Reneé Rapp is one of the most exciting and inspiring forces on the rise right now in entertainment. Not only is she bubbling over with next level talent, but she also boasts a number of extremely admirable qualities, ones that can be hard for any artist to establish, let alone one just starting her career. Rapp operates with maximum conviction. She’s someone who knows what she wants, and has absolutely no problem advocating for herself. Even better? She keeps her collaborators’ best interest in mind while pursuing her own dreams.

Rapp is often in the spotlight courtesy of her flourishing music career and highly influential social media presence, but her name is in even more headlines than usual right now thanks to her feature film debut, Mean Girls. After playing Regina George on Broadway, Rapp returns to the role for the new Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr. directed film. Mean Girls 2024 holds tight to the 2004 original, incorporates a slew of songs from the musical, and manages to put its own fun, fresh spin on the narrative.

In case you need the basics, Mean Girls follows homeschooled Cady Heron (Angourie Rice) after she moves back to the US from Kenya. Cady’s got absolutely no clue how to navigate the high school social scene, but fortunately, Janis (Auli’i Cravalho) and Damian (Jaquel Spivey) swoop in to give Cady the lay of the land at North Shore High School, most importantly, a warning about The Plastics led by queen bee, Regina George (Rapp). Trouble is, the appeal of popularity proves too powerful. While on a secret mission to expose Regina as a “mean girl,” Cady starts to lose herself in the thrill of being at the top of the food chain and becomes a “mean girl” herself.

With Mean Girls now playing in theaters nationwide, I got the chance to have a Collider Ladies Night chat with Rapp to discuss her journey with the Mean Girls franchise and where she gets her unflappable confidence.

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