A Look Back at Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis’ Best Interviews Ahead of ‘Freakier Friday’
Mark Waters‘ fortune cookie did not predict a sequel.
The filmmaker—who directed the original 2003 Freaky Friday film—revealed that he was not asked to return to helm the 2025 sequel Freakier Friday, despite original cast members Lindsay Lohan (Anna), Jamie Lee Curtis (Tess), Chad Michael Murray (Jake), Stephen Tobolowsky (Mr. Bates) and Ryan Malgarini (Harry) all reprising their roles.
“Unfortunately, I was not invited to the party,” Mark said in an interview with Variety published Aug. 15. “I did raise my hand and say I’d love to be involved somehow, even in a kind of godfather aspect or executive producer. But I was not extended an invitation.”
But the Mean Girls director went on to acknowledge that he “never developed” his own idea for a second installment and was still happy when he found out that the comedy follow-up, which hit theaters Aug. 8, would be taken on without him.
“I’m very supportive of them making a great new movie,” he explained of the sequel, which was directed by Nisha Ganatra. “It would have been nice to be involved but now that I’m not, I sort of compartmentalize it for myself.”
Besides, the 61-year-old believes his talent is better focused on telling new stories that will stand the test of time.
“I need to devote my energy to keep making new, original things that are going to be hits and people can remake them in 20 years,” Mark explained. “So that’s what I’m doing now. You can’t worry about the projects that you don’t do.”
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Plus, he still got to feel the love from the original Freaky Friday actors.
“I heard from quite a few cast members while they were shooting, saying, ‘Where the hell are you, Waters?'” Mark shared, quipping that he replied, “I have not forsaken you! I’m sorry.”
And he hasn’t totally ruled out the possibility of teaming up for a third time with Lindsay, who he also directed in the 2004 teen classic Mean Girls.
“We reconnected recently in New York when she was shooting a Netflix film,” Mark said. “When we hung out recently, we did say it would be fun to find an excuse to do something together.”
For more on what went down behind the scenes of Freaky Friday, keep reading.
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1. Based on Mary Rodgers‘ 1972 novel of the same name, the 2003 Freaky Friday is the second remake of the same story. The first film adaptation was released in 1976, while a made-for-television take followed in 1995.
2. The film’s producer Andrew Gunn reached out to Jodie Foster, who played Annabel in the 1976 film, with the hope that she would be interested in taking on the mother role. Foster passed on the opportunity as she was concerned her casting would be a distraction.
3. Annette Bening was cast to play Tess Coleman, but dropped out six days before filming was set to begin.
4. After rising to fame as the original scream queen, Halloween star Jamie Lee Curtis thought her leading lady days were behind her when she was approached by director Mark Waters to replace Bening.
“I was telling interviewers I was 44, a little chubby, my hair was grey, I was refusing to dye it, and I was content with my life,” Curtis told the Telegraph in 2003. “In this business, I’ve always known there’s a point at which the best thing to do is gently back out of the door.”
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5. But after reading the script and meeting with Waters, Curtis decided to take on the matriarch role—even dyeing her hair and learning how to play guitar—that would revitalize her career. As she explained, the move “shows what can happen when you let go and let yourself feel liberated.”
6. After her breakout role in The Parent Trap, Lindsay Lohan took a breather from Hollywood, explaining that she was “thrown off” by her overnight fame.
“It came all at once, and Parent Trap was an amazing movie,” she told IGN in 2003. “How do you do something that can top that? I wanted to go to school and be a normal kid. I went to high school, and I did two Disney Channel things which were fun, just to keep up.”
But when she came across the script for Freaky Friday, Lohan knew it was “perfect” for her.
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7. Before Lohan could be cast as Anna, she had to best four other actresses for the part and she didn’t initially impress Waters, who said in a 2005 episode of E!’s True Hollywood Story that her audition was “probably the worst of the five.” However, “we also agreed she was a star,” Waters added. “She had this amazing turbulence and energy which we thought was going to be really interesting for the character.”
8. Kelly Osbourne was initially cast to play Lohan’s best friend, but the reality star decided not to do the movie when her mom Sharon Osbourne was diagnosed with colon cancer.
“I was faced with the choice of a career or spending what could have been the last days of my mother’s life with her,” Osbourne explained to Cosmopolitan in 2013. “The choice was apparently clear. I said, ‘F–k you, career, hello, Mother.’ I became my mum’s nurse 24/7.”
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9. Lohan had her first on-screen kiss in the movie with Chad Michael Murray, who played Anna’s love interest Jake. “I wasn’t too nervous,” Lohan said in a featurette, “after the 15th take!”
10. But Murray revealed during a 2019 appearance on Busy Tonight that he also made out with Curtis off-screen to help “settle” Lohan’s nerves prior to their kissing scene. After Curtis brought Lohan and Murray into her trailer in attempt to break the ice before cameras were rolling, Murray said Curtis “just grabbed me by the back of the head and made out with me.” His reaction? “Dude, I just made out with Jamie Lee Curtis! This is great!”
11. Tom Selleck was originally cast to play Tess’ boyfriend Ryan, but he dropped out of the project after Bening exited. Mark Harmon took over the role and he and Curtis formed a close friendship, with the actress going on to make several guest appearances on Harmon’s hit CBS procedural, NCIS.
12. Orgy band member Amir Derakh taught Curtis and Lohan how to play guitar. Lohan went on to record her first song, “Ultimate,” for the soundtrack.
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13. Lohan’s mom and then-manager, Dina Lohan, has a cameo in the final scene as one of the wedding guests.
14. Marc McClure, who played Annabel’s love interest in the 1976 movie, makes a brief appearance as Boris, the delivery man.
15. In an alternate ending, Harry (Ryan Malgarini) and Grandpa (Harold Gould) opened their body-swap-causing fortune cookies just as an earthquake happens, setting up a potential sequel.
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16. Speculation about a sequel ran rampant when Curtis told fans at a 2022 Halloween Ends press event in Mexico City that she would “absolutely” reprise the role of Tess. She also offered an update on her friendship with Lohan, admitting she would test the Mean Girls actress “to make sure it’s not a phishing scam” every time she texts her.
“‘What was the song that you and I were trying to learn the rap [that’s] in the middle of the song while we were sitting in the car doing the scene while we were eating French fries?'” Curtis recalled, referencing one of the movie’s iconic scenes. “The answer is the Justin Timberlake song ‘Like I Love You.'” …. she and I were playing the tape, then we’d go back and rewind, the two of us were writing the lyrics to that whole rap in the car.”
17. Three months before the original film’s 20th anniversary, E! News confirmed Curtis and Lohan were expected to body swap for a second time. “We talk almost every other day in general,” Lohan told People, “so I think we’re going to have a lot of fun with this.”
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