Jonathan Bennett vs. the "Mean Girls"

Okay, it's about time we get a male perspective. Jonathan Bennett is the object of affection for a bunch of hot girls in the new comedy ,Mean Girls. Of course Lindsay Lohan wins his heart. The cute brunette, who starred for a while as Adam Chandler Jr. on the soap "All My Children", has those puppy dog eyes that make girls swoon and he's quite clever and funny as well. The actor bounced into our 4 Seasons interview suite wearing jeans and a vintage t-shirt (hummm, big rage these old tees. Everybody in L.A. seems to be sporting one). He was carrying a Coke bottle with the label entirely peeled off probably due to his inability to sit still doing nothing for extended periods of time. Jonathan folded his tall frame into a chair and we're off.....

TeenHollywood: Were you a little overwhelmed by all the girls in this cast? You're like playing the girl in this movie.

Jonathan: I am. I'm the chick. That's what Mark Waters (the film's director) would say 'you're the b**** of the movie'. Usually, it's the other way around. You usually have the girl that's the object of desire, the hot chick.

TeenHollywood: But, was it intimidating working with all the girls?

Jonathan: (Grabbing the press kit with pics of all the hot girl cast members) I mean look at 'um. They're great. It's a little intimidating. You show up on set and there are these four beautiful women and on top of that fact, the whole time they're going to be lusting after you, drooling over you. I would volunteer! They're lusting after you but then realize that they're getting paid to say that and it kind of blows your fantasy after a while. I was being paid to reciprocate, however, I would reciprocate it for free. That's what I told them. I said 'I'll do the movie. I'll do it for free. I just want the part'.

TeenHollywood: Was it like this when you were in school?

Jonathan: No. In the movie my character Aaron Samuels is oblivious to what's happening. He's completely oblivious to these girls falling over him. There's that one scene where he's walking down the hallway and the girls are cat fighting behind him and he's just doot de doot de doo. He has no clue. It's girl world. They have their own world.

TeenHollywood: Did you date any of the popular girls at your school?

Jonathan: No. My first three years of high school, I wasn't that cool. I mean my legs grew like an inch a day and my jeans were always too short for me because I would always grow out of them every month. I had this weird growing spurt. I was friendly with everyone. It wasn't until my Senior year when I kind of matured into my looks and became student council president and things like that. I still have horrible luck with girls. Did Amanda and the Plastics just leave? Okay, they were with me when I tried to pick up on a girl in Toronto and they all just came up to me and started to console me 'oh, we feel bad for you'. I really am horrible at it. I can talk to anybody but when it comes to somebody that I like, then I turn into like this five-year-old kindergartener in a sandbox.

TeenHollywood: Did the (actresses) give you tips?

Jonathan. Yeah. They're like 'don't try so hard'. I think that's my problem.

TeenHollywood: How many auditions did you have to do to get this role and did you have to audition with Lindsay?

Jonathan: Four. It's kind of like "The Price is Right" when you're getting cast for a film like this. 'Come on down!' You go down and you have the first audition in which you have to impress the casting director and once they like you they pass you on to Mark Waters (director) and he has to like you. He puts you on tape and sends it to Lorne Michaels (Producer) and all the other big wigs. Lorne made his choice, everyone made their choice of who they were going to test and then Mark went and played the tapes in front of about eight or nine girl interns at his office. I remember him saying that he put my tape last and they played them all. He said, 'the last one came on and it was you and literally, eight out of nine of the girls sat up and went 'oooo'. He knew, 'okay, we're testing him'.

TeenHollywood: How old were the girls?

Jonathan: They used girls that were interns so early 20's or late teens.

TeenHollywood: How did your test with Lindsay go?

Jonathan: I didn't know who Lindsay Lohan was going into the screen test. I'm sorry, Lindsay, I apologize. I had seen The Parent Trap but I didn't know what her name was. I went and saw Freaky Friday the night before my screen test and remember being pleasantly surprised that she was a good actress. You never know with the teen girls. We went to screen test and she was great. I really felt this chemistry between the two of us. We're very playful with each other. We pick on each other a little bit but it's more of a brotherly sisterly thing. Even in the scenes where we're kind of intimate, there's always that little bit of playfulness behind out eyes. I think, once we were done, I was her choice for who they wanted.

TeenHollywood: What did you talk to Lindsay about?

Jonathan: The birds and bees. I'm kidding. Lohan and I talk about just things that happen. It's Lindsay. She's great. I went from not knowing who she was to not being able to get rid of her because she's everywhere. She's on everything. Now, I can't open a magazine or turn on television or pass a bus stop without seeing her face.

TeenHollywood: Do you want that to happen to you?

Jonathan: I would like it to happen to me but it's a very scary thing. Her life is different than any other 17 year old and that's the weird part about her. Talking to her you feel like she's 25 or 30 because she's so mature for her age. But you've got to remember that this is a person that just graduated high school. A 17-year-old who is everywhere. She's her own country. She's like the Olsen Twins. Minus being the richest women in Hollywood.

TeenHollywood: Being "the guy" in a girl-centered movie, how do you stand out so you'll get other parts?

Jonathan: I made sure Aaron was was very charming without trying to be. Everybody likes him. He's the guy that every guy wants to be best friends with and every girl wants to date. He doesn't know that all the girls in school were in love with him. That's part of his innocence and charm. That's what I tried to play. Hopefully, when they see the film they'll pick up on that. And I'm about the only guy in the movie.

TeenHollywood: Did you take away any lessons from working in Daytime t.v.?

Jonathan: Doing a soap is like boot camp for actors. It's one of the best, rewarding experiences of your life because you learn how to memorize 83 pages a night and you learn what face looks good on camera. I know if I use my eyebrows too much it's going to stick out because they're big! Like doing this (he wiggles his eyebrows) when I'm talking. On screen it's like Boom! Boom! Boom! That's why I keep my eyes as still as possible whenever I'm doing a scene on film now. You learn how to take direction. You're getting direction over a monitor from a control room two floors away and it's like the voice of God comes over 'Jonathan! Can you be a little bit more angry about the fact that your mother is dead?'. Okay, sure. No problem. You know that everyone knows what your direction is so you'd better take it. They'll know if you did it wrong.

TeenHollywood: Who would you love to act with?

Jonathan: Two people. Comedic-wise, I'd like to work with someone like Chevy Chase because he's one of my idols who I grew up watching like in "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation". I hope I'll meet him because he's going to be at the New York premiere. Lorne is bringing all of his (SNL) people. Everyone keeps making fun of me because I don't even care about the New York premiere. The fact that he's going to be there at the afterparty is all I'm excited about. Then, also Michael Caine. He's like my acting guru. He's such a good actor, one of the best. And the fact that he wrote a book called "Acting in Film". I read that book before I do every project. It's a hundred pages, a quick read. When I'm flying on the plane up to shoot Mean Girls or whatever I'm going to do I always read that book on the way. It's one of the best books written for actors.

TeenHollywood: What qualities do you look for in someone you would like to date?

Jonathan: I think the qualities I look for in a girl I'd like to be my girlfriend would be the way Lindsay's character is before she becomes a plastic. Very real. Guys are very attracted to Plastics. You want to take them out on a couple of dates and wine and dine them because there's something about girls that have all this power. You know that they're b****es and you shouldn't like them and you shouldn't want to be attracted to them but you are. It's the biggest mystery of guys I think. But to actually have as a girlfriend? Someone who's honest and anti-plastic I think.

TeenHollywood: Was a girl ever mean to you in high school?

Jonathan: Girls are mean to each other. Girls were never mean to me. Even if they are mean to you, you have it a lot better than the girls. They aren't going to go out of their way to develop a plot to make that guy get hurt. Guys aren't threatening. Other girls are the competition. You are usually what they're fighting over. Even if you're not someone they want to date, you're still a guy and they have no competition with you.

TeenHollywood: What do guys do when they want to get mean?

Jonathan: If we don't like each other, we punch each other. It's violent. Guys just don't care. We don't take the time to plan behind each other's back. We just say, If you don't like me, s**** you. If a guy doesn't like you, you know because you have a black eye. If you get in a fight you end up being friends a week later.

TeenHollywood: But the guys are oblivious to this mean girl stuff. Now that you've done the film do you pay more attention now?

Jonathan: Absolutely. I can just see the conversations on the rides home with the dates who've seen the movie. The guy asking the question 'so, does that really happen? Do you girls really do that'? I think it's gonna cause some fights.

TeenHollywood: How big is Rossford, Ohio (where he was born)?

Jonathan: (Sings "Dueling Banjos" tune from "Deliverance") indicating Hicksville. (we laugh).

TeenHollywood: But you know everybody in town before you get to high school.

Jonathan: Yeah. That's true. There is definitely a different dynamic because the cool part about growing up in a small town is you know everybody. The bad part is...you know everybody. You know everything that ever happened to anybody and who they dated and what happened, who's been pregnant and who hasn't. You know everything.

TeenHollywood: How would you get guys to go see this film?

Jonathan: My quote to get guys to go see this film is 'Four beautiful women in short skirts'. That should do it.

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.