Freakier Friday director Nisha Ganatra addresses 'hurtful' Asian representation in bodyswap classic
'Freakier Friday' director Nisha Ganatra felt "torn about the Asian representation" in the first film.
The 50-year-old moviemaker is at the helm of the sequel to the 2003 Disney comedy - which saw Chinese restaurant owners casting a bodyswap spell on feuding mother and daughter Tess (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Anna Coleman (Lindsay Lohan) via pair of fortune cookies - and brought up the "problematic" issue with producers as soon as she signed on to the project.
She told Entertainment Weekly: "I remember watching it and feeling torn, mostly about the Asian representation, and also the soundtrack that was being used.
"It was something I brought up right away when I had my first meetings with the producers. I had a moment of the presentation that was like, 'problematic Asian representation!'"
The first film - which was a modernised remake of the 1978 film that starred Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster - was directed by Mark Waters, and Ganatra felt that she needed to "make it right" for audiences this time around, so she has added in "little moments" to deal with the issue.
She added: "We owed audiences to make it right on this one.'
"There's little moments that don't betray this movie, but were satisfying for people who found hurtful moments in the last one.
"It was a different time and wasn't done intentionally [in the 2003 film], but it's a real thing.
"It's something I, being Asian, was super conscious of."
In the upcoming film - which is set to be released on 8 August 2025 - Manny Jacinto stars as Anna's fiancé, and he noted that the lack of "diversity" in the initial movie was a problem for him.
He said: "When I considered hopping on board, I remember watching the first Freaky Friday and being like, this did not age very well, regarding the diverse characters.
"Knowing Nisha and speaking to other people within our circles, I knew we had a captain who was very much aware of those archetypes, or those issues presented in the first one. I felt very well taken care of."
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