Alicia Silverstone reveals why Clueless almost wasn't made

Alicia Silverstone holding shopping bags in a scene from the film 'Clueless', 1995. Photo / Getty Images

It's one of the most quotable comedies of the '90s - but Clueless almost didn't get made.

The film's star Alicia Silverstone - who played the spoiled yet delightfully oblivious Cher Horowitz - has revealed that a studio at the last minute decided to pull the pin.

"One studio said no to it because they didn't think anyone was interested in watching a movie about a young girl," she told Variety.

"And those people now do kick themselves that they were not a part of that film. The movie was set up at a studio and we were all set to go there and they were like, 'Nah, we just don't think anybody's going to care. It's not going to sell tickets'."

Silverstone - who was 19 at the time - said she was in Paris filming another movie when she received the bad news from Clueless' writer and director Amy Heckerling.

"I remember getting a fax from Amy Heckerling in my hotel in Paris saying something like, 'Oh well, we won't be making it now ... but maybe we'll make it in the future somewhere else'."

Soon after, producer Scott Rudin gave it the push it needed.

"(He said) 'Absolutely we're making this movie'," Silverstone recalled. "And so we did. And it was a huge success. Then they (studios) were like, 'Oh, well, let's make a million more like it'."

Clueless hit the big screen in 1995 and went on to gross more than $27.3 million worldwide at the box office.