Short film Cailíní Gránna puts a gaeilgeoir twist on Mean Girls ahead of 21st anniversary

Hilary Bowen-Walsh, who is originally from Sligo but is now based in Dublin, wrote, directed, and starred in the production of Cailíní Gránna.

The short film reimagines Tina Fey’s beloved comedy and serves as both a tribute to Mean Girls and a showcase for the Irish language.

“People are absolutely obsessed with it [Mean Girls]. I’m totally overcome with surprise,” Ms Bowen-Walsh said.

“It’s been amazing and unexpected. You make a thing and put it out there, then people take it for themselves and that has been beautiful to see.

“When I was in college years ago, I was part of the Cumann Drámaíochta and we decided to adapt Mean Girls in an Irish context for the stage.

“It won a few awards and has stayed with me ever since that it would be fun to make a visual Irish language version of it.

“You could modernise it and put in all the memes and references of everything we love.”

Ms Bowen-Walsh takes on the role of Regina George in Cailíní Gránna, which also features Megan O’Malley as Lindsay Lohan’s character Cady, which is changed to Kayleigh for the Irish version.

The poster promoting Cailíní Gránna, an Irish language version of Mean Girls

The end credits feature a cover of Chappell Roan’s hit, Hot to Go, sung as gaeilge as Mhac Go Deo by Caoimhe Doyle.

“It was a challenge. I was wearing many hats, but I had collaborated with a lot of the people previously, so I felt really well supported and I felt I had done enough preparation. The shooting days went well,” Ms Bowen-Walsh said.

“It was great fun. I was trying to get people to come in representing their county, whether it was Kilkenny, Leitrim, Donegal, or Kerry, just to hear the different kinds of Irish.

“In the original movie, there’s a quote where one of the high school girls, Gretchen, is trying to test out a new bit of slang and says, ‘that’s so fetch’.

“We landed on ‘Cúla Búla’ for that scene as it’s a term Irish people know but there’s something kind of nasty and cringe about it.”

Speaking about her grá for the teanga, Ms Bowen-Walsh said you don’t have to be perfect at the language to give it a go.

“I’m a big believer of encouraging people to use a little Irish. Most Irish speakers are bilingual these days, if you don’t have the terminology for nuclear reaction, you can just use English words.

“For me, it’s about overcoming our inherited postcolonial self-deprecation and shame. To take pride in such a rich cultural and linguistic heritage. Beyond all the baggage, it’s just a means to communicate in an incredibly trendy way.

“I was involved in the first Irish language musical ever that went to the Cannes Film Festival.

“I’ve done a lot of Irish language work, and I love it. I don’t see it any different to doing English language work.”

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