The Mean Girls movie musical was one of the most anticipated movies on the 2024 release schedule, and had big shoes to fill. The beloved 2004 teen movie has some iconic movie moments and quotes from the film have lived on in the hearts and minds of fans. One of the lines that have stood the test of time is: “Four for you Glen Coco, you go Glen Coco,” which happens when the comedic character Damian is handing out Christmas candy to a classroom. The line delivery is perfect, and as a result, the scene became iconic. There has been a lot of intrigue about the OG Glen Coco, and how he ended up in Mean Girls, and the story is almost as amazing as the hilarious movie moment.
The Glen Coco Moment From Mean Girls
In the film, new girl Cady Heron and her unpopular artsy friends Damian and Janice try to infiltrate the popular group of mean girls to take them down. They do this through Cady befriending the group, and becoming a popular girl herself while simultaneously messing with their heads. One way they do this is getting into the head of popular girl Gretchen Weiners, who is secretly very insecure about her friendship with the other popular girls. When it comes time for the students to exchange Christmas candy grams, Cady and her friends arrange for Gretchen not to receive any, but for the other students to receive many.
Damian, dressed as Santa Clause, goes into Gretchen’s class to hand out the Christmas candy, and makes a big show of handing them out to many students in the class, especially someone named Glen Coco. His enthusiastic excitement for Glen Coco is quickly followed by a blazé comment about Gretchen receiving nothing from her friends. He says:
Four for you, Glen Coco, you go, Glen Coco! […] And none for Gretchen Weiners. Bye.
It is very memorable, and is still a hilarious movie moment to this day, especially as audiences are revisiting the film with a Paramount+ subscription. Glen Coco may not be a significant character in the film, and serves no other purpose than to be showered with Christmas Candy, but the hilarious line reading has lived on. Despite Glen Coco having zero lines, he has become somewhat of a cinematic icon, and is now sharing his story.
How The Real Glen Coco Actor Was Cast In 2004’s Mean Girls
While the behind-the-scenes stories from Mean Girls have been widely reported, the intrigue around Glen Coco has not dissipated. When the actor was interviewed by Dazed, he opened up about his experience working on one of the best high school movies ever, and what he thinks about the scene being such a stand out moment. That actor, who’s name is David Reale, actually auditioned for a role in the film, however ended up not getting cast. Reale told the publication:
I actually auditioned for a different part in the movie. I didn’t get it. I wasn’t “officially” cast in the film at all – my first day was my only day. I just spent it trying not to look guilty while I ate all the free food.
Despite this, he wandered onto the set one day out of curiosity and in search of free food. The result was being a part of movie history. He continued:
I sort of hung around with the background performers and ended up getting lunch because everybody just assumed I was actually hired to be there. At one point the director recognized me from my audition and, as a consolation prize, said something like ‘Hey, I’m going to put you right in the front on this next scene and you’ll have a name and everything’. Tina Fey wrote the line, Daniel Franzese spoke the line… I just sat in a chair and tried not to stare at Lindsay Lohan. But I guess it was the first time somebody pointed to me on the street and shouted ‘YOU GO GLEN COCO!’ that I knew I was involved in something with a beauty and power that surpassed the mere proliferation of four candy canes to an accidental movie extra.
Even though Reale didn’t get paid, he got the satisfaction of being in a great, iconic moment in one of the best movies of the ’00s. The fact that Harry Styles was thought of to take over the no-line role certainly speaks to its importance, and it must be fun for Reale to revisit after all these years. While Reale didn’t reprise his role in the well-reviewed 2024 version of the film, he will always be the true Glen Coco for many of us.