Josie and The Pussycats meet for the 20th anniversary
Universal’s cult early aughts classic Josie and the Pussycats, inspired by the Archie comics and the Hanna Barbera cartoon of the same name, turns 20 today and plays Rachael Leigh Cook (Love, guaranteed), Rosario Dawson (The Mandalorian) and Tara Reid (Sharknado) virtually reunited to look back on the legacy of the film! The cast reunion can be watched in the player below!
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“I think it was way ahead of its time. You are looking at it now and it resonates so with the moment we are in, but at the time I think it was difficult for people to really appreciate the satire that it was. “ Rosario Dawson, who appeared as Valerie, said of the film, which is often quoted to this day: DUJOUR MEANS FAMILY! The quote is even honored by indie movie fashion labels like Super Yaki, who sported hoodies and even ornaments based on them during one of their limited edition runs.
Rachael Leigh Cook played as Josie and was hired by the film’s directors Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan. “As an experience [it was] Many women support women from day one to this day. “
Co-lead Tara Reid repeated the feeling as they looked back. “It meant so much to us. When we made this movie, we had the best time ever. One of our directors was also a woman. So it kind of changed. And that was before there was such an impact, but in many ways, I feel like we started this game. ”
Click Here To Buy The Classic Cult Musical Comedy!
After approval, Josie and the Pussycats was compared to Spice world, although Cinephiles later struggled to reclaim it as a cult classic. The film shares more DNA with another cult film about the pop music industry: Brian De Palma’s Phantom of paradiseespecially when it comes to delving into the world of subliminal news in order to adapt to capitalism versus individualism. Mondo published a print of the Josie and the Pussycats Soundtrack on vinyl, which you can pre-order here. Matthew Libatique, the cinematographer for the film, later worked on both Lady Gaga and Bradley Coopers A star Is Born and Cathy Yans birds of prey with Margot Robbie. Josie and the Pussycats may have been a blueprint for birds of prey.
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Both on screen and behind the scenes, the film’s teamwork really made the film shine when it came to young women sticking together even when the famous machine tried to eat them up and chew them up. It was about friendship, and Rosario believes that is why the film is out of time. “There is scene after scene after scene that wasn’t about how men were in our lives. It wasn’t about all of these other things. It was about us and our dreams and our passions. And to see how these men really support these women and want to see them shine. And see it grow in front of you and wonder about it. There are just so many levels that are really profound when you look back at them through today’s lens. “
