Jonathan Bennett learned some sage style advice while working with Tina Fey on Mean Girls.
At San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday, July 27, the 43-year-old actor spoke to PEOPLE about the comments he hears most from fans of the 2004 comedy film, in which he starred as love interest Aaron Samuels opposite Lindsay Lohan as Cady Heron.
Bennett says people either ask him what day it is — he of course always answers Oct. 3, a nod to Cady’s voiceover line about her crush Aaron, “On Oct. 3, he asked me what day it was” — or tell him that his hair “looks sexy pushed back.”
In a memorable school lunchroom scene in the movie, queen bee Regina George ( Rachel McAdams), ruffled by the discovery that Cady has a crush on her then-boyfriend Aaron, attempts to mark her territory. As Cady looks on, Regina runs her fingers through Aaron’s hair and says to him, “Why do you wear your hair like that? Your hair looks so sexy pushed back.”
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Regina then turns to Cady and prompts her, “Cady, will you please tell him his hair looks sexy pushed back?”
Bennett tells PEOPLE he didn’t understand writer and costar Fey’s hairstyling wisdom at the time but has come to appreciate it now that he’s older. Now, when fans tell him his hair looks sexy pushed back, his response is, “Ironically, it does.”
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“Tina Fey was onto something. She was like, ‘Your hair looks sexy pushed back.’ I was like, ‘No, Tina, I’m doing the Justin Bieber,’ ” he recalls of their on-set conversation about his character’s coif.
“And I had my hair all down and she was like, ‘When you get older, you’re going to push your hair back and you’re going to find that you look sexy.’ And I was like, ‘No, I’m still a teenager,’ ” Bennett continues. “And then boom, I pushed it back and she was right.”
“She’s always right. Tina Fey is always right,” he adds with a laugh.
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Phillip Faraone/Getty/Fandom
Back in April, Bennett marked the milestone 20th anniversary of the hit movie by sharing throwback photos on Instagram of himself posing with Lohan, 38, and Lacey Chabert (who portrayed Plastic member Gretchen Wieners).
In the post’s caption, he reflected on the impact the film role has had on his life. “20 years ago today, the world met Aaron, Cady, Gretchen, Karen, Regina, Janis, Damien, Kevin G, Shane and Ms Norbury for the first time when Mean Girls premiered at the Cinerama Dome in Los Angeles, California, on April 19, 2004,” Bennett wrote.
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He continued, “20 years ago today my life was changed forever. I can’t tell you how proud I am to be part of a story that, still to this day, makes so many people happy. It’s been one of the biggest gifts of my career and life.”
As the cast passed the torch to a new generation of stars taking on a musical adaption of Mean Girls two decades later, Bennett shared his advice for actor Christopher Briney, who plays Aaron in the 2024 film.
“I’m super excited for the movie musical. I love that this movie has transcended multiple generations because of the writing of Tina Fey,” he told PEOPLE in December 2023. “I think the new musical movie is gonna be fantastic, and I hope that the new Aaron makes the character his own because it’s his time to interpret the character.”
