Lacey Chabert is opening up about the challenges of filming one of the most iconic scenes from Mean Girls — the infamous “Jingle Bell Rock” dance.
While the 2004 holiday number has become a millennial classic, Chabert admits it wasn’t all smooth moves during the shoot.
“Dancing is not my strongest suit,” the 42-year-old actress told People magazine in an interview published December 13.
Though she’s become more comfortable on the dance floor thanks to other roles, Chabert recalls struggling to keep up with the choreography. “I just remember Mark Waters, the director… yelling out, definitely more than once, ‘Cut. Lacey’s offbeat. Someone help her.’”
Her missteps, however, actually “kind of made sense” within the context of the scene — as her character, Gretchen, is rushed into a last-minute spot on the stage by Rachel McAdams’ Regina George.
Despite the mishaps, Chabert says the real challenge was holding it together with her co-stars: “I just remember every day of that movie… trying not to laugh, trying not to break character. And actually, when Gretchen kicks the stereo off the stage accidentally, I remembered we were genuinely laughing. If you look close enough, you can see I’m about to break and laugh.”
“It was such a fun scene to film,” she concluded.
