Rachel McAdams didn’t expect hate for her ‘Mean Girls’ role

Hollywood actress Rachel McAdams did not anticipate the hate for her role of Regina George in ‘Mean Girls’. The actress has shared that she “didn’t know how hated she would be” for playing school bully in the show, reports ‘Female First UK’. The 47-year-old actress starred alongside Lindsay Lohan, Lacey Chabert, Amanda Seyfried, Lizzy Caplan, Daniel Franzese, Tina Fey and Tim Meadows in director Mark Waters’ 2004 teen comedy.

As per ‘Female First UK’, in the film, Lindsay Lohan plays Cady Heron, a 16-year-old girl who transfers to a public high school after being homeschooled her whole life in Africa who carries out a plan to destroy the clique of popular girls The Plastics; Regina (played by Rachel McAdams), Gretchen Wieners and Karen Smith.

Rachel said that she wasn’t prepared for Mean Girls to become a pop culture phenomenon nor the level of hatred film fans felt towards Queen Bee Regina. Appearing on ‘The Graham Norton Show’, she said, “I didn’t know how hated she would be and for how long. The first time I saw the film with an audience I was with my best friend. Everyone cheered when Regina was hit by a bus, but my friend stood up and screamed, ‘Nooooo’”.

Her latest movie is ‘Send Help’, directed by horror master Sam Raimi, the film follows the struggle for survival for financial strategist and survival enthusiast Linda Liddle, played by Rachel, who ends up stranded on a deserted island with her boss Bradley Preston (played by Dylan O’Brien) after a plane crash.

Discussing working with Raimi, who she previously teamed up with on 2022 Marvel Cinematic Universe film ‘Doctor Strange’ in the ‘Multiverse of Madness’, Rachel said, “He is so wonderful and such a kind and lovely man who makes dark demented films so I knew it would be a big reach”.

She made her Hollywood film debut in the comedy The Hot Chick in 2002. She rose to fame in 2004 with the comedy Mean Girls and the romantic drama The Notebook. In 2005, she starred in the romantic comedy Wedding Crashers, the psychological thriller Red Eye, and the comedy-drama The Family Stone. She was hailed by the media as Hollywood’s new “it girl”,[2][3] and received a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Rising Star.

After a hiatus, McAdams gained further prominence starring in the films The Time Traveler’s Wife (2009), Sherlock Holmes (2009), Morning Glory (2010), Midnight in Paris (2011), The Vow (2012), and About Time (2013). For her portrayal of journalist Sacha Pfeiffer in the drama Spotlight (2015), she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. This was followed by roles in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Doctor Strange (2016) and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), the romantic drama Disobedience (2017), the comedies Game Night (2018) and Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020), the comedy-drama Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. (2023), and the horror-thriller Send Help (2026).

Agencies