14 fetching facts you didn’t know about 2004’s “Mean Girls”

“The person who was neck and neck for the role of Regina — and we agonized over which one we were going to cast — was Amanda Seyfried,” said Waters. “She tested for Regina and was kind of brilliant, and very different than Rachel’s approach. She played it in a much more ethereal but still kind of scary way. She was more frightening, but oddly, less intimidating.”

But Seyfried got lucky and read for the happy, self-described psychic Karen. Waters said “And I think it was [producer] Lorne Michaels who had the genius idea of saying, ‘What about the dumb girl? I think Amanda could play the dumb girl.’ So she came in and read it and nailed it, and we got the best of both worlds.”

Blake Lively (“Gossip Girl”) and Ashley Tisdale (“High School Musical”) also auditioned to play the Plastics at that time, but didn’t land the roles.