Rachel Leigh Cook: 'Iconic She's All That red dress was too small'

An ill-fitting dress helped actress Rachel Leigh Cook perfect her iconic awkward staircase scene in cult romance She's All That.

In the beloved film, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary, Cook's nerdy character, Laney Boggs, wows her school's hunk, portrayed by Freddie Prinze, Jr., with her red dress makeover for the prom, but her big reveal is ruined when she stumbles on the last step and falls into his arms.

Rachel Leigh admits the scene really was as awkward as it looked, because she was wearing a dress that was too small for her.

"I remember feeling really self-conscious in the scene where I have to come down the stairs in the red dress," the now 39-year-old actress tells Entertainment Tonight. "There were two of that dress. We needed a stunt double dress for the scene where I had to run out and fall down in the driveway.

"One dress felt a good size smaller than the other one. Apparently the (main dress) was not available, so I’m in the second dress just (trying) to get down the stairs. Just without breathing. Say some words and then we’ll be done!"

The 1999 film was a surprise hit at the box office, but Cook admits she has mixed emotions about playing Laney on the big screen: "I remember it being a special time but, you know, I was a teenager making a movie about being a teenager, so, like any teenager, I was full of awkwardness and insecurities and not knowing how to navigate my life or my career or anything!"

Ironically, the actress is skipping her own 20-year high school reunion bash to mark the film anniversary: "No offence to Minneapolis South High School, but I think this means slightly more to me just, because this continued to be such a huge part of my life... And I got to go to a fake prom, I got to maybe be fake prom queen, like a lot of stuff happened in three and a half weeks in 1999."