She's All That is 20 today! But did you spot this mad connection with Buffy the Vampire Slayer?
In case you weren’t already feeling old, '90s romcom classic She’s All That turns twenty today. Two whole decades since Freddie Prinze Jr. melted our hearts as the misguided high school jock and Rachael Leigh Cook did the same by… taking off her glasses and undoing her ponytail.
Hey, it was the '90s, what are you gonna do?
Despite the rather questionable messages about beauty and love, Robert Iscove’s comedy hit has stood the test of time since it hit back in 1999.
To refresh your memory, the film follows the heartbroken hunk Zack (Prinz) as he bets his buddy Dean (Paul Walker) that he can turn the dorky and unpopular Laney (Cook) into the prom queen.
As you’d expect, things get a little too real for our Zack and he finds himself falling for his protégé (post-makeover scene).
Although talks of a reboot have been circulating for years, plans have been stuck in development limbo and, if we’re honest, it’s probably for the best – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Plus, some things belong in the '90s. Like Sunny D or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Speaking of which, did you know it’s inexplicably linked to She’s All That? (Buffy, not Sunny D.)
If you didn’t, we’ll lay it all out for you now: the show and the movie were both shot in exactly the same place, Torrance High School in California. This also happens to be the same building where Beverly Hills 90210 was filmed, as well as the NBC drama Medium.
Of course, we’ve got proof. Here’s Torrance High School in She’s All That:
And here it is in Buffy:
Notice the distinctive arches?
But that’s not the only way Buffy and She’s All That are linked – in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, the show’s star Sarah Michelle Gellar makes a cameo in the school cafeteria, although she appeared a little lost for words when Laney’s younger bro Simon (Kieran Culkin) offers her ‘fresh ground pepper’.
“She was there visiting Freddie and we asked her if she would come and do it, and she said she would come and do it, but she wouldn't speak. She wouldn't say any lines,” Iscove told Cosmopolitan.
“OK, we don't know why you wouldn't say, 'Thank you,' or 'No.' But that was her thing and she did it. And to get Buffy in the movie was certainly (a big deal) – because at that point, Buffy was huge.”
To add yet another layer to this nostalgic onion, the relationship between Prinze and Gellar was only in the budding stages at this point. And as we know by celebrity lore, those two have beat the Hollywood curse by enjoying a long and happy marriage.
“Whether (Freddie) was starting to date Sarah (at the time), I'm not sure. But I do think she was there because of Buffy pickups rather than Freddie now that I think about it,” added Iscove. “I know that he wanted to take his previous girlfriend to Hawaii and propose and she didn't go. And that was the beginning of the end of that relationship.”
And the rest is history.
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