We Bet You Didn’t Know These Buggin’ Facts About Clueless

We’ve already established that Clueless is, without a shred of a doubt, the greatest teen movie of all time. (You can GTFO if you disagree, xoxo.) The 1995 Beverly Hills romp, which famously stars Alicia Silverstone, Stacey Dash, the late Brittany Murphy, Paul Rudd, Donald Faison, and Breckin Meyer, turns 20 on July 19. (Do you feel like a dinosaur yet?) Even if you’re a total Cher Horowitz aficionado, we bet you don’t know these A+++ info nuggets about the cinematic staple. Prepare to lose your shiz.

• Cher saying “Haitians” incorrectly was 100 percent a mistake.

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  During Cher’s classic speech and debate monologue, she mispronounces the word “Haitians,” but did you know it was a total flub on Alicia’s part? She genuinely said the word wrong. Producers were about to jump in to correct the actress, but Clueless writer-director Amy Heckerling intervened. “I had to stop them,” she told Entertainment Weekly. “It was much funnier the way she said it. That was Cher.” Living proof that Alicia Silverstone, through sorcery, is actually Cher Horowitz.

• Sarah Michelle Gellar was offered the role of Cher.

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  Yup, the original vampire betch could’ve been the queen of Beverly Hills, but she passed due to her filming schedule on All My Children. Tough luck, Buffy.

• And Reese Witherspoon also auditioned for the part.

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  She didn’t get it, though, and thank God. Had she played Cher, we might’ve never been blessed with supernova princess/queen of law Elle Woods. Don’t you know you’re only allowed to play one ditzy bottled-blonde in your career? Maybe in another life Cher and Elle are sisters. Wouldn’t that be majestical?

• Paul Rudd originally wanted to play Christian. And Murray.

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  In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Paul (who portrayed Cher’s stepbro, Josh) revealed he was originally interested in playing the “cool gay kid.” And then when that didn’t work out, he had his eyes on Donald’s character Murray. “I thought he was kind of a funny hip-hop wannabe,” he said. “I didn’t realize that the character was African-American.” LOL, what? Let’s just take five seconds and picture Paul Rudd shaving his head at the Valley party.

• Brittany Murphy was an IRL virgin who couldn’t drive when she said, “You’re a virgin who can’t drive.”

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  Talk about anti-meta. “It’s hard for me to believe it’s been 10 years since that movie,” Brittany said in 2005. “I really was a virgin who couldn’t drive. I was living in an apartment in the Valley with my mom, and I remember starting to see these huge billboards of us all over town. It was amazing!”

• Cher’s last name was supposed to be Hamilton.

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  This may have been a possible ode to Stacy Hamilton, a character in 1982’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High (which Amy also directed). However, the name was deemed too close for comfort and—bam!—Horowitz was born. There are some remains of Hamilton in the film, though, if you look closely. Check out Cher’s report card. INCONSISTENCIES.

• Mr. Hall is (kind of) a real person.

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  Awww, this is so warm and fuzzy. The lovable speech and debate teacher is based on Amy’s friend Herb Hall, a real-life debate and performance teacher at Beverly Hills High School. Herb even makes a cameo in the flick as the school principal.

• Fifty-three types of plaid and tartan are used in the movie.

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  FIFTY. F—KING. THREE. Seven of those (alone) are worn by Cher, and an additional 12 can be seen on other major characters. Clueless is basically barfing damn plaid. (But we aggressively dig it.)

• The film is loosely based off Jane Austen’s Emma.

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  When Paramount asked Amy to pen a screenplay about teenagers, she drew inspiration from the famous Austen novel about complicated romances. Did you pick up on that? (It’s okay, we didn’t either at first.) And the characters totally parallel! Cher is Emma; Tai is Harriet Smith; Josh is Mr. Knightley; Christian is (sort of) Frank Churchill; Elton is Mr. Elton; Travis is Robert Martin; and Mr. Hall and Miss Geist are Mr. and Mrs. Weston. All this time, we were watching GD literature and didn’t know it. It’s def time to hit the Ivy League.

• There are “Christian is gay” Easter eggs hidden all over the flick.

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  Cher stans hard for Christian in the film, but if she saw these sIgNs~*, she would’ve known he wholeheartedly bats for the other team. The movies he brings over to Cher’s house, Some Like It Hot and Spartacus, are gay cult classics. He reads Junky by gay author William S. Burroughs while in class. Annnnd Christian stands in front of a painting of two dudes embracing tenderly during the museum scene. WE BET YOU FEEL DUMB NOW, HUH?! Guess Cher’s not the only one who was clueless.