Rachael Leigh Cook Details Friendship With ‘Very Special’ Freddie Prinze Jr.: ‘He’s Still Somehow a Teenager’
More than two decades of laughs! Rachael Leigh Cook opened up about her friendship with Freddie Prinze Jr., which is still going strong more than 20 years after they starred in She's All That together.
"He is older and wiser but not more mature," the actress, 43, exclusively told Us Weekly while promoting her new Netflix movie, A Tourist's Guide to Love. "He's still somehow a teenager. There's something just boyish about that man."
The Perception alum went on to say that she and the Down to You actor, 47, still text, but she never knows when to expect a message.
"He'll just randomly send me photos of this car that he's been repairing for years or his dog or his kids and he'll just be like, 'What up? How you doing?'" Cook recalled. "It's just so the same Freddie. And I mean that in the very best way. He's a very special human being."
The duo first met while working on 1997's The House of Yes before teaming up on the classic rom-com She's All That. The 1999 film stars Prinze Jr. as Zack, a high school senior who takes a bet to turn a nerdy student — Laney Boggs, played by Cook — into a prom queen.
The pair haven't worked together since but have stayed friends — and their reunions always send the internet into a frenzy. Last year, the twosome hung out at the premiere of Prinze Jr.'s Netflix film Christmas With You.
“What a great night, so happy for you my friend!” Cook wrote via Instagram in November 2022, sharing a photos from the event that showed her posing with the Summer Catch star. "Check anyone who doesn’t love @realfreddieprinze in #christmaswithyou for a pulse. SO GOOD ?????????? Congratulations to the whole team, you smashed it @netflixfilm ??????.”
The Scooby-Doo star, for his part, also uploaded a few snaps from the festivities, writing: “You’re the best @rachaelleighcook Thanks for hanging with the old man!”
Despite the fact that more than 20 years have passed since the pair made a splash in She's All That, Cook says her former costars is still "exactly the same human" that he was back then. "He's just maybe slightly more fired up about wrestling," she quipped, referring to the Friends alum's co-ownership of Premier Streaming Network, which focuses on wrestling.
While fans hold out hope for a She's All That ?sequel, Cook is busy adding more selections to the romantic comedy genre. Her latest entry is A Tourist's Guide to Love, which premiered on Netflix Friday, April 21. The Minnesota native plays Amanda, a recently dumped woman who travels to Vietnam on business and finds love with an expat tour guide named Sinh (Scott Ly).
"I related to [Amanda's] unconscious desire for change and her stifled thirst for adventure and also her ambitions for her career," the Spirit Halloween: The Movie star told Us of her character. "I think we can all relate to that."
Cook noted that she's thrilled she still gets to make rom-coms after nearly 30 years in Hollywood. "It feels really humbling and really special," she told Us. "I don't know how it's happened that I've been allowed to be in the game this long, but I just feel really grateful for it."
A Tourist’s Guide to Love is now streaming on Netflix.
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With reporting by Mandie DeCamp
