Washington DC [US], June 10 Actress and singer Amanda Seyfried has publicly criticized Paramount Pictures for allegedly using her likeness on Mean Girls merchandise without paying her the appropriate royalties, according to E! News.
Mean Girls, the iconic 2004 teen comedy directed by Mark Waters and written by Tina Fey, features a star-studded cast including Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Tim Meadows, Amy Poehler, and Tina Fey herself.
“I really love seeing my face on people’s T-shirts,” Amanda said, but added with some frustration, “I mean, I’m a little resentful, because Paramount still owes me some money.”
Despite noting that every store seems to sell Mean Girls T-shirts featuring images of her and co-stars Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, and Lacey Chabert, Seyfried admitted she is uncertain how she ended up without receiving royalties for the movie’s merchandise. “I don’t know if it was because I was 17 and dumb or what,” she commented.
This isn’t the first time Seyfried has spoken about her role as the clairvoyant popular girl Karen Smith in Mean Girls, which has since been adapted into a Broadway musical and a 2024 musical film. “It was, in many ways, a perfect movie, and people relate to it, still,” she said on the Happy Sad Confused podcast in March. “It connected us, and it continues to. I will always be excited to talk about it.” She added, “Any day, I’ll honor that movie for what it did for me as a person.”
Amanda Seyfried’s career spans a variety of roles, including notable films like Mamma Mia! (2008) and its sequel, Jennifer’s Body (2009), Les Miserables (2012), and First Reformed (2017). She earned critical acclaim and Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for her role as Marion Davies in David Fincher’s Mank (2020). More recently, she won both a Golden Globe and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress for her portrayal of Elizabeth Holmes in the series The Dropout (2022).