Lizzy Caplan reflects on the long road it took to land her breakout role as Janis Ian Mean girls.
In conversation with Penn Badgley op Crushedthe 43-year-old actress revealed 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 took “a very, very long time” and that she immediately jumped into the script.
“It was just the funniest script I had ever read,” she said. “I wanted to be there so bad. I fought so hard and then it worked.”
Before being considered for Janis, Caplan said she, like everyone else, had to read for one of the two lead roles.
“Everyone had to audition, I think, for one of the two leads [roles]: Cady, the Lindsay Lohan role or the Rachel McAdams role,” she shared, noting that casting later sorted the actors into callback groups.
Even then, she met resistance. “I went in and they were resistant to casting me,” Caplan recalls. “Someone reminded me of this recently: the studio wanted Kelly Osbourne to play that role.”
Determined to prove she could embody Janis, Caplan went one step further. With the help of a Canadian hairstylist friend, she transformed herself to fit the character’s goth aesthetic.
“We went to Hollywood Boulevard and put on dark wigs and whatever they could to make me look like a goth kid,” she said.
Her perseverance was eventually rewarded. “I don’t remember how long the process took, but I remember getting the call and where I was when I got the call that I got the part,” Caplan said.
“How many times has that really happened to you in your career: that you just want to celebrate and it’s just exciting?”
