{"id":13138,"date":"2026-09-07T21:44:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T20:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thehotedit.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/07\/rachael-leigh-cook-surprises-fans-at-josie-and-the-pussycats-25th-anniversary-screening\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T21:44:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T20:44:00","slug":"rachael-leigh-cook-surprises-fans-at-josie-and-the-pussycats-25th-anniversary-screening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thehotedit.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/07\/rachael-leigh-cook-surprises-fans-at-josie-and-the-pussycats-25th-anniversary-screening\/","title":{"rendered":"Rachael Leigh Cook surprises fans at &#8216;Josie and the Pussycats&#8217; 25th anniversary screening"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<br \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-duhbcVwKoA\">punk-rock prom queen<\/a> is back! <\/p>\n<p>Rachael Leigh Cook surprised \u201cJosie and the Pussycats\u201d fans who gathered in Los Angeles Saturday for Cinespia\u2019s 25th anniversary screening of the 2001 cult film. <\/p>\n<p>Around 4,000 fans crowded the Hollywood Forever Cemetery as the film\u2019s writing and directing duo Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont introduced special guests Cook and Kay Hanley, who played the film\u2019s titular role and her singing voice, respectively.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Rachael Leigh Cook surprised fans at a Los Angeles screening of \u201cJosie and the Pussycats\u201d Saturday, as seen above. <span class=\"credit\">Cinespia Photos<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Kay Hanley, who was the singing voice of Cook\u2019s character in the film, was also a guest at the Cinespia event. <span class=\"credit\">Cinespia Photos<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cI have never felt more pride for being in a film that\u2019s sort of also in excess with unearned ownership of that product, because I am only half of this role,\u201d Cook <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@itsyourfilmsis\/video\/7682292188666957070\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told the crowd<\/a> \u2014 more than half of whom were wearing the band\u2019s signature leopard-print cat ears \u2014 ahead of the screening.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to take this moment to just shout out Kay Hanley for the rest of my days,\u201d she continued. \u201cThe only reason I can watch myself in this movie is because [Josie\u2019s] spirit is you. I love your work in this movie so much.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cook, 46, concluded her speech by noting, \u201cWe live in very complicated times,\u201d and shouting out \u201cevery life decision that got you here tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>\u201cI have never felt more pride for being in a film that\u2019s sort of also in excess with unearned ownership of that product, because I am only half of this role,\u201d Cook told the crowd. <span class=\"credit\">Cinespia Photos<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\"><figcaption>Cook, seen here in the event photo booth, joined fans in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery for the screening. <span class=\"credit\">Cinespia Photos<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Hanley, the lead singer of \u201990s alt-rock band Letters to Cleo, told the audience that she was \u201cgrateful\u201d for the fans of the film, which also stars Tara Reid, Rosario Dawson, Parker Posey and Alan Cumming.<\/p>\n<p>The movie \u201cliterally changed my life,\u201d she explained ahead of the screening, which is presented by Amazon MGM Studios and Prime Video.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy daughter was 11 months old when we were doing the vocals and she was in a pack-and-play in the studio,\u201d Hanley, 57, said. \u201cNow, she\u2019s 27 and she\u2019s here tonight.\u201d <\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>\u201cJosie and the Pussycats\u201d starred Cook, Tara Reid and Rosario Dawson, seen above in the movie. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The 2001 film, which only made $14 million worldwide at the time, has since become a cult classic. (Pictured: Dawson, Cook and Reid in the film.) <span class=\"credit\">\u00a9MCA\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The film, which is based on the character of Josie McCoy from the Archie Comics, follows the small-town Riverdale band as they skyrocket to global fame, only to discover their music is being used to send subliminal messages to teenagers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJosie and the Pussycats\u201d only grossed $14 million worldwide upon its 2001 release, but has since grown a cult following.<\/p>\n<p>Back in 2021, Cook <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/movies\/rachael-leigh-cook-josie-and-the-pussycats-missed-the-mark-marketing-release-exclusive\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told People<\/a>, \u201cWe all loved the movie we made, but sometimes movies don\u2019t make money. It\u2019s just a business \u2026 but it does do my heart good to know a movie that meant so much to me and the other girls when we made it is now resonating with other people.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2026\/09\/07\/entertainment\/rachael-leigh-cook-surprises-fans-at-josie-and-the-pussycats-25th-anniversary-screening\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The punk-rock prom queen is back! Rachael Leigh Cook surprised \u201cJosie and the Pussycats\u201d fans who gathered in Los Angeles Saturday for Cinespia\u2019s 25th anniversary screening of the 2001 cult film. Around 4,000 fans crowded the Hollywood Forever Cemetery as the film\u2019s writing and directing duo Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont introduced special guests Cook [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13139,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2026\/09\/Mask1-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[1778,2000,45,7722,573,66,323,6376,15756,1713,7968,15757,15755,7588,6236],"class_list":["post-13138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity","tag-25th","tag-actors","tag-anniversary","tag-cook","tag-entertainment","tag-fans","tag-film","tag-josie","tag-leigh","tag-movies","tag-nostalgia","tag-pussycats","tag-rachael","tag-screening","tag-surprises"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thehotedit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thehotedit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thehotedit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehotedit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehotedit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thehotedit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehotedit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thehotedit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehotedit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thehotedit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}