by Lorne Michaels.
In the years since filming Mean Girls, the Party of Five actress has become somewhat of a Hallmark staple, not unlike Aaron Samuels himself, Jonathan Bennett. The two had a Mean Girls reunion this holiday season, but they weren’t the only ones.
After years of Hallmark magic, Chabert got to experience how Netflix celebrates the holidays, which included a mini-reunion of sorts with Lindsay Lohan. So, the cast of the 2004 comedy is keeping that funny holiday spirit alive.
However, Mean Girls also is not going anywhere, as it still remains one of the best movies of the 2000s. The chances of another reboot anytime soon are dicey, as the Mean Girls movie musical came out less than a year ago, but I wouldn’t mind seeing our OG characters all grown up.
Similar to Chabert herself, Gretchen might be trying to explain what “fetch” means to her daughter. Unfortunately for her, there might be a lot more explaining to do than just “fetch,” starting with that winter talent show performance…
