Millennials are eagerly anticipating the sequel to the Y2K era Disney comedy comedy Freaky Friday, which is set to reunite Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis as the body-swapping mother-daughter duo. Don’t hold your breath for a Jodie Foster cameo, though: the star of the original 1976 Freaky Friday, who did not appear in the remake, will also be giving Freakier Friday a pass. That’s not for lack of trying, though.
“We begged her,” Freakier Friday director Nisha Ganatra told Entertainment Weekly. “She’s not going to do it.”
Ganatra added that she “never found out why.”
As fans of the Lohan-Curtis family flick will recall, it didn’t at all lean into nostalgia for the 1976 original, so adding a Foster cameo here might have felt out of place. Ganatra told EW, “I think we were going to make her the principal at the school,” if original featured player Stephen Tobolowsky wasn’t able to return as Mr. Bates, a memorable antagonist in the 2003 film.
The director continued: “Honestly, we tried everything. We were like, ‘What about this?’” but ultimately Foster turned them down. However, newcomer Julia Butters, who plays the Lohan character’s daughter, pays homage to Foster with “fun, amused, cool vibes” that are “inspired by Jodie Foster’s take on the character.”
To be honest, forcing in a Foster cameo might have made Freakier Friday feel overstuffed. Its story follows Anna (Lohan) on the verge of a huge life-changing moment, with Tess (Curtis) now a grandma to Anna’s Jodie Foster-ish teen. The film centers around Anna marrying a fellow single parent played by Manny Jacinto (The Acolyte) and their families joining together in an ensemble piece—with, of course, exponential levels of chaos ensuing when more body-swapping takes place.
Freakier Friday opens August 8.
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