Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis, the stars of Freaky Friday, pose for a dual portrait in front of an unadorned wall made up of wooden slats. Lohan, on the left, wears a lavender sleeveless dress with shoulder straps. Her hair is long and blond and flowing down over her right shoulder. Curtis is behind her and to the right with her arms around Lohan and her hands clasped with Lohan’s hands at Lohan’s waist. Curtis wears a bright canary yellow suit jacket and metal rimmed eyeglasses. Both women wear watches on their left wrists; Lohan also has a bracelet on each wrist and a gold earring on her left ear. Curtis has a cheery closed mouth smile while Lohan’s smile is more coy.

Freakier Friday Stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan Bond Over the Film’s “Heart and Humor”

By Zach Johnson

Disney’s classic body-swap comedy is about to get, well… freakier.

Opening in theaters Friday, August 8, Freakier Friday catches audiences up with Tess (Disney Legend Jamie Lee Curtis) and Anna (Lindsay Lohan), who shared alternate-body experiences when the mother-daughter duo traded places in the 2003 film Freaky Friday.

Now, 22 years later, Tess is a successful psychologist who is about to embark on her first book tour, while Anna has her hands full as the manager of a famous pop star (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan). Anna is also a single parent to 15-year-old surfer Harper (Julia Butters), who is having a hard time relating to her mom. When Anna meets Eric (Manny Jacinto), a single father to 15-year-old fashionista Lily (Sophia Hammons), it’s love at first sight. But as they navigate the challenges that arise when two families become one, Tess and Anna discover that lightning can indeed strike twice—this time, with a multigenerational twist.

“The whole concept of a body-swap comedy is, ‘Walk a mile in my shoes and then see the world through my eyes,’” Curtis says. “And in our case, it’s four different perspective shifts.”

Jamie Lee Curtis, the star of Freaky Friday, poses for a portrait in front of an unadorned wall made up of wooden slats. Curtis stands with her arms crossed at her waist, wearing a bright canary yellow suit jacket and metal rimmed eyeglasses. Beneath the jacket, barely visible, is a yellow V-neck shirt. Her hair, cut fairly short, is gray and nearly white. She has a watch on her left wrist and a thin necklace with a simple pendant. She is smiling broadly with her mouth closed. The arms of a leather chair are visible behind her.

It’s not lost on Lohan that Anna is now in a similar position to where Tess was in the first film. “Thank you for noticing that, because that’s what I was going for,” Lohan tells D23. “That felt really exciting, because it’s not every day that you get to do a sequel and bring a character back to life and see who they’ve become.”

Directed by Nisha Ganatra, Freakier Friday features the hallmark physical comedy of the original film while also taking it up a notch now that three generations are involved. “I think whenever women can do physical comedy in a movie, it’s a plus,” Lohan explains. “People underestimate women in physical comedy. Look at someone like Lucille Ball, who was known for a lot of that. To be able to throw that into a movie, there’s nothing funnier.”

Lindsay Lohan, the star of Freaky Friday, poses for a portrait in front of an unadorned wall made up of wooden slats. Lohan wears a lavender sleeveless dress with shoulder straps. Her hair is long and blond and flowing down over her right shoulder. She wears a watch on her left wrist, and that hand is halfway into a pocket at her hip. Her right arm is to her side. Lohan also has a bracelet on each wrist and a gold earring on her left ear. She has a pleasant expression on her face that’s just a suggestion of a smile.

When the two pairs trade places—Tess with Lily and Anna with Harper—hilarity ensues. But, Curtis says, the real magic is in the empathy they foster for each other and themselves.

“The Disney combo is heart and humor. We know there’s a lot of humor, because it’s a body-swap comedy, right? But you have to match that with depth,” Curtis says. “It was really beautiful to watch these four artists, in these switched behaviors, find the depths of all of those realities. That’s really where the movie sings for me. That’s when I go, ‘Oh! Wow.’ You can make fun of my face all day long, but that alone is not going to satisfy you. And it was beautiful to watch these two very young people do it, as I watched Lindsay do it 22 years ago in the scene at Tess’ wedding dinner. I remember shooting it and thinking, ‘Oh! Wow.’”