Lizzy Caplan opens up about grueling audition process for 'Mean Girls'

Lizzy Caplan is reflecting on the long road it took to land her breakout role as Janis Ian in Mean Girls. 

In conversation with Penn Badgley on Podcrushed, the 43-year-old actress revealed just how determined she was to be part of the film — and how close she came to losing the role.

Caplan explained that the audition process was “very, very long,” and that she immediately connected with the script. 

“It was just the funniest script I had ever read,” she said. “I wanted to be in it so bad. I fought so hard and then it worked out.”

Before being considered for Janis, Caplan said she, like everyone else, had to read for one of the two lead roles. 

“Everybody had to audition, I think, for one of the two main [roles]: Cady, the Lindsay Lohan part, or the Rachel McAdams part,” she shared, noting that casting later sorted actors into callback groups.

Even then, she faced resistance. “I went in and they were resistant to casting me,” Caplan recalled. “Somebody reminded me of this recently: the studio wanted Kelly Osbourne to play that role.”

Determined to prove she could embody Janis, Caplan went a step further. With help from a Canadian hairstylist friend, she transformed herself to match the character’s goth aesthetic. 

“We went to Hollywood Boulevard and put on dark wigs and just anything to send them screen grabs of me looking like a goth kid,” she said.

Her persistence finally paid off. “I don’t remember how long the process was, but I remember getting the phone call and where I was when I got the phone call that I got the part,” Caplan shared. 

“How many times has that really happened to you in your career: that you just want to celebrate and it’s nothing but exciting?”