By Lynn B.
Redheads rule! (This writer is prejudiced.being one). 17-year-old actress/singer Lindsay Lohan was, at age three, the first child model with red hair and freckles chosen by the famous Ford modeling agency. Her titian tresses once bothered her but now she's workin' the look and it's hot. Lindsay is on a big roll that started in 1998 with her part as twins in the Parent Trap remake. Then, Freaky Friday and Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen cemented her into the pantheon of teen goddesses. She can only move further up the ladder with her role as Cady, a home schooled teen targeted by a trio of Mean Girls.

When we met with Lindsay at the 4 Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, the actress was casual in jeans and a vintage blue "University of Alberta" t-shirt made into a cute tube top. Her only jewelry was a honkin' big blue watch decorated with tons of silver and diamond bling. She had a great tan that semi-hid her freckles and her long, red/strawberry blonde locks were resting on her tanned shoulders. Okay, she's cute all right! We wish we looked that good in a tube top.

Lindsay kicked off her heels, hopped into a chair and curled her legs up under her for our gurltalk session.

AGW: That's a cool top.

Lindsay: I just bought this t-shirt yesterday. it's a vintage t-shirt. I know nothing about it. I got it at Lisa Klein.

AGW: Obviously, Cady of Mean Girls is a very different character from who you played in Freaky Friday. Can you relate to both "mean" and "outsider" girls?

Lindsay: Yeah. I think I can relate to both. In high school, you kind of mix around with different people, and you become different - you know what I mean? You kind of are that person when you're in that group of people. For this movie, they called someone who got along with everyone a 'floater'. I think that's what I kind of was. I just kind of played Cady quiet and meek in the beginning and then it was so much easier to see her as a mean girl because her look was so much more drastic, it changed so much.

AGW: Which is more fun to play? Mean or "nice"?

Lindsay: Well, it's more comfortable being the nice girl, but it's more fun being the mean girl.

AGW: This is a very witty script. Did you laugh when you first read it and were you familiar with Tina Fey's work?

Lindsay: Oh yeah. I have been and am a big 'Saturday Night Live' fan. So I learned who she was and I read the script and I went to Saturday Night Live with a friend and saw Tina. The person I was with said 'you should tell her and say hi and let her know that you read her script'. So she dragged me up to her. Tina said 'Oh my God, you read it? And I was like 'yeah. I really like it'. It was really great talking with her. I love the script so much because it's not so often that you find a teen film that's not cheesy. Mean Girls is edgy and smart and quick and fun. People that see it can relate to it.

AGW: Was it important to you to go from a family friendly movie like Freaky Friday to something a little more adult? This is not just a teen movie.

Lindsay: No. I don't think it is either. I think it has an edgier aspect, and it feels good to do something that's more age-appropriate for me. That it's kind of different from anything I've ever done. It's great just growing up in front of everyone and being able to do stuff that I can relate to more.

AGW: Did you feel a little loss without Jamie Lee Curtis on the set?

Lindsay: Yes. And the only person I had was Tina and she wasn't there all the time because she was back and forth from SNL. So I didn't really depend on an adult to kind of show up for work and set the tone for the day.

AGW: Did you have a rapport with the girls playing the "mean" girls?

Lindsay: It was hard because they had to play the mean girls (the "Plastics") and I'm like the innocent one, and it's like the three of them all the time and then just me. So it was difficult for us. I was nervous that they were going to get along really well and I was just going to be there and completely excluded. But no, they were really cool and we all made it a point to kind of hang out, renting movies and everything. It was really cool. I think because everyone was older. I mean - Rachel's 25, I think, and Lacey's 21. They're like kind of past all that 'mean' kind of stuff, which is better.

AGW: Most of these clique movies suggest it's the girls who are more capable of cruel acts than the boys. Do you think that's valid, and why?

Lindsay: I think the girls kind of enjoy getting into drama more and fighting. But it's everyone in high school to an extent. I mean if someone has anything mean to say about the guys, they either fight each other physically or they just let it go. It's not that big of a deal. But girls really get into it, and they make everything kind of a big ordeal.

AGW: What's interesting about your character is that she's a blank slate. She's been brought up in a completely different culture...

Lindsay: I think so. I think it's a lot more interesting to watch a character go through a transition in a movie. You love her and then you almost want to not like her because she gets mean and gets 'lost' and everything. But you feel for her because it's not her fault that she's become like this. It's the people around her who have thrown her into this, and then she realizes who she wants to be and I think it's fun to watch that.

AGW: Are you glad to be finished with high school?

Lindsay: Yeah. I'm going to be 18. Someone told me that there is a countdown to my 18th birthday on one website. That's so cool. So it's 75 days .I want to go to college but it's kind of hard for me in this position. This is what I want to do in life. This is what I want my career to be. So to kind of just put it aside now and leave it to go to college, I just feel I'm not in a position where I can come back. People can't say yet 'oh, she's an established actress and she went to college'. I can't do that yet.

AGW: If you did go to college, what would you study?

Lindsay: I'm really interested in entertainment law. Just because I'd kind of like to know what's going on with my business rather than having to give it up to everyone else. I think it would just be for my sake.

AGW: What's the closest thing to a Mean Girl stunt you pulled in school? Or was one pulled on you?

Lindsay: A group of girls and I had this art class where our art teacher just didn't care if we didn't go to class and we went to get breakfast because we'd finished our project way ahead of time. So one day, my friends and I snuck out . We'd had an argument and a few of them went back to the art class and left me and went to the teacher and they were like 'Lindsay cut'. I got a note and was sent home and I was in the tank, and it was like my first detention ever. I was so upset. I was crying, so I went back to the teacher and said that they cut too and didn't finish their project, they just lied and said they did.

AGW: How do you feel about the transition you're about to make, from teen actress to adult actress?

Lindsay: Right now, I have a younger fan base, so I don't want to grow out of them and just kind of leave them and not be able to come back. Because once I grow up in movies, I can't really go back. So I want to grow with them and find the right material that's not too over the top. I'd like to do other films. I'd like to do indies and stuff that's less commercial and more serious. I think it gets to the point where you can only do so many movies about being in high school.

AGW: Your character in Mean Girls is really great at Math? Are you? What was your fave subject?

Lindsay: I'm not bad at math. It just wasn't my favorite subject. I just did it just to do it. I had a really great American History teacher when I was in 10th grade. He had a way of teaching us that was - he would tell us a story about a personal experience and it would end up being the lesson. He made it more interesting to me and made me want to hear more about it.

AGW: You went to regular school when you weren't on a set, right? Does that keep you grounded?

Lindsay: Yeah, I think it does, and I think it's the fact that my friends didn't really care about it, they were unaffected and that helped. AGW: How do you balance a private life with being a celebrity?

Lindsay: I don't have the big dating problem yet. I haven't been dating really yet. I've been working. I haven't found anyone I really want to date.

AGW: Do you think boys are intimidated by going out with someone in the public eye?

Lindsay: I don't know. Honestly, if they are, then I'm sorry. (laughs) But I'd try to make them feel as comfortable as I could.

AGW: Are you still living back East with your family?

Lindsay: Yes but I'm looking at houses out here because I'll be working out here this summer and I think it's a good investment for me to make if I'm out here all the time.

AGW: What are you working on this summer?

Lindsay: I'm in discussion with Disney for The Love Bug. It is another remake, but it's a great script and it's fun. I don't think there's anything wrong with doing remakes.

AGW: Is it still going to be a Volkswagen?

Lindsay: Yes.

AGW: What are you driving?

Lindsay: I'm just looking at new cars now. I'm looking at all different types of cars. My dad's always been really into cars, so he 's like a sports car fanatic, so we'll see.

AGW: Are you a fast driver?

Lindsay: Hey, I'm a safe driver but when I'm with my dad I drive faster because he says 'go faster, go faster' and he always says 'gun it'.

AGW: Whoa, you have a fun dad. Do you have any advice to girls facing this problem with Mean Girls at school?

Lindsay: Just be yourself and ignore it. The more you get caught up in it, and the more you take the time to invest in what's going on with them, the more it's just going to make you miserable in high school. It got to the point in high school for me where there was too much drama going on, so I was like 'I need to get my work done. I need to stop being social'. So I'd say get your work done! Have time for your friends on the weekends. And don't be passing notes in class. Because I was always writing about someone or something