Actress Lindsay Lohan comes full circle with long-awaited movie sequel Freakier Friday

LONDON – Lindsay Lohan says she drew upon her own experiences of motherhood for Freakier Friday, the highly anticipated sequel to her hit 2003 fantasy comedy Freaky Friday.

The 39-year-old

welcomed her first child,

a boy, with her Kuwaiti financier-husband Bader Shammas in 2023, a year before the Disney movie was filmed.

“It felt full circle for me, and also the timing was impeccable considering that I’m a new mum, and I was able to bring being a mum into the character,” the American actress said at the film’s London premiere on July 31. “It’s the first time I’m able to do that on screen.”

Freaky Friday, with a reported budget of US$26 million, was a surprise hit, making over US$160 million worldwide and obtaining a cult following.

The 2025 follow-up sees American actress Jamie Lee Curtis, 66, and Lohan reprising the roles of mother-and-daughter duo Tess and Anna Coleman. Twenty years on, Anna is a single parent to tomboy teen daughter Harper (Julia Butters).

Their relationship comes under stress when Anna falls for Eric (Manny Jacinto), father of Harper’s new British classmate Lily (Sophia Hammons), and they decide to get married. The future stepsisters, with a mutual dislike for each other, decide to intervene.

Freakier Friday opens in Singapore cinemas on Aug 7.

While the 2003 film featured a body swop between Tess and Anna, things get “freakier” this time around with Tess and Anna switching bodies with Lily and Harper.

Before signing on to the sequel, Lohan ensured that Anna returned as a multi-faceted and relatable character.

“It was important to me that we explained who Anna is today and how she’s evolved and the dynamic between her and her daughter as she’s a single working mum.”

She added: “There are some basic points I wanted to get across because I want people to see the movie and find a piece of it that they can grab onto and be like, ‘Okay, I get that.’”

Directed by Canadian-American film-maker Nisha Ganatra (The High Note, 2020; Late Night, 2019), the movie also sees American actor Chad Michael Murray, 43, reprising the role of young Anna’s love interest Jake.

Shooting the sequel was a “lovefest”, said Murray. “It was the same, but better. It felt very much like connective tissue to the first movie. Everyone loved going to work and no one wanted to go home.”

Freakier Friday marks Lohan’s big-screen return since 2013’s The Canyons. “It’s obviously nerve-racking because you want it to be great, and you want people to love what you do,” she said.

“As long as people are enjoying what I’m doing, and it’s making them happy, then I feel like I’m doing my job and that’s what I’m here to do.” REUTERS