You might know Reneé Rapp best for her career as a rising queer pop star, or as preppy lesbian Leighton on Max’s The Sex Lives of College Girls. But before she shot to mainstream stardom, a 19-year-old Rapp got her start on Broadway playing another gay icon: Regina George in the musical adaptation of the iconic 2004 comedy Mean Girls. Five years later, the openly bisexual triple-threat is returning to the role, this time on the big screen.
Apart from musical numbers, the latest Mean Girls film introduces plenty of contemporary touches for high schoolers of today, from the incorporation of social media to an impressive French cover of the iCarly theme song. But one of the most noticeable, welcome changes is the new movie’s approach to queerness. It’s 2024, and Cady’s proudly offbeat friend Janice (played by out actor Auli‘i Cravalho) is actually allowed to be a lesbian without getting shoved into a Hail Mary straight romance in the film’s closing minutes.
Yet apart from Janice and her “too gay to function” pal Damian (Jaquel Spivey), more and more queer viewers have begun to interpret Regina herself as an example of the closeted popular mean girl trope, in the grand tradition of Glee’s Santana Lopez and Jennifer’s Body’s titular succubus. There’s certainly plenty of subtext to suggest as much, ranging from Regina’s charged friendship breakup with Janice to her joining the field hockey team and literally jumping into a pile of girls.
As it turns out, Rapp herself firmly agrees with that reading. After her flirty delivery of Regina’s iconic line “Get in, loser” in the new movie’s trailer set lesbian TikTok aflame, Rapp later confirmed that she played the scene like Regina was flirting with Cady. Last month, the Mean Girls star even captioned one of her Instagram posts, “Regina George was a lesbian,” seemingly referencing a sign that a fan brought to one of her concerts in 2022.
“[Regina being a lesbian] was always my interpretation of it, still is my interpretation of it. It might not be other people’s, and I truly don’t care,” Rapp tells Them over Zoom. “It’s mine, and that’s how I feel.”
Ahead of the release of Mean Girls, Rapp spoke with Them about friend breakups, the enduring appeal of the sapphic queen bee, collaborating with Megan Thee Stallion on the film’s tie-in queer bop “Not My Fault,” and more.
I’m always curious when an actor plays the same role across different mediums. You played Regina on Broadway before this. How would you say your approach to the character changed from theater to film?
When I was a kid and I was doing [the Broadway show], I was stepping into a mold of what multiple people had done already. As much as I was making it my own, I also had to make sure that it was conducive to a stage and that it would read. My natural instincts, I think, are much smaller, and much more intimate, which I’ve found out doing film and TV. With the cameras, the medium changes things a lot. Inherently, the performance is so different.
I think that probably the bite [of Regina] is the same, but when I was doing it on Broadway, it was a bit sweeter. I was also in a phase of my life where I was trying to appease and please everyone. I definitely don’t feel that way. Not currently. I’m much more direct. I care a lot, but I don’t give a fuck.
Was there a scene or a song you were excited to get to do again in that more intimate movie space as opposed to the stage?
I don’t remember filming these songs. I don’t remember filming much of anything in this movie, but I remember being in New Jersey for what felt like 10 years. With a movie like this, the production is so huge. You’re just there. It just kind of all gets blended together as one. I think just doing it again as a whole was really exciting to me. I’m just more sure of myself now that I’m older. I think I’ve been burned enough to now really just be like, “No, I’m actually OK. I’m good.” So it’s just a bit more unapologetic.
As soon as the first Mean Girls trailer dropped, your delivery of “Get in, loser” rocked queer TikTok. Like, gay girl For You Pages were not the same. You’ve since said that you decided Regina should be hitting on Cady in that scene, and that Regina George was a lesbian. So I’d love to hear about how you decided to play queerness into your portrayal of Regina. Like, were you going into the movie with that in mind? Did it depend on the scene?
I think that I was absolutely going into the movie with that in mind. To me [and my friends], that was always a conversation around the film: “Oh, she’s, like… This is coming from a [queer] place. Come on, now.” That was always my interpretation of it, still is my interpretation of it. It might not be other people’s, and I truly don’t care. It’s mine, and that’s how I feel. So what are you going to do?
Yeah, I don’t know, man. Chris [Briney], who plays Aaron, is just the conduit for Regina and Janice and Cady to all go at each other, right? I don’t really know that Regina cares about him whatsoever. I think it’s actually quite evident that she doesn’t, to me. She doesn’t give a fuck, she doesn’t care. And Janice wants to get back at Regina so, so badly. I’m not saying that straight girls don’t fight like that. However, my straight girls don’t, so…
Watching this version, I kept thinking back to being a teenager and going through middle-school, end-of-the-world gay girl friendship breakups. I know that happens with straight girls, but there’s just something about the intensity of those friendship breakups for us that doesn’t feel the same.
It’s not. It’s not the same. For me, the way that I carry myself is going into so much of this character. So inherently, that “Get in, loser” is probably gonna feel like flirting. Honestly, that’s just, like, how I would do it. So I feel like that’s flirting.
I feel like the popular mean girl has almost become this queer subgenre, whether it’s Jennifer’s Body or Glee or Regina in Mean Girls. Why do you think gay audiences keep coming back to this kind of character, and specifically to Regina?
When I was younger, I remember always being fascinated by what seemed to be a really hot, popular straight girl. She was always much older than me, and I always had a huge crush on her. And it was everything. I’m not necessarily sure why. It’s almost like, you see that sense of security in someone else that you think they’re experiencing and you’re like, “Oh, that’s amazing.” And it’s also someone that you’re wildly attracted to. It’s very confusing.
Very much, “Do I want to be her, or do I want to be with her?”
Usually it’s both.
Absolutely.
I find that anyone I’m in love with, or get a crush on, I’m like, “I really want to be her. I’m just so obsessed with her.”
You didn’t just star in Mean Girls, you also co-wrote “Not My Fault” featuring Megan Thee Stallion. I particularly love the verse that ends with “Can a gay girl get an amen?” I’d love to hear about this idea to turn that line from the original movie into a fun queer song.
It was just what I wanted. I was like, I’m not going to write some “Kumbaya,” all coming together, girls-support-girls song. Because at the end of the day, yes, this is a musical, and there are undertones of that.
But also, these bitches are being bitches. Like, let’s be so clear. This is a comedy about people getting at each other. Like, we’re not curing cancer. I wanted it to be playful. And Regina has that energy that’s like: “It’s not my fault that you’re obsessed with me. That’s a you thing, and you need to deal with that. And being jealous like that is not cute.”
I just wanted it to have that playful energy. And then “Can a gay girl get an amen?” was really just what’s in my head. I was like, “I want to say that in this song because I want to be abundantly clear about how I feel [about Mean Girls] and be very out about it.”
Right. And there’s already some ‘Kumbaya” stuff at the end of the musical anyway.
Yeah.
Like, let gay girls be haters! Not to the point where someone falls in front of a bus, but, you know...
I definitely have the energy right now in my life of, “If you want to dislike me, you go right ahead. That must be fucking lonely.”
You’re very effective at using TikTok, reposting fans, things like that. I feel like even since the musical debuted in the late 2010s, TikTok as a medium, and even how the musical utilizes social media, has already evolved so much. So I’m curious about your relationship with TikTok now, and if that was in your performance or on your mind at all doing this very contemporary version of Mean Girls.
I don’t think so. Not in a conscious way, at least. I think that’s just so much a part of my life, pop culture, my career, what we consume, and how you find community. So I think that it probably was a thing, but not consciously.
Yeah, it was interesting. Because it went from typical school-wide gossip in the original movie to everyone getting in on the drama through these social media posts. Like, “Oh, now Jon Hamm is talking about Regina on TikTok.”
Yes, which… I would love if Jon Hamm was talking about me on TikTok.
He really should. Come on, man.
He should, honestly. I’m waiting for my shoutout on TikTok from Jon Hamm.
This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Mean Girls is in theaters January 12.
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