15 Clueless Secrets You Didn't Know About
It's been more than 20 years since we first met Cher Horowitz and the gang. Of course, that doesn't mean that we're any less in love with Clueless than we were back then! This light-hearted teen comedy had a huge impact in the '90s, affecting everything from the way we spoke to our opinions on plaid and tartan.
We always thought we knew everything about this cult classic, but as it turns out, we were wrong. From minor details that you might not have picked up on the first 100 times you watched it, to the real lives of cast members and the film we could have ended up with if fate had been different, there's a whole side to this flick that hardly anybody knows about. Until now.
Read on to learn a few secrets about the high school movie that started them all.
15 Alicia Silverstone Wasn't Always On Board
Can we all agree that Alicia Silverstone basically makes this movie? Yes, we can. So it may come as a shock to find out that when she was first approached to do it, she wasn't all that interested. After she'd read the script, her first impression of Cher was that she was a “materialistic, annoying little b*tch” who had no redeeming qualities. That's kind of true, but when Silverstone says it, it feels like blasphemy! And in Cher's defense, she totally has redeeming qualities-who else can rock that much plaid? Luckily, Silverstone eventually changed her mind. But she wasn't the only cast member who didn't get the film in the beginning. Paul Rudd, who played Josh, didn't see how the movie would be appealing, and thought it was just another one of those boring teen comedies. As if! This is evidence that sometimes, it's better not to go with your gut instinct.
14 We Sorta Have Aerosmith to Thank
Silverstone first came to the attention of director Amy Heckerling after she rose to prominence appearing in a series of music videos by the band Aerosmith. When it came time to choose an actress to play Cher, Heckerling stated that she specifically wanted “the girl from the Aerosmith videos” even though she was auditioning a number of other talented actresses. So really, if it weren't for Aerosmith, perhaps Heckerling and Silverstone never would have found each other! Once they were in contact, they decided to have a lunch meeting, and Heckerling knew that she had found her Cher. Silverstone didn't even have to audition! That's how you know you're born to play a part. Though we'd forgive you for thinking that Silverstone has the same personality as Cher, she actually based her off a combination of Lucille Ball and Marilyn Monroe. She claims that she didn't think those inspirations came through on screen, but whatever she did left a lasting impression!
13 The Haitians Scene Wasn't Scripted
We all remember the scene where Cher mispronounces “Haitians” right? It was probably the reason you too were mispronouncing the word until someone finally corrected you, after years of making a fool of yourself. Don't worry-it happened to the best of us! The funny thing is that the scene wasn't scripted that way. Silverstone really didn't know how to pronounce Haitians, and decided her best bet was to rely on phonetics. Crew members approached Silverstone directly after to correct her, but the director put a stop to it, knowing it would be funnier if Silverstone were kept in the dark. “… I didn't want her to know that she had it wrong,” said Heckerling. “I wanted that assurance without her thinking this is funny or a joke-which changes how you say things. There's something you do when you're completely confident that just can't be replicated when you know you're doing something wrong.”
12 We Could Have Guessed Christian's Secret
Cher is pretty bummed when she finds out that her Prince Charming, Christian, is actually gay. While she couldn't have figured it out because she's clueless about stuff like that (see what we did there?), the filmmakers put in a few hints to help the audience get it before Cher did. Namely, his choice of films on their date night allude to the truth: in Spartacus, Laurence Oliver tries to seduce Tony Curtis, and in Some Like It Hot, two men escape a mob by dressing like women. But that's not all! When Cher first sees Christian, behind him there is a newspaper cutout which reads “on the road to nowhere” which foreshadows Cher's pursuit. When he calls Cher from a museum, he is standing by a portrait of two men embracing, and he also is seen reading a book by William S. Burroughs, a gay author. Did you pick any of that up?
11 The Original Clueless Was Going to Be Totally Different
In the very early days, when the ideas behind the film were still being born, the core concept was different to what it is today. Originally, Clueless was a story about a girl in search of the perfect prom dress. Hm, we're not sure that would have been as entertaining as what we have now! For a while, there was also the chance that it wasn't going to be a movie, but a television show for FOX. Heckerling started working on it 1993, and had a TV show called No Worries, which was later changed to I Was a Teenager. While she was trying to make it work as a TV show, Heckerling hired a new agent and he put it straight to her; once he saw the script, he told her it would work much better as a movie. Interestingly, Clueless went on to be adapted into a spinoff TV show in 1996.
10 A Few '90s Terms Came from Clueless
You might have known that Cher and her friends uttered quite a few '90s phrases in the movie, but did you know that the '90s got those phrases from them, and not the other way around? Yep, like Shakespeare himself, Heckerling came up with a number of slang words that ended up being unofficially adopted into the lingo. Terms like Betty, Baldwin, and Monet came from Heckerling, and in the beginning, the cast had no idea what the words meant. To help promote the film, the studio even released a booklet called How to Speak Cluelessly, which provided translations for all the terms used by the cast. We might have grown out of the Clueless-ology now that so many years have gone by, but that doesn't mean we've forgotten what “Audi” and “Buggin'” mean. “Fugly” might have taken over “Hagsville” and “Dope” might be the new “Phat”, but we will always remember!
9 There Was a Real Mugging During Filming
The scene where Cher gets mugged might have been funny in the film, but that kind of thing is a lot less amusing when it happens to you in real life. And nobody knows that better than Paul Rudd. The night before they filmed the party in the Valley scene, Rudd went out to dinner with his friends, but was jumped by an armed mugger straight after. The incident took place in a dark carpark, similar to the isolated location of Cher's own mugging. “He was all tweaked out on something, and he shot his gun next to my head,” said Rudd. “And I just remember looking out of the corner of my eye, and [my friend] had gone back inside-she saw what was happening-to get those policemen [who they'd seen inside]. She did, but it was too late. Then they went to try and chase him, but they couldn't find him.”
8 There Could Be a Reunion One Day
Yes, we're all waiting on the edge of our seats for a Clueless reunion to be announced. Sadly, not all the original cast members would be in it, as Brittany Murphy who played Tai passed away in 2009, but it's still a possibility. Silverstone even told the LA Times that she'd be on board if a sequel were to be announced. “I'm game to whatever Amy has in store. I think that time has passed, though,” she said. “I don't even know what Cher would be up to these days.” A sequel isn't the only blessing that might be on the horizon for fans; there has even been talk of the film being adapted into a musical! Heckerling was reportedly writing up a script for stage, and Katy Perry even expressed interest in starring as Cher. Now that she's got blonde locks, we can totally see how this would work!
7 Silverstone Was NOT a Fashionista
Cher wasn't the best at P.E. or debating, but damn it, she was at the top of her fashion game. In the movie, she has 60 costume changes, during which she wears seven of the 53 kinds of plaid that are featured. And we're yet to find somebody who can rock a piece of tartan quite like she can (sorry, Mel Gibson). That said, Silverstone was the total opposite to her character, and didn't align with the passion for fashion that Cher had. “I didn't understand fashion at all,” she said after filming. “I had to do 60 changes… and I was so tired and I had to keep having fittings so I kind of hated them. I hated the clothes. I just didn't get it.” We would have loved the chance to rock that yellow skirt and blazer, but she's right: it probably would have become annoying the 50th time around!
6 The Clog Was Fake
In one of the funniest scenes of the film, Cher, Tai, and Dionne go to a party in the dreaded Valley. While they're settling into the chaos, Tai ends up getting smacked in the head by a flying clog. Contrary to popular belief, Hollywood filmmakers aren't all pure evil, and they didn't want to subject Brittany Murphy to any real violence. So you guessed it: the clog that hit her in the head was fake. They constructed one out of foam and then enhanced it digitally to make it look real: “So we made a lightweight foam clog. And it looked fine but it went by too fast-when you throw something at somebody, or kick a shoe off-you know, it happens in so few frames that you can totally not see it. So we slowed its trajectory down and we made it bigger and darker.” True Hollywood magic!
5 It's Based On Jane Austen
And you thought it was just another dumb teen flick! After getting rid of her original concept, Heckerling decided to base Cher's story on that of Emma from the 1815 novel of the same name by Jane Austen. Emma is gifted at matching up couples, but like Cher, can sometimes get them wrong. She learns a few lessons about love while trying to match her friend Harriet up, and ends up falling for the guy she never thought she would. “There's something so basic about it,” Heckerling told Entertainment Weekly. “I remembered reading Emma in college and being struck at how much it reminded me of old TV shows like Gidget.” Of course, Clueless isn't the only modern classic to draw quite a bit of inspiration from texts from some of the greatest writers in history. Both 10 Things I Hate About You and The Lion King were based off works of Shakespeare-The Taming of the Shrew and Hamlet, respectively.
4 Most of the Cast Weren't Teenagers
Here's one that you might not have known, but you probably could have guessed. Shock horror: the teenagers in the teenage comedy weren't really teenagers! Stacey Dash, who played Dionne, was one of the oldest actresses who was portraying a high school student. She was actually 27 at the time of shooting, and had a six-year-old kid! Similarly, Paul Rudd and Donald Faison were in their 20s during production. There were a few real teenagers in the movie, though, including Alicia Silverstone who was 18 when production started. That's still a little older than the character she was playing, but at least she was still technically a teenager (in many parts of the world, at least!). Brittany Murphy was only 17 at the time of filming, and later admitted that ironically, in the scene where she says that Cher is a prude who can't drive, she actually was IRL. Awkward!
3 Cher Could Have Been Played By…
Silverstone's initial reluctance to play Cher wasn't the only thing that almost came in the way of our perfect Clueless experience. While she didn't have to audition, many other top-notch actresses did. One of the young stars who had her eyes on the role of Cher was Reese Witherspoon. Even though we can't imagine anybody but Silverstone doing it, there's no denying that Witherspoon has some acting chops. She later left her own mark on pop culture by playing Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, so it worked out well for everyone! Before Silverstone even came into the picture, Sarah Michelle Gellar was offered the role of Cher, but had to turn it down because she was appearing as Kendall Hart Lang on All My Children at the time. A few of the other characters could have been different as well: Owen Wilson auditioned for the role of Travis, and Terrence Howard for Murray.
2 Mr. Hall Was Based On Real Teachers
Wallace Shawn based his performance of Mr. Hall, the debating teacher, off two real-life teachers. The first one was himself-before becoming a full-time actor, Shawn was a professional teacher. So he drew from his own pool of experience in dealing with teenagers to make Mr. Hall realistic. The other teacher who inspired Mr. Hall was, well, Mr. Hall. Herb Hall was the real debate teacher at Beverly Hills High at the time, who later appeared in the movie as the principal. You saw him: he's the guy that introduces Tai to the rest of the girls during P.E.! Mr. Hall became friends with Heckerling after she spent some time at his school to observe how real teenagers behaved. From sitting in on classes, she learned that teen girls in particular are obsessed with grooming themselves, which we guess is why Cher flicks her hair around so much!
1 The Makeout Couple Are Now Engaged
Here is something you might have missed! At the party in the Valley, there is a couple kissing in the pool, just visible behind Cher. It must have been one hell of a kiss because the two extras ended up falling in love for real! Heckerling told Jen Chaney, author of As If: The Oral History of Clueless that she actually ran into them years later, and they were about to tie the knot. “The ADs and I were going through saying if any of the extras wanted to play a couple in the swimming pool making out, they would get extra money for that because they would be wet. Years later I was walking down Melrose and I hear some people going, 'Amy! Amy!' And I turn around, and it was them. They met that night. They're engaged. She shows me the ring that's been in his family.” Definitely a story for the grandkids!
