Clueless’ Jeremy Sisto Reunites With Paul Rudd in Rare Red Carpet Pic

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You’ll totally pause over this Clueless reunion.

Jeremy Sisto and Paul Rudd, who starred together in the new film Reign Rain, appeared together on the red carpet at the 2026 Tribeca Film Festival in New York City on June 9th. It was a rare public appearance for Sisto.

They took a group photo with their Reign Rain colleague, Felice Kakaletris, and then went to the premiere party at The Amber Room, hosted by Cinema Center and sponsored by Hendrick’s Gin, Peroni, and Tasty Creations Catering.

Sisto, age 51, dressed in a relaxed yet professional style with a light green shirt, a dark brown jacket, and coordinating pants. Rudd, 57, opted for a more formal navy suit and striped tie.

Even though it’s been three decades since Clueless came out—featuring Alicia Silverstone, Stacey Dash, Donald Faison, Breckin Meyer, and the late Brittany Murphy—Jeremy Sisto says Paul Rudd hasn’t changed a bit since they first met.

He radiates a comforting and genuine energy in everything he does, both on and off camera,” someone shared with People magazine on June 8. “He’s the kind of actor who elevates everyone else’s performance and is incredibly giving with his talent.

Oh my gosh, he said the sweetest thing! He was talking about working with this incredible actor, and he said it’s so interesting because when you’re younger, you just see how amazingly talented someone is. But as you get older, you really start to notice how unbelievably generous they are as a person. It just… it melted my heart! He’s not just a star, he’s a genuinely good person, I knew it!

But the feeling is mutual for Rudd.

Working with him was fantastic,” the Ant-Man actor said. “It was really rewarding to look back on our shared history and how long ago it was.

He sees Reign Rain—a show about a girl with neurodiversity being raised by her father and uncle (played by Paul Rudd and Jeremy Sisto)—as particularly meaningful because it brings his career back to where it started.

It’s a really special experience,” Rudd shared. “Working with Jeremy, I felt like we both had the same vivid memories of being on the Paramount lot while making Clueless – it was like we were reliving it together. That connection was really cool, and it made the whole thing really enjoyable.

For more behind-the-scenes secrets about the making of Clueless, read on…

Trying to find a typical high school boy can feel pointless, like looking for substance in a Pauly Shore film. However, research at Beverly Hills High School proved surprisingly helpful for writer-director Amy Heckerling. As she explained to Entertainment Weekly, she noticed the girls were always focused on their appearance and constantly getting ready.

The producers went through several name changes while making their high school movie, and weren’t quite sure what to call it. They considered titles like No Worries and I Was a Teenage Teenager before settling on a final name.

Alicia Silverstone was the frontrunner for the role of Cher. Director Amy Heckerling noticed her appearing in several Aerosmith music videos while she was writing the script. She told The Telegraph that she recorded the first video she saw so she could show producers the actress she envisioned for the part when she submitted the script.

Her casting director friend, Carrie Frazier, repeatedly urged her to look at a particular actress who had been in The Crush. This actress was Alicia Silverstone. Initially, she was hoping for the girl from the Aerosmith music videos, but she eventually realized they were talking about the same person.

Silverstone won the role during a dinner with the director, Heckerling. According to Twink Caplan, who also played Cher’s teacher Miss Geist, Alicia Silverstone sipped her drink in a unique way – she leaned across the table to drink from the straw still in the glass. Heckerling immediately knew she’d found her Cher, describing Silverstone as incredibly sweet, even now.

Although director Amy Heckerling was confident in her vision, studio executives insisted on auditioning a large number of actresses. In a 2015 oral history of Clueless, published by Vanity Fair, Heckerling remembered seeing several hopefuls, including Alicia Witt, Tiffani Thiessen (who had recently cut her hair to the dismay of fans), and Keri Russell. They also asked her to consider the actress from Flesh and Bone, who turned out to be Gwyneth Paltrow, but Heckerling never had the chance to see her audition.

Reese Witherspoon was a strong contender, with many believing she’d become a star, according to Heckerling. However, ultimately, Alicia Silverstone was the perfect fit for the role of Cher.

Several other actors were considered for roles in the film. Josh was a potential candidate, as were Ben Affleck and Jeremy Renner. Lauryn Hill auditioned for the part of Dionne, Cher’s best friend, and Terrence Howard was considered to play Dionne’s boyfriend, Murray. Seth Green and Owen Wilson were both considered for the role of Travis, the laid-back stoner character. Sarah Michelle Gellar was even offered the role of Amber, the fashion-obsessed character, but her daytime television show, All My Children, wouldn’t release her for the few weeks of filming. Co-producer Adam Schroeder shared in As If! that the show “absolutely stuck their feet in” and refused to let her go.

It’s hard to picture anyone other than Paul Rudd as Josh, Cher’s eventual boyfriend, but the studio initially considered another actor. When that didn’t work out, they went back to Rudd, who “was amazing” in his screen test, according to casting director Marcia Ross in an interview with The Telegraph. Ross also revealed that Rudd had to audition many times to land the role.

At first, he was hoping for a different part. He explained to Chaney in her 2015 book that he initially interpreted the character, Murray, as a white man attempting to imitate Black culture. He was surprised to learn that the actor playing Murray was actually Black, realizing the character wasn’t meant to be a white man at all. He simply thought, ‘Oh, okay.’

The biggest challenge in casting the movie was finding the right actor to play Christian, Cher’s love interest. According to director Ross, they auditioned many people, but none of them captured the specific retro feel they were looking for.

The moment actor Justin Walker walked into the audition, everyone knew he was right for the part of Christian. They hadn’t found the perfect person until that moment. Walker, who barely had time to prepare, vividly remembers getting the news. He was working at the Overtime Bar and Grill near Madison Square Garden when his agent called – on a pay phone, of all things! – to tell him he’d gotten the role. He immediately dropped the phone and ran south on Eighth Avenue.

Finding actors for the roles of the heartbroken teachers, Miss Geist and Mr. Hall, was a straightforward process. Wallace Shawn, who played the unexpected romantic lead, explained, “They probably thought I’d be a good fit without even needing an audition.” He added that his own experience as a teacher helped him understand the part, saying, “I had firsthand knowledge of what that world was like.”

Oh my gosh, it’s so amazing! Apparently, when Amy Heckerling was thinking about who could play Miss Geist – honestly, the perfect character – she thought of this teacher she had way back when. And she wanted me to play her! I didn’t even realize what she was asking at first, I was just so stunned she’d written the part with me in mind. It’s like, she saw something in me that reminded her of this teacher, and she knew I could bring Miss Geist to life! I’m still freaking out about it!

When the actor originally cast as Cher’s mugger canceled just hours before filming, director Amy Heckerling had to quickly find a replacement. It was difficult to reach people – mobile phones weren’t common then – and she couldn’t get anyone to answer their office lines. Luckily, Jace Alexander was working with producer Scott Rudin at the time, and that’s how he ended up getting the part.

Breckin Meyer was especially excited to land the role of Travis. He told Entertainment Weekly that he was going through a tough time in his career and had spent all the money he’d earned as a child actor. He was living in a very basic situation – above a garage with no heat, hot water, or even a real bed, just a mattress on the floor. He even had to go to Seth Green’s house to shower and do laundry.

Alicia Silverstone, though only 17 during filming, wasn’t as passionate about fashion as her character Cher. She revealed at a 2019 comic convention that she sometimes found it hard to connect with Cher’s elaborate wardrobe – which included 64 different outfits in the 100-minute movie – because she typically just wore “the same green T-shirt and jeans.”

Even when the first copies of the book came out in 1995, she told the Allentown Morning Call that she had to do a lot of preparation for the publicity events. She explained that she doesn’t enjoy dressing up, preferring comfortable clothes like black sweatpants and a T-shirt, and that she considers herself a very grounded and practical person.

It took a full week to determine each character’s unique style. “Normally, it takes about two days, but we spent seven days, ten hours a day, just on fittings,” Stacey Dash explained to The Telegraph. “We went through so many clothes – racks and racks and racks of them!” She particularly loved Dionne’s plaid outfit, especially the hat, which she described as looking like “a pretty little cake.”

Dash said she and her Scrubsera co-star Donald Faison had genuine chemistry when they played a couple on screen, telling The Telegraph* it felt natural, not like they were acting.

Faison was definitely smitten. He admitted being completely charmed by her, recalling how he excitedly told his friends he was going to date the actress from Mo’ Money. They were shocked and immediately started asking if he’d kiss her, to which he enthusiastically replied, “Yes! And it’s going to be a good kiss!”

That kiss was actually his first time kissing on camera. Director Amy Heckerling told the New York Post that after she called ‘cut,’ he was incredibly excited, jumping all over the set. She described him as being like a happy, proud puppy.

The 40-day filming process during the winter of 1994 mirrored the lighthearted high school atmosphere the movie aimed to portray. As Shawn described it, making the film felt like a fun, innocent gathering where everyone playfully collaborated on a project. The cast wasn’t focused on future careers; they were simply enjoying the experience and having fun, which Shawn found “totally delightful.”

 

Honestly, being on set felt like the best sleepover ever! It was so common to see all of us younger cast members just hanging out in each other’s trailers. Elisa Donovan, who played the wonderfully snobby Monet, put it perfectly – she said we all had a blast, it truly felt like a dream come true. It was amazing getting to work with people our age, wearing those wild outfits, and it really felt like the start of something big for all of us.

Faison remembers having a lot of relaxed days with his friends on set. He and Meyer even shared a trailer, removing the divider so they could spend all their time together. According to Faison, filming was very laid-back – you’d arrive, hang out in the trailer, maybe take a nap, and then go film your scenes.

For several weeks afterward, Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, and Evan Goldberg became very close and all stayed at Rogen’s apartment. As Rogen explained to Entertainment Weekly, they spent their evenings watching movies starring Corey Haim and Corey Feldman, and during the day, they looked for other jobs.

Alicia Silverstone felt a lot of pressure carrying the movie, and her experience differed from her costars. While others seemed to have fun with their limited roles, she explained, “I was working crazy hours in every scene and was completely exhausted.” She viewed it as a job, unlike the others who came and went.

Alicia had a small dog that was relieving itself near her makeup trailer, causing complaints from people who were stepping in it, as Caplan recounted to The Telegraph. Caplan jokingly asked if the dog could be leashed to prevent the mess.

Filming one of the party’s most memorable scenes proved difficult for the actors. They couldn’t get the “Suck and Blow” gag to work with a real credit card, so the props department built one out of cardboard. They even used multiple layers of ChapStick to help create the necessary suction.

Just as upsetting to viewers was Murray’s shaved head, which so bothered Dionne that she jokingly threatened to tell his mother. According to Meyer, when filming scenes with a hat, they intentionally left a small amount of hair on the sides of Faison’s head to be subtly visible.

Director Amy Heckerling made a very quick, almost unnoticeable appearance in the film as a bridesmaid at the wedding. According to Caplan, Heckerling insisted on being in the scene. When the bouquet was thrown, the actresses weren’t reacting enthusiastically enough, so Heckerling had to physically push them to create more excitement. You can briefly see her doing this in the film.

Did Amy Heckerling, the writer of Clueless, invent Cher’s famous catchphrase, “As if!” Not likely! Heckerling is fascinated by language and was actively collecting slang terms at the time. She told The Hollywood Reporter in 2016 that she’d heard “As if!” circulating within the gay community in the early 1990s and thought it was a versatile phrase perfect for teenagers to use.

Although the quote appeared on the publication’s list of 100 Favorite Movie Quotes, director Amy Heckerling actually preferred a line from Cher’s debate class scene: “I guess, in a silly way, I’ve always been proud of ‘It does not say RSVP on the Statue of Liberty.’”

Developing the show’s unique vocabulary took some careful consideration. The creator explained to Entertainment Weekly that she always asked the child actors to come up with new words during auditions, and that’s how she discovered the phrase “going postal.” She also revealed that the name “Betty” was inspired by Betty Rubble, who she considered very attractive, and that the character of “Barney” was meant to be someone who seemed an unlikely match for Betty.

One of the most memorable scenes in the movie actually came from Alicia Silverstone herself. Director Amy Heckerling told EW that when Silverstone delivered her now-famous debate speech on immigration, she mispronounced “Haitians.” The cast and crew immediately rushed to correct her, but Heckerling stopped them, realizing the mispronunciation was funnier and perfectly captured Cher’s character.

It’s difficult to pick a single standout moment from the movie. Dash recalled the tennis court scene as a favorite, specifically when Elisa Donovan delivers the line, ‘My plastic surgeon doesn’t want me doing activity where balls fly at my nose,’ and he responds with, ‘There goes your social life.’ Alicia Silverstone, however, loves Tai’s iconic insult, ‘You’re a virgin who can’t drive.’ She says the way Tai says it, with her mouth puckered, is hilarious and ‘way harsh, Tai.’

According to Rudd, Cher and Josh definitely didn’t last as a couple—he points out they lived on opposite coasts. However, Silverstone is more hopeful. She told Entertainment Weekly she imagines Cher happily married to Paul Rudd, with a family, and pursuing a fulfilling career – maybe even as a professional organizer. Ultimately, she believes Cher has become a much more likable person.

Herckerling pictures her character as very socially aware and progressive. She told The A.V. Club that this version of Cher would definitely advocate for things like wearing masks, equality, fair wages, and improvements to immigration and the prison system. She’d also be a champion for the environment, fighting against climate change and harmful practices by large corporations. It’s a long list, Herckerling noted!

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2026-06-12 00:19