Freakier Friday is the tale of four women who end up switching bodies, and must learn what it’s like to walk in someone else’s shoes. This isn’t an original story. In fact, it’s the sequel to Freaky Friday (2003), which is a remake of the original Freaky Friday from 1976, not including the TV movie made in 1995, or the other TV movie/musical from 2018.
But Freakier Friday isn’t the only life switching movie coming to theaters this year! Good Fortune takes this concept and swaps lives (not bodies) between a wealthy individual and a poor one. The body swap is more than just a storytelling tool; it’s become a subgenre. And it’s a lot harder to pull off than it seems.
“I think sometimes people are like, ‘Oh, studio body swap comedy, blah, whatever,’ but when you watch them, you realize it’s pretty sophisticated what these actors are doing,” Freakier Friday director Nisha Ganatra says in an interview with IndieWire. “They’re not only playing their character, but they’re also playing another character inside of their character. And if you don’t believe that, the whole movie stops working instantly.”
In a two-person body swap movie, screenwriters need to think of the character in their original body as well as how that character behaves after the swap. For instance, there are plenty of jokes in Freakier Friday dedicated to the body, especially as Tess (Jamie Lee Curtis), who is 66, relishes having knees that don’t crack and the metabolism of a teenager. But there is also the teenager who takes over Tess’s body and has a meltdown at how old she is. Jamie Lee Curtis must play both someone her age and a teenager, which makes the screenwriter’s job critical in making the words and actions believable.
Freakier Friday has 4 characters swapping bodies, meaning screenwriter Jordan Weiss and Ganatra had to figure out a way to create 8 characters; for example, Tess’s brain and Tess’s body.
The Body Swap Story
On top of characters, there has to be a coherent story running through the movie – one that the audience can follow and, most importantly, believe. There’s no limit to the hilarity that can ensue, but if the audience isn’t buying the story, there is no movie.
The original Freaky Friday movies were about a mother and a daughter who are struggling emotionally with one another and don’t understand what the other is going through. After the switch, essentially walking a mile in each other’s shoes, they become closer and find greater success together.
Freakier Friday is about Anna (Lindsay Lohan) who falls in love with Eric (Manny Jacinto) and plans to get married – both their daughters hate each other. Now, after the big body swap happens, the teens (who are now adults) feel empowered and try to sabotage the wedding. Meanwhile, Tess and Anna (who have done this before) try to find the psychic who set up this freaky occurrence, and get things back to how they were. Throughout the adventure, and as the characters interact with friends, clients and loved ones who don’t realize what’s going on, they get a new perspective on both their own life, and the life of the person they swapped with.
The story works because you can take the same concept and get rid of the body swap, and it’s still a compelling scenario: two single parents getting married, their daughters hate each other, they learn to all love each other. In fact, isn’t this The Parent Trap, only twin daughters swap places?
Body Swap Movies to Study
Freaky Friday (2003) is considered a modern classic, and its sequel shows a way to tell a similar story in a fresh way. It also doesn’t hurt that it’s been 22 years since Anna and Tess’s original body swap, and that the story can continue as grandma and mom.
For screenwriters interested in studying more of these types of movies and learning how to build a Body Swap story, here are five movies worth seeing.
1. Vice Versa (1988)
Written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais; Directed by Brian Gilbert
This film is familiar in tone to Freaky Friday as it follows a father and son who switch bodies. They both touch an ancient, magical skull (ancient and magical were big in the 80s) and wish they could live in each other’s bodies ( eg. Wouldn’t it be nice to be a kid again? Wouldn’t it be nice to be a grown up?). They both get a dose of reality and the expectations and responsibilities put upon them, all of which are dealt in comical ways – but that’s pretty standard for a broad comedy like this. After the fun wears off, they must find a way to change back to their former selves, as smugglers try to track down the mysterious skull that set them on this adventure.
2. The Hot Chick (2002)
Written by Tom Brady and Rob Schneider; Directed by Tom Brady
What happens when the prettiest girl in school switches bodies with a low-life criminal? That’s the concept behind this Rob Schneider-led comedy who swaps bodies with Rachel McAdams pre-Mean Girls and The Notebook. The jokes come as Schneider acts like a teenage girl, and McAdams realizes she can use her body to up the crime game.
Is it a great movie? Not really. But it’s good enough to study if you want to add a unique twist to the body swap story.
3. Freaky Friday (2003)
Written by Heather Hach and Leslie Dixon; Directed by Mark Waters
We’ve been over the logline but this one is important to study because it’s the movie that stands out as the best in the Freaky Friday franchise. You can go one step further and read the novel it was based on, and then compare the differences.
4. The Change-Up (2011)
Written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore; Directed by David Dobkin
Sometimes it’s a curse, other times it’s holding onto a skull and, when it comes to body swaps, sometimes it’s two grown men peeing in a fountain that sets off the swap. In The Change-Up, two friends, one a family man and the other a bachelor, wish to know what the other’s life is like. Of course, they wake up the next morning with their wish granted. While they enjoy the change at first, both come to realize the things they miss about their real lives, but isn’t that always what characters in body swap movies discover?
5. Freaky (2020)
Written by Michael Kennedy and Christopher Landon; Directed by Christopher Landon
Similar to The Hot Chick, Freaky, inspired by the title Freaky Friday (in fact, it was originally titled Freaky Friday the 13th), is a body swapping horror/comedy about a serial killer who swaps bodies with the high school girl he was intending to murder. Now, the teenager must find a way to get her body back and deal with the notion that he wants her dead. A ticking clock device is even used as the teenager has 24 hours to figure out how to switch back, or risk going through life looking like a middle-aged killer.
It’s a unique, dark concept, and a twist on a familiar story proving that the body swap can go beyond a simple comedy.
It would be difficult to have another remake on Freaky Friday, but the sequel works because it’s been two decades since the last one, and the story is a new twist on the original. Body swapping movies provide audiences with the ultimate “What if?” scenario, and generally act as a reminder that things aren’t as bad as they seem, and the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.