By INTERVIEW BY DAN DUNN Special to the Daily Press
At times, talking to 17-year-old Lindsay Lohan, you get the sense that she’s a young lady with an uncanny self awareness and maturity beyond her years. But then the young star of “Freaky Friday” gushes about how “really totally awesome and cool” it was working alongside co-star Jamie Lee Curtis, and describes her “type” as being “you know, like, hot boys,” and you realize she’s still a girl with a whole lot of growing up in front of her. After all, Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears were this sweet and innocent at 17, too.
Best known for playing twin sisters in her 1998 feature film debut, “The Parent Trap,” Lohan has also appeared in the television series “Life Size” with Tyra Banks, the Disney Channel’s “Get A Clue” and the short-lived sitcom, “Bette.” She has the distinction of being the first red-headed child model to sign with the Ford Modeling Agency, and has graced the cover of Vanity Fair as well as worked on more than 60 TV commercials.
Here are some highlights from a recent interview: QUESTION: Were you intimidated taking on a role that once belonged to the iconic Jodie Foster?
LINDSAY LOHAN: I think it was more cool than it was intimidating. I was, like, wow, I get to play a role that Jodie Foster played. Let’s just hope I did it as well as she did.
Q: How similar are you to your character, Anna?
A: Anna kind of keeps everything inside rather than confiding in people. She goes to her music and stuff, which I tend to do sometimes. But she’s got a lot of anger inside her because she has a father that passed away and I think that’s where she’s different from me.
Q: What was the most enjoyable element of this role?
LL: For me it was playing in a band. That’s a lot of girls’dream at my age — to be in a band and play guitar. So that was really cool. Playing Jamie was more of a challenge, which was fun in a different way. Anna was fun for me personally, but as an actor, playing Jamie was too.
Q: What female rockers inspire you? LL: I love Janis Joplin and Madonna. Q: You share your first on-screen kiss with co-star Chad Michael Murray. Were you nervous?
LL: I was so nervous because I was kissing a guy that I don’t know extremely well, who’s good looking and 21, and it’s in front of 100 people. But I talked to Jamie, and she said “Oh, don’t be nervous.” And I told Chad, “Listen, I’m really nervous. You may not be nervous because you’ve done it before on your shows, but I’m really nervous, so just know that.” But it worked out fine. I mean, he’s really good looking, so it wasn’t bad (laughs).
Q: You’re a well-known actress, but you’re also a 17-year-old girl who goes to school with all the other kids. Have you experienced much jealousy?
LL: If you’re 17 and doing films and you’re on posters — I mean, it’s weird for me to even see myself on a big billboard on Sunset — and then you go back to regular school, you have to expect people to be judgmental. A lot of people assume that if you’re in magazines and on TV that you’re going to be overly-confident and act like you’re better than everybody else. But if you are yourself and you’re not that kind of person, that’ll come across eventually.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 8, 2003. Read the original PDF.