Make Good Choices and Check Out These 17 Secrets About Freaky Friday

We definitely can't chill for a sec over this news.

Almost 20 years after its release, Freaky Friday is getting a sequel. Again. The 2003 version was a remake of the 1976 film of the same name that starred Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan as a clashing mother-daughter duo who wake up one fateful Friday and discover their bodies were swapped, thanks to a mysterious and magical Chinese fortune cookie. Heartfelt hijinks ensue. 

Directed by Mark Waters, who would go on to cast Lohan in 2004's Mean Girls, Freaky Friday became a surprise hit at the box office, grossing over $160 million and amassing a legion of fans, who've slowly been turning into cryptkeepers as they awaited news of a possible sequel. Fortunately, their patience finally paid off, with E! News confirming on May 10 that Curtis and Lohan are in talks to reprise their roles in a follow-up film, which is being written by Elyse Hollander. Praise Pei- Pei!

To celebrate a Freaky Friday sequel, we're revealing fun facts you might not know about the OG movie, including the off-camera makeout that went down on set and the Oscar nominee who was initially cast in Curtis' role...

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."

5. But after reading the script and meeting with Waters, Curtis decided to take on the matriarch role--dyeing her hair and learning how to play guitar to do so--that would revitalize her career. "Shows what can happen when you let go and let yourself feel liberated," Curtis explained. 

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.

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."

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.

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.

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, Curtis and Lohan are expected to body swap for a second time, with E! News confirming a follow-up movie is in the works. 

Freaky Friday is streaming on Disney+. 

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