Freaky Friday – A rockstar’s daughter backed out of the lead role
Freaky Friday is the millionth-something time a body-switching comedy has made its way to theaters. This version is actually a remake of the original 1976 film starring Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris. But with the chemistry between Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis as mother and daughter, the movie still managed to sneak its way into our hearts.
When Anna (Lohan) and her mother Tess (Curtis) get into a big argument in a Chinese restaurant, the owner’s mother gives them an enchanted fortune cookie that leads to them switching bodies when they wake up the next morning. The two couldn’t be more different, but the switch is their chance to finally get to understand one another more than ever before.
Lindsay Lohan was a star on the rise when she was cast as the rebellious musician Anna, and it helped solidify her as a teen icon, along with her role in Mean Girls. But that role was originally intended for someone very different.
Kelly Osbourne, then known for being Ozzy Osbourne’s daughter and star of the hugely popular reality show The Osbournes, auditioned for the role of Anna. She was offered the lead role but decided to back out. When the film became a huge success, many people around her said it was the biggest mistake she ever made. Ouch!
Another young star who auditioned for the role of Anna was Lohan’s fellow Disney star (and rumored nemesis), Hilary Duff. Apparently, Duff was upset that Lohan got the role over her, so she convinced the writers of Lizzie McGuire to do a Freaky Friday-inspired storyline on the show to get back at her.
The next year, two stars of Freaky Friday, Chad Michael Murray and Julie Gonzalo, went on to work together in A Cinderella Story. The lead actress in that movie was none other than Hilary Duff.