Why teenage Hilary Duff was scared of ‘mean’ Jennifer Coolidge on ‘A Cinderella Story’ set

Hilary Duff was intimidated by Jennifer Coolidge while working on the 2004 movie “A Cinderella Story” together.

The “Lizzie McGuire” alum reminisced about working with the “American Pie” star and how Coolidge got into character as Fiona, the wicked stepmother of Duff’s character, Sam, in the modernization of the classic fairy tale.

“By the way, it’s just so much fun to watch her career,” Duff, 38, said of the Emmy-winning actress. “She just goes there in such a big way that it was really impressive and slightly intimidating as a teenager.”

Hilary Duff admitted she was intimidated working with Jennifer Coolidge on 2004’s “A Cinderella Story” because the Emmy winner was “mean” to her in character as her evil stepmother. ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection

Duff recalled, “She was mean to me, so it was a little scary, ’cause I was only like 15 and she was just, you know, mean to me ’cause she’s my evil stepmother.” ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection

“And she was mean to me, so it was a little scary, ’cause I was only like 15 and she was just, you know, mean to me ’cause she’s my evil stepmother,” she recalled.

Duff admitted Coolidge, 64, was so good in character that it made her uncomfortable.

“At the time, I was like …,” Duff said, recalling taking deep breaths. “I had to be like, ‘You’re filming a movie. You’re filming a movie.’”

Coolidge’s rep didn’t immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment on Duff’s remarks.

The “Lizzie McGuire” actress said she had to remind herself that it was only a movie. ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection

Duff praised her former co-star, saying Coolidge “just goes there in such a big way that it was really impressive and slightly intimidating as a teenager.” ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection

Directed by Mark Rosman, “A Cinderella Story” also starred Chad Michael Murray as Duff’s love interest, Austin, and Regina King as Rhonda, Sam’s fairy godmother. The movie was a commercial success and inspired multiple straight-to-video films.

Murray, 44, shared his idea for a sequel to the film in an interview with Parade in July. The original ending saw Austin and Sam going off to Princeton together.

“I think the way that I would do it would be, as love does in high school, it doesn’t work out,” he said. “Most of the time, they’ve gone separate ways. They’ve had their lives.”

The cult classic also starred Chad Michael Murray as Austin, Duff’s character Sam’s love interest. ©Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection

Murray shared that he had an idea for a sequel in an interview with Parade in July. Hilary Duff/Instagram

“Maybe my character would be a teacher at this point, an English teacher back at the school, and maybe Hilary Duff’s character got married, had kids [and] it didn’t work out,” he continued.

“And now her daughter happens to be in my class, and you do a dual Cinderella story, where she’s a little shy, and she maybe doesn’t fit in. And [my character] nurtures that. And blah, blah, blah. I think that would be something to tell.”

Murray also shared why he thinks the film has stood the test of time.

“Still today, young girls are watching it all the time, and every time it’s on, I’m sitting there going, ‘You know what? They did a great job with this film. Hats off to everybody that was a part of this film,’” he shared. “They did a great job.”