Tina Fey Reflected on Mean Girls 15 Years After Its Release — Yes, It's Really Been That Long

Here's something to contemplate: it's been 15 years since Mean Girls strutted its way to cult status — the fact that it seems like yesterday is likely due to its lasting influence. In case you weren't already feeling nostalgic, Tina Fey recently stopped by the Today show to talk about the big anniversary.

Fey, who wrote the movie and also portrayed Ms. Sharon Norbury, said she was absolutely surprised by its success. "I was so excited that it was going to get made, and then it was going to be in the movie theatre. Then it kind of paid for itself the first weekend," she said. Mean Girls made just over $24 million its opening weekend, which Fey joked an Avengers movie can make in popcorn sales in one showing. Even so, she said, "It was a huge triumph, and it was all female leads. It was a great surprise at the time."

As the first and only film she's written, Mean Girls was a fairly personal project, too. Fey even recalled driving to film in Toronto and then racing back to New York for Saturday Night Live. She said, "It's very, very special to me, and because I did write it by myself, it is my special baby."

For the recent musical adaptation, which she also helped write, Fey of course had to make some changes. One major update? The inclusion of social media. "In the movie it's three-way calling, which I would have had to explain to my kids what that was to even make jokes about it," she said. Watch her reminisce in the full interview above.