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Christine Taylor Argued With ‘Brady Bunch Movie’ Director Over ‘Sure, Jan’ Scene: Find Out Why (Exclusive)

Here’s the story, of a woman named Taylor, who just wanted to get the line right. Christine Taylor remembers the infamous “Sure, Jan” scene from The Brady Bunch Movie all too well — and how she stuck to her guns about reciting a certain word.

Christine Taylor and Ben Stiller’s Timeline

“I remember that exact day of shooting that [scene] in the movie. It’s the same scene where Marcia says, ‘I’ve never heard of a George Glass at our school.’ And she says, ‘skule,’ like the weird pronunciation of ‘school,'” Taylor, 51, exclusively told Us Weekly while promoting her new “Hey Dude… The 90s Called!” podcast with cohost David Lascher. “And I remember the director [Betty Thomas] kind of battling me on that one and saying like, ‘Can you just say school normally?’ And I said, ‘No, because [original Marcia Brady actress] Maureen McCormick did not say school normally. She said skule and I remember it was that exact scene and it’s that exact outfit.’”

The Dodgeball actress got her way with the funny line, which led into the best moment of all — when she clearly didn’t believe that Jan [Jennifer Elise Cox] had a boyfriend. Taylor, in character, then teased, “Sure, Jan.” The sassy sister response left such a mark with audiences that it’s still a meme to this day.

Christine Taylor Argued With Brady Bunch Movie Director Over Sure Jan Scene
Christine Taylor Gregory Pace/Shutterstock

“I can’t believe it because it’s used, like, in political tweets. It’s used around my kids’ age, and they use it. It seems to run the gamut,” Taylor laughed to Us. (The Hey Dude alum and husband Ben Stiller share daughter Ella, 20, and son Quinlin, 17.)

’90s Stars: Then and Now

She added: “Never in a million years did we ever think that that would be the piece of the movie that has lived on more than any other piece.”

Christine Taylor Argued With Brady Bunch Movie Director Over Sure Jan Scene 2
Christine Taylor YouTube

The 1995 comedy based on the beloved series, which ran from 1969 to 1974, reimagined the original ’70s Brady gang trapped in the ’90s. It also starred Shelley Long, Gary Cole, Christopher Daniel Barnes, Paul Sutera, Olivia Hack and Chicago P.D.’s Jesse Lee Soffer. A Very Brady Sequel was released in 1996.

’90s TV Stars: Then and Now

Christine Taylor Argued With Brady Bunch Movie Director Over Sure Jan Scene 4
YouTube

Taylor reunited with Cox, 53, on the January 16 episode of “Hey Dude… The 90s Called!” along with Barnes, 50, Sutera, 43, Hack, 39, and Henriette Mantel to look back on the movie, which they filmed in the summer of 1994.

“The whole Jan Brady thing is my whole persona,” Cox teased. Taylor and Cox later revealed that they seemingly made less than the rest of the kid actors, pocketing “maybe” $2,500 per week while others allegedly earned probably “no more than” $5,000 per week.

“I had the worst agent!” Taylor said. “But I remember thinking I would have done this movie for free. Truly. I would have paid them to be in the movie. But the desperation of my agents to get me that job like, ‘Yes! Everyone is getting $2,500.'”

For more, listen to her iHeart podcast here.

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