Alyson Hannigan Freaked Out Over Taylor Swift’s ‘American Pie’ Shoutout
Count Alyson Hannigan among the legions of Swifties who stayed up half the night to listen to The Tortured Poets Department. But after finally getting some sleep, Hannigan had no idea that she’d wake to a second batch of new Swift songs — and that Hannigan would be indirectly name-dropped on one of the tracks.
“I started listening to it, and when I got to ‘So High School,’ I was like, What?!” Hannigan told Vulture. “I thought maybe I was still sort of sleeping and imagining it. But when I heard it, I was freaking out.”
Why did Hannigan go nuts? Blame it on the lyric, “I’m watching American Pie with you on a Saturday night.”
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“I thought maybe I was still sort of sleeping and imagining it,” she explained. “But when I heard it, I was freaking out. I woke up my entire family who seemed less enthusiastic than I’d like them to be. Then I called a friend, and she and I had a nice freakout together. I was so happy. Basically, I was on the date with Travis and Taylor.”
The fact that Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce might be a fan makes sense, Hannigan said. Over the past few decades, Hannigan has been recognized for different projects depending on where she’s at. “If I were at a football game, it would definitely be American Pie,” she confirmed. “So it’s not that big of a leap to think that Travis had watched it.”
It’s just one more way American Pie lives on a quarter century after its release. The film spawned three sequels (and counting), as well as five straight-to-video versions with different groups of high school students trying to get to third base. That said, Hannigan almost didn’t make it past the original.
Despite her recurring role on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hannigan’s Michelle was considered a minor character, and the actress was paid little more than the union minimum. Doing a second American Pie movie for no money? Hannigan wasn’t having it.
“Look, I’m getting paid scale plus 10. I’m not going to sign for a sequel. That doesn’t make sense,” was her response at the time and she negotiated to have the clause removed. “I sound like I was being really difficult, but I just thought it was silly,” she said. She also got her way on the contract, “which ended up being really nice for me when I did the sequel. There were a couple smart things I did back then.”
Now Taylor Swift is liking her Instagram Stories. American Pie just keeps on giving.
