As the latest entry into the coronavirus virtual-cast-reunion club, the core squad of Mean Girls celebrated October 3 by cutting boob holes into their tank tops and wearing a complete pink ensemble. Just kidding. They reunited on Katie Couric’s Instagram page to reminiscence about their perfect teen movie, which, interestingly, yielded this bit of gossip: Jonathan Bennett, who portrayed hottie Aaron Samuels, was “brought in last minute†and flown to the set just one day before shooting began, because the original actor who landed the role was … well, let Tina Fey tell you. “Yeah,†she said, “somebody got fired.†She added, about the future of Aaron and Lindsay Lohan’s Cady Heron character: “I think they’re Facebook friends. I don’t think they ended up together. I wouldn’t want characters who met in high school to end up together. I hope they lived a little more than that.â€
Neither Fey nor Bennett elaborated on who the original actor was, but, following the trail of gossip crumbs, Daniel Franzese (who played the film’s fabulous Damian Leigh) told Cosmopolitan back in 2014 that the actor was fired after a disastrous table read, because he “hadn’t shaved and didn’t take his hat off; he was playing it really cool.†When pressed for a name, Franzese politely demurred. “I don’t want to embarrass him, I’m afraid,†he said. “He has worked consistently, he’s a good guy … but, yeah he is somebody who you would’ve known.†It would’ve been so fetch to learn the truth, but whatever.