Dennis Quaid and Natasha Richardson star as a divorced couple who separated shortly after their identical twin daughters' birth; Lindsay Lohan stars (in her film debut) as both twins, Hallie Parker and Annie James, who are fortuitously reunited at summer camp after being separated at birth. Swift wrote the screenplay for the original 1961 film based on Lottie and Lisa. Swift is credited along with Meyers and Shyer as co-writers of the 1998 version.
The film premiered in Los Angeles on July 20, 1998, and theatrically released in the United States on July 29, and a box-office hit, grossing $92.1 million against a $15 million budget. It received positive reviews from critics, with Lohan's performance, in particular, earning high praise.
Plot
In 1986, Nicholas "Nick" Parker and Elizabeth James meet and fall in love on the Queen Elizabeth 2. They eventually marry on the ship and have twin daughters, Hallie and Annie. However, they divorce shortly after the twins' birth. Nick gains custody over Hallie and raises her on his vineyard in Napa, California, while Elizabeth raises Annie in London, England, where she works as a wedding gown designer.
Nearly 12 years later in 1998, the twins are coincidentally sent to the same all-girls summer camp in Maine, Camp Walden, where they form an intense rivalry. After Hallie and her friends perform a dangerous prank on Annie's cabin, the twins are sent to the isolation cabin, where they begin to bond over their similarities. After discovering the parallels between their eerily similar family situations, Hallie and Annie show each other a photograph of their parents and realize that they are identical twins who were separated at birth. They decide to switch places to convince their parents to reconcile; each girl trains the other to act like her.
In London, Hallie happily meets Elizabeth, the family butler Martin, and her maternal grandfather Charles, while Annie meets Nick and their family housekeeper and nanny Chessy in California. Much to Annie's dismay, she learns that Nick is engaged to Meredith Blake, a 26-year-old gold digger publicist from San Francisco who only wants to marry Nick for his fortune and plans on sending Hallie to boarding school in Timbuktu after the wedding. Annie phones Hallie and implores her to bring Elizabeth to California to try and break up Nick and Meredith, but Hallie refuses, desperate to spend more one-on-one time with Elizabeth.
After Chessy notices changes in "Hallie's" behavior, Annie confesses her identity to Chessy, and Chessy agrees to keep it a secret from Nick. While on the phone with Annie discussing Nick's impending wedding to Meredith, Hallie is caught by Charles, who encourages her to tell Elizabeth the truth. After doing so, Elizabeth and Hallie decide to travel to California to establish joint custody of the twins between each parent.
The twins, with the help of Martin and Chessy, arrange for a meeting between Nick and Elizabeth at the Stafford Hotel in California. Upon reuniting with Elizabeth, Nick learns that he has had Annie with him since the end of camp, though he is delighted by this. Elizabeth also meets Meredith and learns of her engagement with Nick. Annie and Hallie, with Chessy and Martin's help, attempt to recreate the night their parents met by arranging dinner on a yacht. Nick and Elizabeth discuss their breakup, which occurred when Elizabeth ran off after a fight, secretly hoping that Nick would follow her. They agree on shared custody but decide against resuming their relationship. Elizabeth plans to fly back to London with Annie the next day, but the twins refuse to reveal which one is which unless the entire family takes a camping trip. Elizabeth insists that Meredith go in her place so that she can become acquainted with the twins before marrying Nick.
On the trip, the twins play a series of pranks on Meredith, leading to her furiously demanding that Nick choose between her or them. Finally seeing Meredith's true nature, Nick chooses Hallie and Annie and breaks up with Meredith. After the camping trip, Nick and Elizabeth realize that they are still in love, but decide to go their separate ways, each with the twin they have respective custody of. When Elizabeth and Annie arrive back in London, they find Nick and Hallie, who took a faster flight. Nick says that he does not want to make the same mistake of not going after Elizabeth again, and they share a kiss.
The end credits reveal that Elizabeth and Nick have gotten remarried with Hallie and Annie as their bridesmaids and that Chessy and Martin have gotten engaged.
Cast and characters
Lindsay Lohan as Hallie "Hal" Parker and Annie "Ann" James, 11-year-old twin sisters who were separated after birth. After their parents' divorce, they were raised separately with no knowledge of each other's existence — until they meet at summer camp by chance. Hallie and Annie are based on Susan Evers and Sharon McKendrick from the original film and Luise Palfy and Lottie Körner from the original book.
Erin Mackey served as Lohan's double and plays both twin sisters in the scenes where they were together.
Dennis Quaid as Nicholas "Nick" Parker, Hallie and Annie's father, a wealthy American vineyard owner. He is based on Mitchell "Mitch" Evers from the original film and Ludwig Palfy from the original book.
Natasha Richardson as Elizabeth "Liz" or "Lizzie" James Parker, Hallie and Annie's mother, a famous British wedding gown designer. She is based on Margaret "Maggie" McKendrick from the original film and Luiselotte Körner from the original book.
Elaine Hendrix as Meredith Blake, a 26-year-old publicist from San Francisco who is only planning to marry Nick for his money. She is based on Vicky Robinson from the original film and Irene Gerlach from the original book.
Lisa Ann Walter as Chessy, Nick's housekeeper and Hallie's nanny. She has long considered herself rather awkward and thus not overly desirable to eligible bachelors, but then she meets Martin, and the two are mutually smitten. Chessy also discovers that "Hallie" is actually Annie after noticing her strange behavior. Chessy is based on Verbena from the original film and Resi from the original book.
Simon Kunz as Martin, the James family's butler who eventually falls in love with Chessy. He is based on Staimes, the McKendrick family's chauffeur from the original film.
Polly Holliday as Marva Kulp Sr., the owner and director of Camp Walden. She is based on Miss Inch from the original film and Mrs. Muthesius from the original book.
Maggie Wheeler as Marva Kulp Jr., Marva Sr.'s daughter and assistant. She is based on Miss Grunecker from the original film and Miss Ulrike from the original book.
Ronnie Stevens as Charles James, Elizabeth's wealthy father and Hallie and Annie's maternal grandfather. After he catches Hallie on the phone with Annie, she tells him about switching places. Charles is based on Charles McKendrick from the original film.
Joanna Barnes as Vicky Blake, Meredith's mother. She is based on Edna Robinson from the original film. Joanna was Vicky Robinson in the 1961 film. It looks like Vicky Robinson from the original film married Les Blake and she gave birth to Meredith and her daughter has repeated her mother's destiny in the remake.
J. Patrick McCormack as Les Blake, Meredith's father.
Kat Graham played Jackie, a friend of Annie at Camp Walden. Vendela Kirsebom appears as a model during a photoshoot sequence at Elizabeth James' studio. Meyers and Shyer's daughters, Hallie Meyers-Shyer and Annie Meyers-Shyer, make appearances in the film, credited as Lindsay and Towel Girl, respectively. Lohan's brother, Michael (credited as Lost Boy at Camp), plays a boy at Camp Walden, who did not realize he was going to an all-girls camp. Lohan's mother, Dina, and other siblings Aliana and Dakota, all appear in uncredited cameos at the airport in London. The film's cinematographer, Dean Cundey, appears in an uncredited cameo as the captain of the Queen Elizabeth 2, who marries Nick and Elizabeth at the beginning of the film. Jeannette Charles portrayed Queen Elizabeth II in a deleted scene in which she and Hallie meet.
Production
Casting
The Parent Trap was Meyers' directorial debut.[6] More than 1,500 young actresses submitted audition tapes for the dual roles of Hallie and Annie.[7] Director Nancy Meyers was looking for "a little Diane Keaton" to play the parts.[8] Before Lohan was cast in the roles, actresses Scarlett Johansson, Mara Wilson, Michelle Trachtenberg, and Jena Malone all either auditioned or were considered for the roles, with Malone turning the roles down multiple times.[9]
The filming process used motion control photography for the visual effect of Lindsay Lohan playing both roles.[17] "It was complicated, and I really didn’t know how to do it," Meyers recalled of using the technique in her first feature. "We had to do everything twice, and on children’s hours. But the complexity of the motion control work became oddly fun. It was a fun challenge to figure it out. Since I didn’t know the restrictions of what could be done and what couldn’t, I would ask for things that, had I known better, I wouldn’t have."[18] Actress Erin Mackey acted as a double for Lohan as part of the filming process.[19][20]
Former Disney executive Michael Eisner is said to have made comments to Lohan and Meyers at the time of the premiere suggesting that the twins were played by two different girls.[21][18]
Book
In 1962, a year after Disney originally adapted Das doppelte Lottchen into The Parent Trap, Cyrus Brooks translated the German book into English as Lisa and Lottie,[22] an edition still published in the United States and Canada.
In 2014, Das doppelte Lottchen was faithfully retranslated into English by Anthea Bell and republished in the United Kingdom and Australia by Pushkin Press as The Parent Trap,[23] after Disney's hit film adaptations. Then in 2020, Australian actress Ruby Rees recorded an unabridged narration of Bell's translation for Bolinda.[24]
Connections to the 1961 film
There are several connections between this film and the original 1961 version:
The characters Marva Kulp Sr. and Marva Kulp Jr. are named after Nancy Kulp, the actress who played a camp counselor in the 1961 film, Miss Grunecker.
Both versions of the film feature product placement by Nabisco. In the 1998 film, Oreos are featured, while in the 1961 film, Newtons are featured.
During the poolside scene where Annie and Meredith meet for the first time, Meredith speaks on the phone with someone named Reverend Mosby, who was a character in the 1961 film played by Leo G. Carroll.
Joanna Barnes appears in both films, playing Vicky Robinson in the 1961 film, and Vicki Blake in the 1998 version. She also calls Annie (as Hallie) "pet", which Vicky Robinson did to Sharon (as Susan).
The Stafford Hotel is named after a boy in the 1961 film who accepts the boys' camp invitation to the dance at the beginning of the film.
Right before Hallie meets Meredith for the first time, Hallie can be heard singing a few bars of "Let's Get Together", a song from the 1961 version that was originally sung by Hayley Mills.
There are bunkhouses named Arapahoe in both films.
Hallie (as Annie) "smells" her grandfather, saying he smells of peppermint and pipe tobacco. Susan (as Sharon) does the same in the 1961 film.
Both films have the same run time (2 hours and 9 minutes).
Music
The song used in the opening sequence, in which glimpses of Nick and Elizabeth's first wedding are seen, is Nat King Cole's "L-O-V-E". The song used in the end credits, in which photos of Nick and Elizabeth's second wedding are seen, is his daughter Natalie Cole's "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)".
The instrumental music featured prominently in the hotel scene where the girls and their parents cross paths serendipitously is "In the Mood", which was previously made famous by the Glenn Miller band. The song "Let's Get Together" is also quoted over the Walt Disney Pictures logo, and at the end of Alan Silvestri's closing credits suite.
When Hallie shows up at Annie's poker game at Camp Walden, the music used is "Bad to the Bone" by George Thorogood and the Destroyers.
The tune playing as Hallie and Annie are making their way up to the Isolation Cabin is the main theme from "The Great Escape" by Elmer Bernstein.
The film premiered in Los Angeles on July 20, 1998.[25] In its opening weekend, the film grossed $11,148,497 in 2,247 theaters in the United States and Canada, ranking #2 at the box office, behind Saving Private Ryan.[26] By the end of its run, The Parent Trap grossed $66,308,518 domestically and $25,800,000 internationally, totaling $92,108,518 worldwide.[5] The film was released in the United Kingdom on December 11, 1998, and opened at #3, behind Rush Hour and The Mask of Zorro.[27]
Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 87% based on 53 reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The website's critics consensus states: "Writer-director Nancy Meyers takes the winning formula of the 1961 original and gives it an amiable modern spin, while young star Lindsay Lohan shines in her breakout role."[28]Metacritic gave the film a weighted average score of 63 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[29] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[30]
Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert each gave the film three stars.[31] Critic Kenneth Turan called Lohan "the soul of this film as much as Hayley Mills was of the original", going on to say that "she is more adept than her predecessor at creating two distinct personalities".[32] Lohan won a Young Artist Award for best performance in a feature film.[33][34]
In a 2021 interview, the star of the original film, Hayley Mills, said, "It was so like the one I did, and yet not. But I thought it was really good." She also praised Lohan's performance, calling her "excellent".[35]
Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Comedy Film[41]
Lindsay Lohan
Nominated
Home media
The Parent Trap was originally released on VHS in the United States on December 8, 1998.[42] A 20th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray was released as a Disney Movie Club Exclusive on April 24, 2018.[43] The film was also available as a launch title on Disney+.[44]
Remake
On February 21, 2018, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that remakes of several films are in development as exclusive content for The Walt Disney Company's streaming service Disney+ with one of those projects named in the announcement as The Parent Trap.[45]
