Movie theater owners can chill for a sec, because Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis brought an exclusive look at “Freakier Friday” to CinemaCon, the annual exhibition trade show.
In Disney’s original 2003 film, Lohan and Curtis play a mother-daughter duo who swap bodies after eating a magical fortune cookie. The timing couldn’t have been worse… Lohan’s Anna was gearing up for her band’s make-or-break gig (maybe you’ve heard “Ultimate,” their earworm hit single) while Curtis’ Tess was about to get re-married. The sequel picks up about two decades after the first — and ups the ante with a four-way body swap. This time, it’s not just Tess and Anna who walk a proverbial mile in each other’s shoes… Anna’s daughter and new step-daughter also wake up in different bodies.
“We can’t begin to tell you how amazing it’s been to be back in Anna and Tess’ shoes,” Lohan told the room of movie theater owners during Disney’s CinemaCon presentation on Thursday afternoon.
Curtis interjected, “But we don’t spend that much time in those shoes. This Friday is freakier because this time, we have double the swaps. You’ll get to see me like never before thanks to a very aggressive teenage makeover.”
In the scene that played in the room at Caesars Palace, Anna and Tess are hatching a plan to reconnect with Chad Michael Murray’s Jake — a former love interest who memorably sings “…Baby One More Time” in the original — at a record store. Based on the clip, scored to “Hot to Go!” by Chappell Roan, unclear why the mom and daughter duo are seeking him out — though perhaps they’re trying to retrace their steps from their last body-swap incident.
“All you have to do is go in there and flirt with Jake and remind him why he fancied you when you were young,” Tess tells her daughter, who replies, “Wait, I wasn’t me when I was younger. I don’t know how to flirt.”
Anna begins to spiral a bit (after all, Jake was sorta in love with her mom, not her, in “Freaky Friday”). She thinks out loud, “I definitely don’t know how to flirt as an old person. What do they do? Talk about transitional lenses? John Mayer?”
Unfortunately, once Anna tries to lay on the charm offensive, she finds out that Jake hasn’t been daydreaming about her all these years later.
“Do you ever think about us?” Anna asks, to which Jake replies, “I’m not sure there’s a right answer to that question.” When she tries to be seductive, he worries she’s having a health scare. “I know what this is,” Jake says as Anna suggestively bites her upper lip. “You’re having a stroke.”
Instead, it appears that Jake still has the hots for Tess. He asks her, “I don’t know how to broach the subject. Is your husband still with us? How old is he?”
He’s alive (Mark Harmon is back to play the hubby of Tess) but never mind his age… “We never talk about it,” Tess admits. “He’s somewhere between 50 and 100.”
Nisha Ganatra, known for Mindy Kaling’s “Late Night” and “The High Note,” is directing “Freakier Friday,” which opens in theaters on Aug. 8. Lohan and Curtis will be joined by “The Good Place” star Manny Jacinto, “Never Have I Ever” breakout Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” scene-stealer Julia Butters.
As Disney’s distribution chief Andrew Cripps introduced the footage, he described “Freaky Friday” as a film that “defined a generation of loyal fans.”
“Ever since we announced this project, the response online has been outstanding,” Cripps said. “The love for our two stars is incredible.”
