"Mean Girls" Almost Didn't Cast Amy Poehler Because of "Saturday Night Live"

But Tina Fey told them what's what.

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In honor of Mean Girls' upcoming 10-year (!!!) anniversary, Vulture has posted some excellent trivia from the film, courtesy of someone who was as close as one can be to production: The film's director, Mark Waters. There are 10 stories (for 10 years), and while all of them are interesting and a must-read for all Mean Girls fans, the following really stuck out as the most shocking: Apparently, Amy Poehler and Tim Meadows, two vital parts of making the project what it was, almost weren't cast in the film because of their affiliation with Saturday Night Live.

According to Waters, Paramount Pictures was weary of hiring anyone from SNL because they'd "been burned" with some SNL movies from the sketch show's creator (and Mean Girls producer) Lorne Michaels, so they didn't want to hire anyone from SNL for fear that people would stay away from the movie.

Luckily, Waters and Tina Fey were able to secure both actors for the role after considerable fighting with the studio:

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The film would not have been the same without them.

You can check out the other nine trivia facts from Waters over at Vulture (and you definitely should), here.

[via Vulture]

[Images via heckyeahreactiongifs/Tumblr, Rebloggy]

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