The Parent Trap is one of my all-time favorite movies, and it’s one of the best family movies of the ‘90s for good reason. This 1998 Disney remake of the 1961 classic featured an A+ cast, and it launched Lindsay Lohan’s career. It’s the Mean Girls actress’s heartwarming and comedic performances that make this movie so good, and it was an early sign of her incredible acting talent. At the time, the Falling For Christmas star was only 12, and she recently revealed that her young age played a huge role in her ability to play twins.
Lohan played both Hallie and Annie Parker, twins separated at birth who later reunite at summer camp and set up a plan to get their parents back together. It sounds a little crazy when you say it out loud, but it’s actually such a sweet family rom-com. While doing press for the upcoming Freakier Friday, which is set to release in August on the 2025 movie schedule, Lohan was asked by Elle about playing twins, and revealed why it was surprisingly so easy for her:
I feel like playing twins didn’t feel as difficult, because I was younger. We tend to have more insecurities as adults when we're acting, and we overthink sometimes. So I think I was more free playing the twins, and it was more experimental.
She makes a good point. Kids are a lot more fearless than adults, willing to try new things, and that goes for things beyond acting as well. The world hasn’t necessarily forced upon kids as many social norms or expectations. Besides, when you think about it, playing both twins means you are acting with yourself, so there are less unknown factors. It was apparently easy back then, according to an old interview with a very put-together 12-year-old Lohan, and it seems nothing has changed!
However, let’s give credit where credit is due. The Irish Wish actress admitted that oftentimes, she was acting opposite a tennis ball, so she would know where to look in scenes where she was supposed to be talking to her twin (self). Selling emotion without a scene partner to act off of is no easy task.
Not to mention, she was switching between a British and American accent flawlessly the whole movie. Even so, according to Lohan, playing twins was still easier than playing Jamie Lee Curtis in both Freaky Friday and the upcoming sequel.
All I’m saying is if Freaky Friday can get a sequel greenlit over two decades later, then why can’t The Parent Trap? After Elaine Hendrix’s (Meredith Blake) sneaky cameo in the Freakier Friday trailer, and her mini reunion with Lisa Ann Walter (Chessy) a couple of years ago, I’m gonna need a Parent Trap sequel pitch ASAP.
I’m thinking maybe Annie and Hallie become estranged for many years, and perhaps their kids decide to take a page out of their moms’ playbook and trick them into reuniting. Lohan is now a mother herself, which she said made it so much easier to play a mom in Freaky Friday 2 than it did in the original 22 years ago. With that experience now, I have no doubt she would be able to play the Parent Trap twins as moms, just as flawlessly as she played them as kids.
Hopefully, the Lohanaissance makes it to a Parent Trap sequel. Regardless, the 1998 version will always hold a special place in my heart.
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