FILM · 2003
Freaky Friday
33 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (33)
- #001
Producer Andrew Gunn said he initially hoped Jodie Foster, who played the daughter in the original Freaky Friday (1976), would play the mother in the remake. Foster turned down the offer, partly out of concern that the casting stunt would overshadow the film's overall merit.
- #002
The snapshots in the opening title sequence are actually photographs of Jamie Lee Curtis and her daughter Annie Guest.
- #003
Mary Rodgers considered this the best adaptation of her novel, describing it as "the time when, despite the improbable events, the characters seemed real for the first time and brave instead of whiny."
- #004
Michelle Trachtenberg was cast as Anna but had to withdraw because of her contractual obligations to Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997). Coincidentally, this was the second film she turned down that Lindsay Lohan went on to star in; the first was Lohan's debut film, The Parent Trap (1998).
- #005
Kelly Osbourne originally auditioned for Anna (not for Anna's best friend) and was offered the role but decided to withdraw. She later said people told her it was the biggest mistake of her career because of the film's success.
- #006
As a tribute to Jamie Lee Curtis's mother Janet Leigh, known for her performance in Psycho (1960), the film includes a character named Mr. Bates, named after the character in that film.
- #007
No Doubt singer Gwen Stefani was offered a role as a member of the band.
- #008
In this remake, the mother and daughter interact with each other while they are swapped, whereas in the original this never happened even once.
- #009
Annette Bening was originally set to play Tess Coleman. She stepped back shortly before filming and Jamie Lee Curtis replaced her; Sigourney Weaver was also considered. After Bening's departure, Curtis had only six days to prepare for the role.
- #010
Director Mark Waters's wife, Dina Spybey-Waters, plays the television reporter.
- #011
Lindsay Lohan's mother, Dina, appears in the final scene in which Anna dances with Jake. She is dancing with an older gentleman in the background and looks directly at the camera.
- #012
An episode of Lizzie McGuire (2001), also produced by Disney, titled That Freaky McGuires (2002), is considered the fourth version of Mary Rodgers's story. "McGuire" star Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan had a rivalry at the time, and Duff, who apparently lost this role, reportedly demanded that her show get a "Freaky" installment in return.
- #013
Mark Harmon and Jamie Lee Curtis played lovers again eight years later in the ninth season of NCIS (2003), as Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs and Dr. Samantha Ryan. Julie Gonzalo also made a guest appearance in the series' second episode, Hung Out to Dry (2003), which aired shortly after this film's premiere.
- #014
Lindsay Lohan appeared in several other films involving some kind of swapping. In this film her character swaps bodies with her mother; in Just My Luck (2006) her character trades fortunes and luck with a man; and in The Parent Trap (1998) she plays twin sisters who switch lives and impersonate each other.
- #015
Chad Michael Murray (Jake) and Julie Gonzalo (Stacey) later worked together in similar roles in A Cinderella Story (2004). Murray again played the main character's love interest, while Gonzalo again played the main character's rival. The main character was played by Hilary Duff, who had lost the role of Anna to Lindsay Lohan; at the time the two were in a very high-profile feud.
- #016
Julie Gonzalo, who plays Anna's main rival Stacey, would later play Jamie Lee Curtis's daughter at Christmas in Christmas with the Kranks (2004).
- #017
The message ringtone that plays on Jamie Lee Curtis's character's phone is the sound that plays in Capcom's video game Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (1991) when you add a credit to the arcade machine.
- #018
Most of the songs in the film are covers or remakes, just as the film itself is a remake.
- #019
The guitar Jamie Lee Curtis plays offstage during the House of Blues sequence is an Ernie Ball/Music Man Steve Lukather (Toto) signature model.
- #020
Mischa Barton, Kristen Stewart, Mae Whitman, Evan Rachel Wood, Brie Larson, Emmy Rossum, Kristen Bell, Shiri Appleby and Danielle Panabaker all auditioned for the role of Anna Coleman.
- #021
Mark Waters would go on to direct Lindsay Lohan again the following year in Mean Girls (2004).
- #022
Jared Padalecki auditioned for the role of Jake.
- #023
Anna and Tess's plan to return to normal by confronting each other from opposite sides of the room resembles the one in Bewitched (1964). In Divided He Falls (1966), Darrin splits into two people and Endora suggests he do the same to reverse the spell (she is left dazed on the floor as well, but in his case it works).
- #024
It is the second Disney remake in which Lindsay Lohan starred after The Parent Trap (1998).
- #025
Jamie Lee Curtis improvised the line "Make good choices" and it made the final cut.
- #026
On Anna's door there is a "Parental Advisory: Stay out of my room" poster; director Mark Waters's previous film was a TV movie about the origins of music warning labels, Warning: Parental Advisory (2002).
- #027
Spencer Breslin, Angus T. Jones and Daryl Sabara auditioned to play Harry.
- #028
Various F. O. N. posters appear in the garage. F. O. N. is the band Danny Rubin plays in.
- #029
Raven-Symoné, Naya Rivera, Ashley French, Sophia Bush and Kat Dennings auditioned for the roles of Maddie and Peg, two of Anna's best friends.
- #030
Lorena Herrera, Jennifer Garner and Reese Witherspoon were considered for the role of Stacey Hinkhouse.
- #031
Rosalind Chao (Pei-Pei) and Lucille Soong (Pei-Pei's mother) had both appeared in The Joy Luck Club (1993) before, but they had no scenes together.
- #032
The exterior shots of the Coleman house were filmed at 732 Chapala Drive in Pacific Palisades, CA. Sadly, the house burned down in the January 2025 wildfires.
- #033
Julie Gonzalo (Stacey Hinkhouse) and Erica Gimpel (Harry's teacher) played Parker Lee and Alicia Fennell respectively on Veronica Mars (2004), but neither ever appeared in the same episode.
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