Clueless, which crossed its 25th anniversary back in 2020, has remained one of the most iconic ‘90s movies that became part of popular culture. Much of the film’s talented cast still find fun nuggets from behind the scenes to share with fans. The most recent one comes out of Alicia Silverstone, who recalls one memorable funny beat in the film that she unintentionally added to her classroom monologue.
Alicia Silverstone, who still does fun throwbacks to her most beloved role of Cher Horowitz on TikTok, shared that she initially messed up the pronunciation of one word in the script, but it worked to the benefit of the film. As she recalled:
Well, there was one in particular, which is, I think I say, ‘The Haiteeans.’ I didn’t know it’s ‘The Haitians,’ and I just kept saying ‘Haitieeans,’ and I know that [director] Amy Heckerling stopped the script supervisor because everybody, when I first did it, they all were running to tell me I was saying it wrong.
In the scene at the top of the film that has Alicia Silverstone wearing that memorable yellow plaid getup, Cher was not totally buggin’ when she said Haitians incorrectly, because she didn’t know any better. But that very element of the scene is perfect because it goes so well with Cher’s character. The character often talks a big game, but as the movie progresses, it’s clear she doesn’t necessarily know what she’s doing. Silverstone continued during her interview with Looper with:
She was like, ‘stop,’ and she didn’t let anybody go near me because she loved that I was saying it wrong. So there was that.
Alicia Silverstone was clearly embodying her character and the director Amy Heckerling saw that and made sure it stayed in the film. And that moment truly plays well in Clueless. I for sure I laugh every single time I watch the ‘90s comedy when that moment crops up. At the time, Silverstone was a teenager herself too, so there you go.
Clueless is a reimagining of the Jane Austen novel Emma that took the story into the modern age at the time. It launched the career of Alicia Silverstone, who would play Batgirl in Batman & Robin just two years later alongside tons of roles over the years. Silverstone’s most recent film is a shark movie called The Requin about a couple on a getaway who film themselves stranded in a tropical storm, forced to survive some dangerous elements.
The actress is returning to the high school movie for Senior Year, a comedy starring Rebel Wilson, about a woman in her late ‘30s (Wilson) who wakes up from a 20-year-come and goes back to high school. Senior Year will be released on May 13, 2022. While we wait for that, you can stream Clueless with an HBO Max subscription.