‘Freaky Friday’ director speaks on not being invited back for the sequel: “It would’ve been nice to be involved”

The director of Freaky Friday has spoken out about not being invited back for Freakier Friday.

• READ MORE: ‘Freakier Friday’ review: feel-good noughties nostalgia from unlikely sequel

The sequel, released earlier this month, sees Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan reprise their roles from the 2003 Disney comedy as a mother and daughter whose bodies were swapped thanks to a mysterious fortune cookie.

Freakier Friday was officially announced last March, and it is directed by Nisha Ganatra, who has previously helmed the films Late Night and The High Note, as well as episodes of HBO’s Sex And The City spinoff And Just Like That.

It also saw the return of Chad Michael Murray, Stephen Tobolowsky and even Ryan Malgarini, who retired from acting but returned to reprise his role as Curtis’ son.

Mark Waters, the original director, however, was absent from the sequel. His original version was a career breakthrough and saw him go on to direct Mean Girls, another cult teen drama starring Lohan.

Now, in an interview with Variety, he’s shared his feelings on the film. “Unfortunately, I was not invited to the party,” he told the publication. “I did raise my hand and say I’d love to be involved somehow, even in a kind of godfather aspect or executive producer. But I was not extended an invitation.”

Waters went on to say that he was “very supportive” of the new version, which he also described as “great”, though he added: “It would have been nice to be involved, but now that I’m not, I sort of compartmentalise it for myself. I need to devote my energy to keep making new, original things that are going to be hits and people can remake them in 20 years.

“So that’s what I’m doing now,” he continued. “You can’t worry about the projects that you don’t do. It certainly would have been fun, and I heard from quite a few cast members while they were shooting, saying, “Where the hell are you, Waters?” I have not forsaken you! I’m sorry.”

The films are based on Mary Rodgers’ 1972 novel Freaky Friday, with Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris starring in the first feature film version in 1976.

In a three-star review of Freakier Friday, NME wrote: “It’s heaps of fun watching Curtis chuck herself around the set in the name of slapstick as Lohan delivers the sort of poised performance she built her career on 20 years ago. Freakier Friday isn’t a flawless sequel but it does supply a satisfying nostalgia rush – hopefully, solid box office isn’t just millennial wishful thinking.”

Last week, Curtis hit out at a critic over their negative review of the film, commenting on an Instagram post saying: “SEEMS a TAD HARSH. SOME people LOVE it. Me being one.”

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