“Entertainment Tonight” has pulled out of its vaults several minutes of previously unseen behind-the-scenes “Clueless” footage, showcasing Alicia Silverstone, Paul Rudd, Brittany Murphy, Breckin Meyer, Stacey Dash, Donald Faison, director Amy Heckerling, and the rest of the team. In the last month, many involved with the production have appeared at 30th anniversary events, heralding the indelible mark left by the high school classic on pop culture.
The clips include one-on-one interviews with the cast members, many of whom were teenagers at the time, describing their characters. In one segment, Meyer reveals that he was familiar with being a high school student in Beverly Hills — even though the movie’s fictional Bronson Alcott High School was actually played by Occidental College in nearby Eagle Rock.
“I went to Beverly. I went to the school it’s about, oddly enough, so I know exactly what it was like being the obnoxious skater kid in school,” Meyer said.
Rudd told Entertainment Tonight earlier this year what it was like appearing in such a major Hollywood release, only the second film he had made in his career to that point.
“You’re excited about everything. It’s all so new. It forces you [to] listen to other people and their ideas, and be open and excited about learning all of this stuff and showing up every day [thinking], ‘Oh my god, I can’t believe I’m here. And that I got this job,” Rudd said.
In 2015, he expressed a similar sentiment to ET. “I just remember being so overwhelmed,” Rudd said. “The idea that I was in a movie was also new. And I remember driving onto the Paramount lot, seeing those gates, oh my god… and I had a parking pass on a studio lot.”
At an Academy Museum event panel last month, Elisa Donovan explained the origin story of the famous “whatever” expression.
“I actually had a boyfriend who was several years older than I was in high school, and he used to say when he was sort of brushing me off, ‘Whatever. We’re not doing that. Whatever.’ And it, like, infuriated me,” Donovan said. “So when I read this, I was like, ‘Oh, I am taking back that word.’”
At the same panel, Silverstone, who up until “Clueless” was known for her dramatic turns in “The Crush” and a trio of Aerosmith music videos, said that the movie allowed her to unlock an undiscovered aspect of her acting talent.
“I was just happy to be there, and happy to have the part and play this thing,” Silverstone said. “And I didn’t know I was funny before that movie. So, this was the first time I did a comedy.”
In 2015 to mark the film’s 20th anniversary, IndieWire spoke with the “Clueless” casting director Marcia Ross, who revealed one now-major star who almost made it into Beverly Hills High.
“In the beginning, I just started casting sessions… I think Paul had it on the second session, and Breckin [Meyer]. They were all there in the first three sessions; these people all came in,” Ross said. “Jeremy Sisto told the story that he read for four different parts, because he did. He started as probably Josh and then he ended up as Elton, but he must have read for four different parts. Breckin, no. I put him in the second day and honestly he just was it. The only other person that really came close is Jeremy Renner, who I just met. I brought him. He was a teenager practically.”
Heckerling told ET in 2015 that Reese Witherspoon was considered to play Silverstone’s Cher role.
“I saw some clips from Reese, and I thought, ‘Yeah, this woman’s an actress.’ But it didn’t really matter, because I had the girl I wanted and my heart was with Alicia,” Heckerling said.
In April, IndieWire reported that “Clueless” would return for a sequel series with Silverstone attached to star and Hecklering set as executive producer. Further details have yet to be announced. Silverstone reprised her role in a 2023 Rakuten Super Bowl commercial, and the movie itself was previously adapted into a sitcom that aired from 1996-1999 in which Rachel Blanchard took on Silverstone’s character.
The follow-up would be a reversal for Silverstone, who has said in the past that a sequel was unlikely to ever happen.
“I don’t think Amy Heckerling’s down for that at all. It’s not in my hands,” Silverstone told ET in 2020. “I think what’s really hard about ‘Clueless’ to redo it is that… Cher learns how to become a whole human, so it’s like, where do you pick her up? The evolved self? Or do you pick her up from… she’s relapsed. Now she’s back to her old ways.”
Paramount Pictures has gone all out to celebrate the 30th birthday of “Clueless,” with a series of special screenings and a theatrical re-release last month. On July 19, Beverly Hills will even have its own special showing in La Cienega Park on what the city’s Mayor Sharona Nazarian will declare “Clueless Day,” hosted by Los Angeles’ Street Food Cinema.