Freaky Friday (2003 Film)

''Freaky Friday'' is a 2003 American fantasy-comedy film directed by Mark Waters and written by Heather Hach and Leslie Dixon, based on Mary Rodgers's 1972 novel of the same name. It stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan as a mother and daughter, respectively, whose bodies are switched by a mysterious and magical Chinese fortune cookie.

The film was released in theaters on August 6, 2003, by Walt Disney Pictures and distributed by Buena Vista Pictures. The film received largely positive reviews from critics, with praise for the performances (particularly that of Curtis and Lohan), but criticized the transformation scene. The film was also a commercial success, grossing over $160 million worldwide on a $26 million budget. The film also earned Curtis a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. It was Disney's third film adaptation of the novel, after the 1976 film, starring Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster, and the 1995 made-for-TV film, starring Shelley Long and Gaby Hoffmann.

Plot

Aspiring teenage musician Anna Coleman lives with her widowed therapist mother, Tess, and younger brother, Harry. Tess is about to marry her fiancé, Ryan, whom Anna has not entirely accepted as she has not properly moved on from the death of her biological father three years earlier.

At school, Anna's English teacher, Mr. Elton Bates, treats her unfairly, giving her an F on every assignment regardless of how well she does. She is also feuding with Stacey Hinkhouse, her former best friend-turned-nemesis and a bully. Anna has a crush on a school staff member, Jake, of whom her mother disapproves. Anna also serves as the lead guitarist in the band, Pink Slip, which is scheduled to audition for a spot in Wango Tango at the House of Blues, the same night as the wedding rehearsal, so Tess forbids Anna from going. At a dinner at Pei-Pei's Chinese restaurant, the two get into a heated argument. Pei-Pei's mother interrupts their quarrel by giving them fortune cookies. They both go into separate rooms, read their fortunes aloud, and immediately feel an intense earthquake to which the rest of the restaurant is oblivious.

The next morning, Anna and Tess wake up in each other's bodies. "Anna" (Tess in her daughter's body) goes to school and begins to fully understand her daughter's woes. She experiences bullying from Stacey and recognizes Mr. Bates as an old high school classmate, realizing that he is treating Anna unfairly as revenge for Tess turning down a prom invitation from him years ago. "Anna" threatens Mr. Bates with reporting him to the school board unless his treatment of Anna stops. Meanwhile, "Tess" (Anna in her mother’s body), after giving her new body a makeover, has difficulty handling the patients. At lunchtime, "Anna" and "Tess" return to the restaurant, but Pei-Pei explains that only showing selfless love for each other will cause the switch to be reversed.

"Tess" attends Harry's parent-teacher conference, where she reads a composition about how much he actually admires Anna, and decides to be nicer to him. "Anna" attempts to make amends with Stacey, but Stacey frames her for cheating on a test and "Anna" gets sent to detention. When Jake notices "Anna" sneaking out of detention, he offers to help her finish the test. Jake takes "Anna" to the file room in the teachers' lounge and she realizes that she misjudged him, but he loses his enamoration towards "Anna" after she sabotages Stacey's test by erasing most of the answers and writing "I'M STUPID!" on it. Ryan surprises "Tess" with a talk show interview to discuss her latest psychology book. To disguise the fact that she hasn't read the book, "Tess" goes into an amusing tirade about getting older. "Anna" and Jake watch the interview on television and while she is embarrassed, he is impressed. "Tess" bumps into Jake at his second job, a coffee shop, and they bond over their favorite music.

At the rehearsal dinner, Anna's friends Maddie and Peg, two of her bandmates, try to convince "Anna" to sneak off to the audition, but they are caught by security. Ryan surprisingly gives "Anna" permission to go, explaining that he just wants the kids to accept him, and urges "Tess" to support the band, finally winning her over. Since "Anna" cannot play, "Tess" plays the guitar backstage while "Anna" mimes along. Realizing her daughter is indeed musically talented, "Anna" promises to treat her daughter's band with more respect, and during the show, Jake becomes enamored with "Anna" again upon seeing her perform.

Back at the rehearsal dinner, "Anna" tells "Tess" to ask Ryan to postpone the wedding, so that her daughter will not have to marry him in her mother's body. Instead, "Tess" proposes a toast, finally accepting Ryan because of how happy he makes her mom. This act of selfless love switches back Anna's and Tess' bodies. Tess and Ryan later marry, she and Anna finally reconcile, realizing how tough their lives are, and Tess allows Anna to start dating Jake.

At the wedding, Pei-Pei notices her mother offering Anna's grandfather, Alan, and Harry two fortune cookies after seeing them argue. She immediately rushes over, tackles them both, and grabs the cookies. During the credits, Anna is playing with her band at Ryan's and Tess's wedding.

Cast

Production

Development

Lohan's character was originally written as goth, but she did not think anyone would relate to that, and decided to dress in a preppy style for her audition. The character ended up being rewritten as a grunge, alt-rock teen.

Ryan Shuck coached Curtis to play the guitar solo for the concert scene. Lohan trained for one year to learn to play the guitar before production. In the final version of the film, both Curtis and Lohan's guitar parts were overdubbed by professional studio musicians.

Casting

Initially, producer Andrew Gunn had hoped that Jodie Foster, who played Annabel in the original 1976 film, would be interested in the role of the mother. Foster declined, citing concerns that her stunt casting

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