20 Things You Didn't Know About Clueless
Happy 25th birthday to Clueless. As if!
If you don't feel old yet, you're about to - Amy Heckerling's instantly iconic teen comedy Clueless just turned 27 years old.
Ingeniously adapting Jane Austen's 1815 novel Emma for the 90s Beverly Hills set, Clueless was an unexpected hit with both critics and audiences alike, ultimately grossing $56.6 million worldwide against a $12 million budget.
Its success spawned a media empire including a TV show, novels, comic books, and a recent musical, while a CBS drama series is also currently in the works.
But there's no duplicating the original, which delivered a deceptively smart comedy starring a perfectly cast Alicia Silverstone alongside a cracking supporting cast including an on-the-rise Paul Rudd and the late, great Brittany Murphy.
Despite its seemingly drama-free production, there's nevertheless a veritable treasure trove of behind-the-scenes stories, anecdotes, and tidbits fans absolutely need to know.
From A-list actors who almost got cast in the movie, to the surprisingly reasonable amount of money spent on all those lush outfits, you most certainly don't know these fascinating tales of how Clueless came together...
20. The Script Was Originally Written As A TV Pilot
Though Clueless was quickly spun off into a three-season TV series - without Alicia Silverstone, sadly - the movie itself was actually originally penned by writer-director Amy Heckerling to be the pilot for a TV show.
Heckerling's pilot teleplay was reportedly called "No Worries," before being renamed to "I Was a Teenage Teenager." But after networks passed on the script, Heckerling ended up handing it to an agent who told her, "This is too good for TV. You should make this into a feature."
At that point Heckerling started shopping the script around to film studios, and after Fox briefly attempted to develop it, Paramount acquired the script at the end of a tenacious bidding war. The rest, as they say, is history.