In case you missed it, Katie Couric and writer-director Nancy Meyers got the brilliant beyond brilliant idea to get the cast of The Parent Trap together for the first time since its release exactly 22 years ago.
In a 15-minute video on Couric's Instagram, the Parent Trap reunion brought together Meyers and writer-producer Charles Shyer, as well as Lindsay Lohan (Annie and Hallie Parker), Dennis Quaid (Nick Parker), Elaine Hendrix (Meredith Blake), Lisa Ann Walter (Chessy), and Simon Kunz (Martin). Couric moderated, and the event raised funds for José Andrés' non-profit organization World Central Kitchen. The story, which is a remake of the original 1961 film, centers around a pair of twins who were separated at birth and reunite at summer camp. Together, they decide to switch places and plot to get their divorced parents to fall in love again.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
The film has since become a beloved classic among many, and the reunion brought up fond memories and even drove some of the cast to the edge of tears. Here are the best moments from the star-studded gathering.
Lindsay Lohan was immediately the perfect Annie and Hallie.
According to Shyer and Meyers, Lohan was one of six girls up for the part, but the two instantly knew "after 2-3 minutes" that they had found their star(s). "She had that quality that just leapt up at you and pulled you in," said Meyers of Lohan. Only 11-years-old at the time, Lohan was nervous, especially since this was her first big movie and screen test, and on top of it all, she'd have to play two characters at the same time. As we know now, however, this breakout role led to a fruitful career as a child and teen icon. Quaid, who played her father Nick, said he remembers his first screen test with Lohan. "You were a natural, and fell right into it," he told Lohan.
Elaine Hendrix knows there needs to be justice for Meredith Blake.
Hendrix, who plays Nick's 26-year-old gold-digging fiancé, said that in recent years, the film's "villain" has been seen in a relatively more positive and new light from fans online. People have called for "justice for Meredith Blake," explaining that a young, beautiful woman set to marry the handsome and successful Napa winemaker is aspirational.
Martin almost wasn't Martin.
Simon Kunz originally read for the role of a photographer, who only had one line. Likely noticing that he had a special quality to him, Meyers and Shyer reconsidered and asked him to read for Annie and her mother's kind and funny butler, Martin.
AdvertisementADVERTISEMENT
Yes, Lindsay Lohan still remembers "The Handshake."
While the actress admits that she "messes up" a part here or there, she still remembers the iconic and complicated handshake Hallie shares with Martin in the film.
Lindsay Lohan felt a deep connection to the Jeep scene with her onscreen dad.
The actors read the lines from the beloved scene in which the British Annie (pretending to be Hallie), who has just met her father for the first time, rides to his home in Napa for the first time. Nick keeps noticing a few things that seem different about her — her nails, her posh word choices, and the fact that she says "dad" at the end of every sentence. Trying to make excuses, Annie explains the importance of appreciating having a father at all. Lohan said that her own parents were in the process of divorcing at the time of filming, and going through this experience helped her cope.
A few scenes still make the cast laugh.
Lohan recalled having to run to take off and put on her blue nail polish to play both Hallie and Annie one after another. Hendrix said that the scene in which the twins push the sleeping Meredith's camping mattress onto a lake is her favorite (and coldest) scene. Quaid shared that the moment in which he falls into the hotel pool — unfortunately for him, "it was a cold morning" — took many takes. Lisa Ann Walter, who plays Nick and Hallie's caretaker, Chessy, still laughs when she thinks about the scene in which Chessy encounters the Speedo-clad Martin for the first time.
The Parent Trap cast fondly remembers the late Natasha Richardson.
Walter said that "as a mother," she is fond of the heartwarming scene in which the twins' mother Elizabeth James (played by Richardson) discovers that Hallie has switched places with Annie. Hendrix also shared fond memories of Richardson's warmth and apparent love for her husband, actor Liam Neeson. Lohan described Richardson as someone who "had such an elegance and grace and was so maternal to me." Quaid, who played her ex-husband, began to choke up as he remembered Richarson as "somebody so giving and so glad to be there and transmitted that joy of being able to do what we do, and it just made everything that much better."