Once the script was well on its way, the search for a director began. Producers considered approximately twenty directors to find someone who could achieve the balance between big humor and big heart. A young filmmaker named Mark Waters got the job.
“When I heard they were doing a remake of ‘Freaky Friday,’ I had a vague memory that I really loved the original. But I thought there was no way they could do it,” says Waters. “Then I watched the original film again and realized that it was actually just dated enough that I thought maybe a remake could work.”
“Mark Waters directed an independent film that I love—‘The House of Yes,’ starring Parker Posey and Freddie Prinze Jr.—so I was looking forward to our meeting,” says producer Gunn. “When Mark came in, he just launched into all of his notes for the movie and how he thought the movie should look… he really set the bar. We thought, ‘Wow, he’s really great.’”
“I immediately liked the idea of what they were going for in the script, but in the meeting I said that the movie I want to make has Anna in a rock band and at the end of the movie, they’re on stage at the House of Blues and the mother has to play for her. I expected never to hear from them again,” laughs Waters.
He was wrong. “Mark was really the one who seemed to get it the best,” says Gunn. “He had lots of ideas. He was about to have a baby daughter, which I think influenced some of his direction on the movie, the idea that his wife was about to become the mother of a daughter. So we took him into the studio and he got hired in that meeting. Then we set out to change the script with his notes.”
Finding the right actresses to play mother and daughter was of paramount importance to the project.
The filmmakers were thrilled to cast Jamie Lee Curtis in the lead role of Dr. Tess Coleman. “She’s perfect for the role,” states screenwriter Heather Hach. “She’s so adorable and talented. Jamie Lee Curtis is such a great physical comedienne, and that’s just what the role needed. She’s also incredibly smart—she just is Tess.”
“This lovely movie dropped out of the sky and into my life,” smiles Curtis. “I was in the middle of a book tour when the call came in. That was a Thursday and I was working by Monday,” she comments. “I just sort of jumped in, which, in a comedy particularly, is really the way to do it. You just have to go by instinct.”
Curtis immediately liked the ideas in the script. “I think it’s funny, and since I have a teenage daughter, I hang out with teenagers. So, I could clearly see moments of potential drama and hilarity there.”
In addition to identifying with the script, the production was able to meet Curtis’ personal criteria for taking on the film project. “The shoot was all in Los Angeles, so I could be home at night, and it is a family film, which I am thrilled about because these things are important to me. Being a mother makes you re-adjust what you pick to work on. This material fits my tastes and fits into what I would take my kids to see.”
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