Nisha Ganatra Is Living Her Disney Dreams

When Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan’s remake of 1972’s Freaky Friday hit theaters in 2003, Nisha Ganatra was almost 30 years old — a little outside of the teen film’s target demographic. But that didn’t stop her from watching it “maybe a billion times.”

“Lindsay Lohan was someone we watched growing up all the time. [We] wanted to be [her], thought we were, [and] played very bad music trying to be like her,” she tells Bustle over Zoom, cradling her young daughter in her lap. “It was the first time I saw Jamie in this balls-out comedy, and then I started following her in every comedic thing she did.”

Ganatra’s love of comedy would eventually lead her to direct Mindy Kaling’s 2019 movie Late Night, along with episodes of TV series like And Just Like That... — making her a perfect fit to helm the long-awaited sequel, Freakier Friday, when the time came. “What's cool about our careers is we get to meet and work with these childhood idols that we never imagined knowing in real life,” she says.

In the new film, Lohan’s Anna is now a working single mom, raising her daughter, Harper (Julia Butters), with help from her mom, Curtis’ Tess. When she falls in love with Eric (Manny Jacinto), the father of Harper’s high school enemy Lily (Sophia Hammons), family tensions arise, leading to another body swap. Except this time, Anna and Harper wake up as each other, and Lily switches bodies with Tess.

“I wanted to see Jamie Lee Curtis being bananas, Lindsay Lohan being bananas, and really good music. As a filmmaker and new mom, I really wanted to see the struggle of keeping a family together,” Ganatra says. “It was its own movie, bringing its own lesson of empathy and love.”

As much as she loved seeing Curtis bond with Lohan and crack zingers about her age, Ganatra says the most surreal part of the project was seeing Walt Disney Studios’ iconic castle introduce her movie. “This is going to sound really cheesy, but when that logo comes up in the beginning, I get really emotional every time,” she says. “My friend and I call it Cinderella syndrome, where we're so afraid the clock is going to strike, and I'm going to go back to making little indie shorts. Not many women get to make studio films, unfortunately, so it’s profound to be one of the few who get to.”

Below, Ganatra opens up about working with Lohan and Curtis, her favorite Easter eggs, and the deleted scenes that viewers will see soon.

What was it like working with Lindsay and Jamie?

Jamie's always game. Jamie will run, she'll crawl on the ground in a record store, she'll jump in the ocean even though it's not in the script. She'll do whatever you ask. She's an amazing director's actor. Lindsay is so funny because sometimes she'll be like, “I don't know... OK,” and then she'll just do it brilliantly, like when she was throwing her hair all around on that table.

Do you have any favorite behind-the-scenes memories with the cast?

So many that I put bloopers at the end to show you some. We came home every day laughing. One of my favorite memories is filming the wedding scene. We did improv with the actors. Everyone made a makeshift outdoor theater, and we’re just cheering each other on, laughing, and jumping in with each other. It was like the best form of theater camp.

Were there improvised moments that ended up making it into the film?

A couple of them. Jake [played by Chad Michael Murray] was at the wedding, and I was like, “Why would he be at Anna's wedding?” Then [producer] Kristin Burr was like, “What if he has a girlfriend?” And I go, “What if the girlfriend looks like Jamie from the first movie?" And she was on it, like, “I got the dress. We're doing it.” Then Jamie improved the line “Nice dress,” and it was fantastic.

What references to the original movie did you want to be sure to include?

Obviously, Anna's guitar was really important ... Harper's character was very inspired by Jodie Foster’s Freaky Friday. I love that she played field hockey and was so athletic and cool. So I was like, “What if Harper's a surfer and that's why she doesn't want to leave LA?”

How did the Parent Trap reunion in this movie come to be?

Elaine Hendrix is a dear friend whom I asked to do a cameo, and she was like, “Absolutely.” She loves Lindsay. The two of them just connected like it was yesterday. She did her very sweet “thanks” pose, when she touches her face, which is obviously from The Parent Trap.

Are there any other Easter eggs that you're excited for fans to uncover?

People might notice the date of the wedding, [which is Oct. 3, a Mean Girls reference]. During the Pink Slip reunion, Ella's band is MUNA, which is a queer band that's known for remaking “Take Me Away.” [In the record store scene,] Jamie had the idea to hold up Britney for the “...Baby One More Time” moment [with Jake and Anna], which inspired the editor to put in Britney Spears’ song.

Were there any great scenes you had to leave on the cutting room floor?

Yes, but luckily they’re going to be on the streaming version. There's a really beautiful scene between Manny and Sophia in the car, where he talks about how he read Tess’ books — and she's Tess inside of Lily's body — so she says, “Well, why didn't you ever tell her? Or at least compliment her?”

What do you think the chances are for a third movie? And what would you want that story to be?

I never would've thought there were chances for a third movie until Jamie and Lindsay started talking, and now I know there will be a third movie because Jamie willed this one into existence — she can do it again, it will definitely not be another 20 years. It'd be really fun to watch Manny and one of the girls switch.

This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.