CHRISTOPHER BRINEY

The Summer I Turned Pretty star discusses high school cliques, the art of re-creating a classic and playing Aaron Samuels in Mean Girls

What was your reaction to the film Mean Girls being remade?

At first I felt a lot of pressure because when you hear about something iconic being remade or adapted you feel like you have to live up to the original. It was terrifying, so I had to reframe it in my mind from trying to re-create something great, to just making something new.

Which was your favourite line to do?

It was cool to talk about October 3, because that’s one of those lines that’s so iconic and has become a meme.

Tina Fey wrote the original 2004 script and has returned to produce and star in this musical version.

What was it like working with Tina?

I grew up in a house where we watched a lot of Saturday Night Live, so Tina Fey [who worked on SNL as a writer and cast member from 1997-2006] is someone who created so many things I’ve enjoyed and admired and laughed at. It’s crazy to be a part of one of her worlds. I think she didn’t see the point in straight up remaking something. This [new Mean Girls film] has so many original spins on the story and I think it just lives as its own movie, too. What other 2000s classic would you love to see remade?

There’s this movie [from 2005] called Fever Pitch, which was my sick-day film.

“THIS NEW MEAN GIRLS FILM HAS SO MANY ORIGINAL SPINS ON THE STORY AND I THINK IT JUST LIVES AS ITS OWN MOVIE, TOO”

It stars Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon and he’s a [Boston] Red Sox fan. In Mean Girls they have a hierarchy of tables. Which table would you say you sat at in high school and which table would you sit at now?

Probably the same table as Aaron Samuels, I think we’re similar enough. He’s a good kid who is friends with everyone, so, a floater. For me, high school was good. I went to a nice school. It was smaller than North Shore High School. I didn’t have real beef with anybody. I found theatre in high school and I am grateful for that.

You also star in the beloved TV series,

The Summer I Turned Pretty. What do you think are the ingredients that made it such a widely well-received series?

Similar to why Mean Girls is so timeless – it’s an age in everyone’s lives where you’re so impressionable and things hit so hard and feel so massive. I don’t think that time in your life is ever really forgotten. Those feelings ... you can still smell them and taste them and they [remain] a part of you. Whereas when you get older and [go to] college, things just hit you differently. You build these walls or [by then] you’ve learned to deal with these things. I think for a lot of people, high school is a really powerful time in their life.

What series resonated with you that way in high school?

How I Met Your Mother was big for me and Drake & Josh and The Americans.

Objectively, which brother should Belly have chosen in The Summer I Turned Pretty?

Whichever one made her happier.

You’ve now played two teen heartthrobs. What’s a role you’d love to play next?

A 20-year-old heart-throb [laughs]. I’d love to play a villain or someone really dark. Perhaps in a psychological thriller.

The Mean Girls musical comedy is out now in cinemas nation-wide.