In a case of life imitating art, Jamie Lee Curtis saved the day in Freaky Friday not just on-screen, but off-screen too.
The 2003 Disney movie saw Jamie Lee Curtis star opposite Lindsey Lohan as uptight therapist Tess Coleman, while Lohan played her rebellious teenage daughter, Anna. After an ill-fated incident with a fortune cookie, the warring mother-daughter pair end up switching bodies, leaving Tess in Anna’s body and vice versa.
This means that for the majority of the family movie, Curtis had to act as a teenager inhabiting her mother’s body, which led to both hilarious and heartfelt moments. There might be five versions of this comedy movie, but Curtis’ performance, along with Lohan’s, makes this the best movie version.
As it turns out, Curtis’ casting was more instrumental to the success of the ‘2000s movie than we realized. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, which is celebrating Freaky Friday’s 20th anniversary, director Mark Waters even went as far as saying that the now-Oscar winner’s casting effectively “saved” the movie.
“[Curtis’ casting] ended up saving the movie because of her energy and also her chemistry with Lindsay,” he explained. “The two of them have a lot of aggressive energy, and aggression is funny. They were not scared to get into it with each other.”
Chad Michael Murray, who plays Lohan’s love interest Jake in the film, was also full of praise for Curtis when he spoke to THR.
“When I heard Jamie was coming onboard, I really got excited because I grew up loving Jamie Lee Curtis,” he said. “I grew up watching her on True Lies, and my dad just had the biggest crush on her. She’s just fantastic in everything she does. She’s just Hollywood royalty, in my opinion, and she’s the epitome of what a movie star is. She’s a lifer. It was a great person to watch, and now looking back at that age, I can sit there and just appreciate so much of what she was and what she did for everybody.”
You can watch Freaky Friday on streaming service Disney Plus now. For more Disney magic, check out our guide to everything new on Disney Plus, including new movies and Disney Plus shows.
To see more of Jamie Lee Curtis, check out our guide on how to watch the Halloween movies in order. Or, if you want to see the performance that gave her an Oscar, here’s how to watch Everything Everywhere All At Once.
And we saved the best until last. Freaky Friday is officially getting a sequel! Here’s everything we know about the Freaky Friday 2 release date.