Freaky Friday director reveals how Jamie Lee Curtis 'saved' hit Disney movie

Jamie Lee Curtis "saved" 'Freaky Friday' because of her "chemistry" with Lindsay Lohan.

The 64-year-old actress was drafted into the 2003 Disney comedy to play a mother who switches bodies with her teenage daughter just days before filming began and now director Mark Waters has recalled how the two stars were "not scared" to approach the movie with an "aggressive energy."

He told The Hollywood Reporter: "[Curtis’ casting] ended up, I think, saving the movie because her energy and also her chemistry with Lindsay … the two of them have a lot of like aggressive energy, and aggression is funny. If you’re kind of playing comedy in a way that’s shy and non-confrontational, it’s never that good. But the two of them were not scared to get into it with each other, and that made it really work well."

The comedy - which was a remake of the 1978 Disney classic starring Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris - marked Lindsay's second big-screen appearance after 'The Parent Trap' and Mark went on to add that while she didn't necessarily give the "best audition", she had something in terms of "star presence"as he reflected on the movie's legacy upon its 20th anniversary.

He added: "Lindsay was another one that was interesting. We tested all these great young actors, and people did a decent job playing kind of the mom part. I wouldn’t even say Lindsay was our best audition, but Lindsay just had star presence.

" There’s always a generation of daughters and mothers that seems to keep renewing itself. I went from people who are my peers to people who are like five to 10 years younger than me to people who are brand new mothers right now, who come to me and say, 'Oh my god, I just watched that movie with my daughter.' I think that’s an amazing thing that we pulled that off."