Auli’i Cravalho is transferring to North Shore High School, the setting of Mean Girls, a 2004 movie and 2017 Tony-nominated Broadway musical.
Cravalho has been tapped to join the ensemble cast of a new Mean Girls movie, this one based on the Broadway musical. The original teen comedy was adapted by Tina Fey (30 Rock), partially from the 2002 self-help book, Queen Bees and Wannabes. Fey is returning to write the screenplay for the musical film. It will be helmed by first-time feature film directors Arturo Perez and Samantha Jayne.
In the new film, Cravalho, best known for lending her voice to the title character in Disney’s Oscar-nominated 2016 animated film Moana, will play the role of Janis, an “outcast” at North Shore who befriends a new student from Africa named Cady. Together, with an assist from Janis’ BFF Damien, the trio devise a plan to use Cady to infiltrate the most popular clique in their high school, The Plastics, led by queen bee Regina George.
“So very thrilled to announce Paramount Pictures’ new Mean Girls film based on the Tony-nominated Broadway musical with fellow cast [Angourie Rice, Reneé Rapp, and Jaquel Spivey]!!” Cravalho wrote on social media. “Say hello to Janis, bitches. THIS IS SO F—ING FETCH. #MeanGirlsTheMovieTheMusical.”
Cravalho also added a few emojis, including a school bus, a reference to the vehicle that injures Regina near the end of the movie and stage musical.
Most recently, Auli’i Cravalho was seen in the paranormal teen comedy Darby and the Dead. In the film, she plays Capri Donahue, a head cheerleader who returns from the grave, so she won’t miss out on her 17th birthday party that was planned before her death. Just imagine Mean Girls with ghosts.