2003’s Freaky Friday is beloved by followers, a lot in order that its recognition resulted in a brand new sequel, Freakier Friday, giving the 2025 film schedule a dose of body-swapping comedy. Nonetheless, whereas the unique film could also be well-remembered, that does not imply it’s excellent, and a few elements of the movie have arguably not aged all that nicely, which was a serious concern for co-star Manny Jacinto.
Those that have seen the 2003 movie will keep in mind that the magic spell that causes stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan to modify our bodies entails magic fortune cookies at a Chinese language restaurant. Not precisely probably the most enlightened tackle Asian illustration. Manny Jacinto admitted to EW that it gave him pause earlier than he agreed to affix the sequel, explaining:
Once I thought of hopping on board, I bear in mind watching the primary Freaky Friday and being like, this didn’t age very nicely, relating to the varied characters. Realizing Nisha and talking to different individuals inside our circles, I knew we had a captain who was very a lot conscious of these archetypes, or these points introduced within the first one. I felt very nicely taken care of.
Manny Jacinto joined Freakier Friday‘s solid as Eric, the fiancé of Lindsay Lohan’s Anna. Following on his high-profile roles in The Good Place and The Acolyte, Jacinto has constructed a strong fan base that’s going to be thinking about no matter initiatives he will get concerned in. That seemingly makes it all of the extra essential for him to decide on the proper films.
Nonetheless, whereas Freaky Friday could have some issues with regards to Asian illustration, Jacinto says that Freakier Friday’s director, Nisha Gantra, put him comfy, as he was assured that she would be sure illustration was dealt with correctly. As a matter of reality, Gantra says that “problematic Asian illustration” was one thing she particularly introduced up when she first met with producers about directing the movie. She stated:
I bear in mind watching it and feeling torn, largely concerning the Asian illustration, and in addition the soundtrack that was getting used. It was one thing I introduced up instantly once I had my first conferences with the producers. I had a second of the presentation that was like, ‘problematic Asian illustration!’
By all accounts, Freakier Friday seems to have drastically improved on the illustration. Not solely is the core solid of the movie considerably extra various, together with Jacinto, however the brand new film will even apparently embody a return by Lucile Soong and Rosalind Chao, who performed the mother-daughter pair from the Chinese language restaurant within the 2003 movie, in a scene that may poke a little bit of enjoyable on the earlier movie and try to attempt to “make it proper.”
If there’s worth within the fixed remakes, reboots, and legacy sequels that we get with films lately, it’s the chance to attempt to enhance on the earlier entry. Freakier Friday is actually attempting to try this.