Mean Girls Musical: Janis Garage

Clearer shot of this corner of Janis Garage in the shot above.

Working on Janis’ Garage set was my favorite set on Mean Girls.

Garages sets are challenging because you always need so much stuff but fun sets because they are so layered where you get to imagine many different aspects of a character.

In the case of the Janis Garage set, we wanted to show how it was her family’s storage space, a place where she has created a cozy hang out zone for friends, as well as her art studio.

What the area when we just started loading in furniture. Essentially it was an empty garage and we started with a blank slate.

In the original Mean Girls movie in 2004, we see some glimpses of Janis’ paintings as well as evidence of the garage being a storage space for an earlier childhood she has grown out of.

In the Mean Girls Musical Movie (2024) what has changed is now, Janis is a fiber artist “the lines are the thoughts and the string are the feelings.”

Additionally we wanted to create a purple and green color palette for the garage (which if you pay attention is her color palette for her costumes, hair and makeup too!).

So in the garage we created two art workstations for her: one painting, and one sewing.

JANIS’ Painting and Drawing Workstation

The painting workstation pictured in the background of the shot below where Damien explains what REALLY went down between Janis and Regina.

clearer shot of the angle behind Damien:

JANIS FIBER AND SEWING STATION

but first, a little popcorn moment then and now side by side.

Close-up on the area behind Damien and Janis’ heads for that popcorn moment.

One of my favorite elements which are hard to tell in the photos are the adorned black plastic bags with sewing and patches (I’ll get to who made all that art soon) hanging on the door.

HAWAIIAN EASTER EGGS IN JANIS’ GARAGE SET

For the 2024 Mean Girls movie, they updated full name of the character Janis to Janis ʻImi'ike (which like “Auli’i” is a name in native Hawiian language).

Since Auli’i Cravalho (Janis), is an outspoken native Hawaiian actress, we wanted Janis Garage space to reflect that too in subtle and meaningful way.

So I also ordered some artwork and little stickers from Hawaii to sprinkle the set with nods to both the character and actress’ history and lineage.

In the above photo you can see an orange kou flower and a taro plant sticker. Kou is a plant native to the Hawaiian islands and the taro plant is an important plant in Hawaiian mythology and diet.

There was also a bunch of artwork from artists in Hawaii of the taro plant and the ʻōhia lehua flower which is one of Hawaii’s most iconic tree and a native species of plant to the Hawaiian islands.

…as well as a Sonic Youth poster which we imagined was one of Janis’ parents posters.

MAKING ALL THAT ARTWORK

While Tina Fey’s daughter and one of the producer’s daughter did supply us with some great original artwork they made themselves, we also had very specific ideas of how we wanted Janis’ artwork to look throughout her garage based on Kelly’s (production designer) research and ideas for Janis.

This turned out to be way more labor intensive than I had ever imagined essentially running a custom artwork atelier for Janis Garage with multiple different artists and groups.

And because of copyright and legal clearances, it wasn’t enough for me to just give the artists some sample images of what we were hoping for, but also supply all the base images and materials from known cleared sources.

But I think the end results were so worth it!

I reached out to local fiber and textile artist groups to see if anyone was open to some artwork commissions that we could work closely with to craft what we were looking for and incorporate feedback as it was being made on our production timelines…a tall order I know.

So I was thrilled when I was able to connect with local fiber artist Kate Eggelston.

Not only did Kate make the incredible piece of ham quilt hanging on the back wall of the set she was able to create some truly fabulous stitched canvases based on a very specific idea, sensibility, and mood Kelly had in mind based on cleared historical images I could find that I felt had potential for acheiving our aims.

on the upper left hanging on the wall is a quilt of a piece of ham!

there are more! these are just the ones I could easily find photos of.

And then I reached out to a local art school to see if they had actual teenagers around the age of the character of the Janis character to make some collages and the plastic bags enhanced with fiber art.

So incredibly grateful we were able to work with two local branches of One River Art School who held special workshops to help us inspire their teen students to make the type of artwork we were looking for. I brought along sample images, supplied all the materials, and what the students made were INCREDIBLE!

I really felt having teens make the artwork would bring something intangibly important and more authentic for the artwork that is meant to be Janis’ throughout the set.

All the pieces that were chosen also received rental fees (which I hope is encouragement to some of these artists) just like any other artwork we rent for our sets and you can even see some of their artwork on screen.

one teacher went above and beyond and even created a little presentation on the movie Mean Girls for the students!

Just a sampling of some of the best pieces made with stock artwork images I brought along as well as patches and and string supplies for the plastic bags.

JANIS’ Garage goes on the road

Lastly, after we finished filming Janis’ Garage set at the actual garage, a modified version of it went on the road to facilitate the opening shot where the garage door opens on the plains of Kenya (New Jersey) during the musical number “A Cautionary Tale”.

So here is what it looks like to redress a portion of Janis’ Garage in the middle of New Jersey, I mean Kenya which is one of the moments where I thought, set decorating is sometimes hilariously absurd.

I look like a maniac because there were TONS of ticks in this area and I did not want Lyme disease!

Mean Girls Musical: Regina's Bedroom, Closet, and Home

REGINA’s BEDROOM

Jess and me just as we were finishing the Regina bedroom set.

Of course reinterpreting the living space of such an iconic character like Regina George is daunting.

The name, Regina George, itself has become a byword for an archetype of female that has different shades of meaning depending on who you are talking to. Getting it right would mean a lot to a lot of people and there’s so many directions it could go.

• How would her mean-ness be expressed in her bedroom space?

• Is it just about her family being richer than other kids in her community?

• Is her character expressed in interior design status symbols?

• Do teens have bedroom interior design status symbols?

• What’s the perfect mix of girly and fierce but not cute to accurately present Regina’s style and personality?

• How on-trend and cutting edge would the bedroom of a 16 year old living in the suburbs of Illinois realistically be?

Just some questions we thought about and discussed AT LENGTH a ton.

Jessica Petruccelli the set decorator came up with brilliant concepts and ideas from the beginning of the project (e.g. lots of plastic for the queen bee of The Plastics!).

In the background on the left you can see Jessica’s intial vision and moodboard for Regina’s room behind her desk, and in the foreground on the black board you can see our working board of options and ideas in front of my desk.

INCEPTING THE MIND OF AN AMERICAN TEENAGE GIRL

It has been a long time since I was a teenage girl: about three decades.

When that much time has lapsed your sensibilities and design instincts have naturally evolved with your age. The visual representations of teenage girlhood that are most resonant to you are artifacts from another era, a nostalgic memory of a different epoch.

In other words, it only makes sense for you, a woman in your 40’s, to be literally out of touch with teenage girl aesthetic desires.

So how to close that gap and try to represent teenage girlhood in 2024 accurately?

After Jessica, the set decorator, and Kelly, the production designer, nailed down the design concepts and ideas in conversation with the directors, Jess and I had to flesh out what that meant in the concrete details.

So I did a bunch of research to make sure we got the details right.

So on top of tons of googling I:

1. read trend reports

2. got on the phone and interviewed actual teens

3. Spent a lot of time on teens giving bedroom tours on TikTok

4. Went to the local mall and interrogated the teens selling clothes to other teens.

Here’s a glimpse of some of the teens giving tours of their bedrooms TikTok screenshots I took as research and reference.

In the original version of Mean Girls released in 2004, there’s a few scenes in the mall. In 2024, the mall is no longer the essential site of teenage girlhood that it once was.

And while many malls are closing we were in New Jersey, the promised land of malls, and this mall was still going so I decided to go in person and shop at the mall like a teen.

A lot of times it is easier (though slightly more tedious) to shop in person rather than online. For me though, going in person had the added benefit that I could observe what teens were buying or looking at and talk to the teens or young people selling to teens.

I’m so grateful for the teens working at the clothing and shoe stores at the mall. I would ask them to think of the meanest and most popular girl at school (the Regina George in their life) and describe to me what she was wearing.

Because they would narrow down what were the best selling and hot items and I would start selecting. They would watch me chose and gently tell me “no, not those colors.” “not those styles” and I quickly learned whatever I thought was most appealing or looked cool was exactly the opposite of what teens actually liked.

It was jarring to realize that whatever you are inclined to, it is the actual inverse of what kids like.

If you want to feel old, I recommend this exercise to you!

swatching a lot of pink fabrics and wallpapers.

Custom Made Headboard the Swing Cushions

some key elements of Regina’s room we had custom made and here they are in their workshops in progress.

Regina’s room from the original 2004 movie

Regina’s Closet

Particularly daunting was filling Regina’s closet.

A hero female character’s closet as a reveal is always meant as something of a show of force. Think Carrie Bradshaw’s different closets, Cher’s closet in Clueless, and even Peik Lin’s (Awkwafina’s character) closet in Crazy Rich Asians.

When closets are featured like that on screen they almost take on the mythical stature of a Nancy Meyer kitchen. So yeah, the pressure was on.

As set decorators, we are used to thinking in terms of furniture and decor to express characters, context, and story and not clothes. Usually that’s the costume and wardrobe department.

But when an open closet becomes a set, filling it with the right clothes becomes set dressing and not costume and wardrobe!

We really worked so hard on this: on each and every detail (though I will say the beauty and makeup items were dictated by product placement powers greater than ours).

The teenage girl who actually lived in this house, went through the closet with us when were finished and was filled with longing and desire for most of the pieces (so that was gratifying).

set dressers Karl and Pat working on the photo cut outs we used for Regina’s bulletin boards.

ARTWORK FOR REGINAS HOME

Thinking about artwork for Regina’s mom, “not a regular mom, a cool mom” who is that special mix of zany, desperate, and brightly energetic, was fun.

In this one shot you see a lot of the artwork but the space we were filling was so much bigger (which you never see) and below is the sheet I used to help myself keep track of all the pieces.

Mean Girls Musical: Revenge Party Fantasy Hallway

Mean Girls was filmed in a recently closed school in New Jersey. Not only was the school the filming location but it was also where all our offices, shops, workshops, and warehouses were too.

I liked to joke that it was like being on a boat. On the lower ground floor you would hear saws cutting up sets, smell people painting scenery items, see racks and racks of clothes moving around. You climbed up the stairs and you would see dancers rehearsing in the hallways flanked by offices for each department of the movie.

The hallway outside of our office was the setting for the fantasy sequence in the musical number “Revenge Party” so it was entertaining to see the progress as the hallway transform everytime I left the office. Less entertaining, hearing them rehearse the song over and over and over and over and over and over.

BEFORE

AFTER

Production Designer Kelly McGehee contemplating all the options of the large paper flowers we had custom made for this hallway.

said paper flowers on the screen

When the set dressers took over the cafeteria to become a floral arrangement assembly line:

A team of scenic painters working on transforming the lockers.

CONFETTI TIME!

how the hallway looked after filming.

The same hallway, before it was transformed for Revenge Party, used for another musical number, Apex Predator but now from the point of view from inside our office.

Because of the way this scene was blocked, the actress Auli’i Cravalho who plays Janis had to run through our set decoration office to get back on camera in time for the shot.

Here’s a video of what that looked like from my desk:

Mean Girls Musical: Cady's Tent in Kenya

After a little garage prologue with Janis and Damien, the new Mean Girls movie opens in Kenya (as opposed to unspecified “Africa” like in the 2004 version). In the opening musical number Cady runs through her home: the tent she shares with her mom presumably on the plains of Kenya (or New Jersey).

A tent that looks like the kind of tents for safaris in Kenya, but not a glamping luxury tent, and fits the spacial needs of filming does not exist.

We had to have it custom made and shepherding the birth of this custom tent is something I worked on for almost the whole time up until shooting!

I wish I had some stills from this scene in the movie but alas they are not in any of the trailers.

I learned a ton about the safari and custom canvas tent industry and how there are actually a few companies in Kenya and South Africa that will custom make and ship to you!

International shipping is always a gamble with hard shooting timelines that are short, so fortunately in the end we found a vendor in America who was perfect.

When we were working out the needs and possibilities of the tent. That post-it was the planned choreography, and we made little origami tents to discuss the options.

We asked for huge skylights for ease of lighting and shooting, and after building our custom tent for the first time, we had some add on requests.

One of them was an add on divider in this very specific dimension. The idea was so unfunctional for most tent customers that the vendor had no idea what I meant until we drew this little scribble over the photo.

Cady’s mom is a research zoologist, so we had to imagine a field research tent that a professional scientist lives and works out of as well as shares with her daughter.

We tried to think very hard (and do lots of research!) about what those details would look like for her desk and I think Jess did an amazing job. I just contributed research and finishing details to this portion of the set.

Since this movie version of Mean Girls locates Cady and her mom specifically in Kenya, we were thinking of ways to reflect the specificity of Kenya in the items in the tent, and one of course is food. The other is textiles and we do have a quite a few specific Kenyan textiles in the tent but lets stay focused on the food.

So I visited small African food groceries, which in New Jersey primarily cater to immigrants from West Africa and nothing specifically from Kenya. Though when I saw British food products that are popular in the post-colonial British empire world, I picked up a few of those items.

And that’s how I found myself one early morning at the warehouse of a specialty African importer (photo below).

After doing lots of research (I was trolling through the Carrefour Kenya website), I figured the specifically Kenyan, made in Kenya, food item that was most visually clear and which made sense for someone to store in a tent were these Kenylon brand Njahi beans.

YAY!

oh wait, but how am I going to find them in America? The warehouse I visited were out of stock on this particular moment at the time!!!!!!!!!!

So after a lot of calling around and googling, I found an importer in Maryland who shipped them to me in time, they made them into the set, and you know what? THEY MADE THEM ON SCREEN!

In the first 5 min of the film, if you are paying close attention when Cady is singing and running through her tent you will see the Kenylon Njahi Beans on screen! If you are me (or maybe now you after reading this) you will yelp for joy and triumph for a can of just the right beans detail to locate Cady and her mom in Kenya in the background.

Mean Girls Musical Cast and Crew Screening

Paramount Pictures was nice enough to host the cast and crew to a screening at a movie theater in NYC on Wednesday (s, we wear pink!) Jan 10.

It was super fun to watch the movie for the first time on the big screen in a theater packed with enthusiastic viewers of cast and crew cheering throughout the movie.

Team Set Decoration led by Set Decorator Jessica Petruccelli in the center (in the pink shirt)

popcorn and soda too?! no other crew screening I’ve been to has offered this!

So fun for all of us to watch near each other and laugh together.