The Guy Who Played Glen Coco In Mean Girls Had Just Wandered Onto The Set Looking For Free Food
"Mean Girls" is one of those movies that is just oh-so-easy to quote. Lines from director Mark Waters' 2004 hit comedy have proliferated on the internet, giving rise to cleverly-crafted memes and gifs. Every October 3, I see at least three tweets on my feed acknowledging the date — a reference to the moment in the film when Lindsay Lohan's character Cady gets asked what day it is by her crush. (It's October 3, Aaron Samuels, you beautiful man.) Other popular lines like "On Wednesdays we wear pink" and "Get in, loser. We're going shopping" pop up everywhere from social media feeds to t-shirts you can purchase at your local big box store. The film is nothing if not a goldmine of one-liners that flawlessly capture the complexities and angst of teenage social structures.
There is, however, one silly, perfect line that may just top them all. Spoken by Damien Leigh (Daniel Franzese) as he delivers candy canes to a class full of students, the line has easily become one of the film's most beloved. As he tosses candy canes to class members, Damien jovially shouts their names until suddenly shouting, "Four for you, Glen Coco! You go, Glen Coco!" Perhaps it's because the line is delivered by Franzese with such an outstanding level of positivity and cheer, Glen Coco and his four — read it, four — candy grams have become one of the most adored niche characters in the whole movie. The funny thing is though, the actor who portrays the now infamous Glen was only on set that day in the hopes of scoring a free lunch.
When hunger leads to opportunity
Glen Coco is a man of mystery. You don't even get a good look at his face in the candy cane scene (though we do see him again a few scenes later — he's pictured above, sitting in front of Cady). Yet despite his sparse presence, Glen Coco has become beloved by fans of the film.
In a 2014 interview with Dazed, Glen Coco actor David Reale detailed how he became a part of "Mean Girls" history. He started off by explaining that he did, in fact, audition for a more substantial role in the film, but ended up not getting it. "I wasn't 'officially' cast in the film at all," he explained. "My first day was my only day."
As fate would have it, filming just happened to be taking place near Reale's apartment in Toronto. "One day I sort of wandered onto set to see if I could watch some scenes being shot and maybe get some free food," he recalled. While he was there, however, director Mark Waters spotted him and recalled Reale's audition. "As a consolation prize, he 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,'" Reale explained. The rest is history.
Because Reale was never actually cast in the movie, he didn't get a paycheck or a credit for his portrayal of Mr. Coco ("I just sat in a chair and tried not to stare at Lindsay Lohan."), but fans of the film eventually figured out who he was. To this day, he still gets recognized for this silly little part, but the actor has since moved on to bigger and better things, like playing Evan Lambert on the Prime Video series "The Boys." Still, he'll always be remembered for his spontaneous "Mean Girls" role. You go, Glen Coco, indeed.