First, a link so good, it has to go to the top. This is the production information file (75k), at the MOVIEWEB site. It is full of good info on the cast and filmmakers. A fan transcribed this into a web version that is prettier and much easier to read. The MOVIEWEB site has a great synopsis of the new story, useful if you haven't seen the original.
NEW An apology to everyone who has mailed me with comments. Thanks Lots, and sorry for not answering - I've been WAY behind on my mail. And as of 31 August, the links are still working!
The Movie Trailer is on the DVD. It's great.
Here are some comments on the Trivia Contest at There She Goes.
Yes, as painful as this is to admit. Yes, when I first heard that there was a remake in the works, I had to wonder "why?" I just knew it would be "Miracle on 34th Street" all over again. But, Disney managed to take a classic masterpiece and make it better. Screenplay writers Nancy Meyers and Charles Shyer stayed faithful to the theme of the original screenplay by writer David Swift. It is so close, that the differenced are striking. The alterations are not gratuitous - you can see the improvement in every change.
Or here is the short version.
Of course, the main effect of the name change is that the Parker family can't live happily Evers after. (Hey, I didn't choose the names.)
One major character change was made. Hecky the ranch hand was part of the Evers household. By making Martin part of the James household, we reinforce the duality of the twins' lives. Hallie has a Chessy, and Annie has a Martin.
We also have some minor character adjustments. Elizabeth and Meredith are working women of the '90s, and Annie does not have an overbearing Grandmother. (Hayley Mills was offered a Cameo role. You don't suppose this was it?)
Meyers deliberately wanted to emphasize and increase the differences between the twins. Susan & Sharon were not all that different in the '61 film. So let's look at the differences between the twins.
Most of the 1961 film was done in the studio, while the 1998 film had enough budget to do a lot of location filming.
Both films have three major locations. The first - the Camp, is pretty similar in the two versions. While never stated, Camp Inch must have been in the northeast; you can drive there from Boston, but it requires a flight from California. Camp Walden for Girls is on Moose Lake in Maine. There is a real camp Walden in Maine, but the location filming was done in the California mountains both times.
Sharon McKendrick lives in Boston; Annie Parker lives in London. This is an interesting change. Hallie lives in the wide open spaces - so Annie was turned into a Big City girl. London provides great storybook scenery, and allows the use of cute accents. I have to say that Lindsay Lohan worked much harder at the accents than Hayley Mills did.
Susan Evers lives on a ranch near Carmel; Hallie Parker lives on a vineyard in Napa. This is mostly a reflection in the economic changes in the region. The Staglin Family Vineyards provided the location shots for the mythical Parker Knoll. The setting is gorgeous, and Disney was very lucky to be able to use this location.
The new version is much improved. Although the running time is actually reduced from 129 minutes to 127 minutes, we spend more quality time with the characters.
The parents' breakup makes a lot more sense in the new version. From the opening credits montage, we learn that these two very young (well, 24 & 23 years old) people met, fell in love, and got married in six days (shades of "Dharma & Greg"!), and within a year they were parents of twins. I can understand a relationship falling apart under those circumstances.
The reordering of the Camp sequences makes much more sense too. The new fencing scene (replacing the canoe scene) explains the twins initial enimity. The addition of the poker scene and the beds on the Arapajo cabin shows a growing escalation in pranks. (This is more of a Scorpio trait than a Libra trait. Libras want things to even out. Scorpios want to go one better. Their birthday really should have been left at November 12.)
I love the symbolism with the torn photo. You know; putting the photo together => putting the parents together. Plus, this enhances the duality of the twins lives - each has one torn photo of her missing parent.
I love the new soundtrack, and not just because Disney can now afford to pay for good pop tunes. My favorite part of the whole movie is the incidental music that backs most of the movie. It is sappy enough to bring tears to my eyes, and the "Let's get together" theme is really cute when there is mischief afoot.
I must kvetch at the soundtrack album though. They left out "Ev'ry time we say goodbye" - the Cole Porter song sung by Ray Charles (OK, I finally got it.) during the scenes where Liz & Annie go back to London.
They also left out "How Bizarre", and what I call the "Let's Get Together" theme - the background music that they play whenever there is a prank afoot. But they put in "Groovin" and "Dream Come True", both of which I like, but were not in the film! Heck - they could have put in the "Great Escape March" while they were at it. Finally, I give up - when did they play "Everybody Merengue"? (The song has a credit in the movie.)
I finally found the Original Score CD. Good stuff! It has the bit I called the "Let's get together" theme - it is track #6, titled "Changes" This was the hair cutting & ear piercing background music. Of course they played it more than that one time, but this is the only version on the CD. Another plus - they have the steel drum version of the PT theme - track #15 titled "She's gone". Biggest drawback - it does not have the fencing music.
Surprisingly, the "twin trick" isn't any more impressive in the new movie. This must be a tribute to the original film's technical crew. Of course the whole point of the effect is to have the audience NOT notice the tricks! The results of 40 years of advances can be seen in the greater variety of shots used. The technology behind the new movie is amazing!
Of course, the new movie is far more sophisticated in frame composition, even in scenes which don't have both twins. This might be why the original looks so good - the entire movie uses simple shots, so the trick shots blend right in. They got very tricky in the '98 film. There are reflecting surfaces everywhere, and they managed to keep things straight. I only caught them out once - in the Stafford hotel room, when the twins are together, Liz walks in front of the pair at one point, and casts a shadow over Annie, but not Hallie.
While I am at it, during the Poker scene at Camp, in the Annie close ups you can see the pierced earlobes, but you'd only notice if you were looking for them. It might not show up in the video.
The prime use of CGI in this film was to create a lizard and have it crawl into Meredith's mouth. Overkill, if you ask me - but the kids all love it.
OK, I would have done the "11 years... and nine months later" bit too. It was really cute! But, of course, Camp Walden was 12 years and six months later, not 11 years and nine months. Here is the chronology:
Nick Parker marries Elizabeth James (for the first time ;-) on 8 January 1986. You can make out part of the date on the registry during the opening montage. The current Transatlantic run is six days, so if their cruise was similar, they just missed the New Years celebration. Or, perhaps they didn't. It would explain the fireworks. Or do they have those on every cruise?
Hallie and Annie are born on October 11, 1986. This is 277 days after the wedding, or 3 days shy of 40 weeks. Nick & Liz wasted no time! At "6 pounds 11 ounces, 21 inches long" (Annie), the twins couldn't be very premature.
Camp begins in early summer 1998. It can be no later than the first week of July, because it lasts eight weeks, and there is enough time for a camping trip before Hallie resumes school (presumably in the first week of September). July 11, 1998 would be 11 years and nine months after the twins were born, but twelve and a half years after the wedding.
On the DVD, you can see the date on the FAX that Annie sends to Hallie. It is marked Tue 21 Aug 98 2:22. Well, the time is clear, but the other numbers are kind of blurry.
NEW The movie trailer has one really cute scene, where the twins wish upon a star. Sadly, this was cut from the movie. It took me a while, but I figured out where the scene originally went. If you look at the trailer, you notice Cuppy in the London house. The scene goes somewhere between the switch and the switch back. I'd guess it's either just before the trip from London to Napa; or between the point where Hallie is caught by Grandpa and where she reveals herself to her mom.
Notice how, when Hallie first reaches 7 Pembroke Lane, we look up at the bedroom window where Annie made her wish. Similarly, when Annie reaches Parker Knoll, we first look up at Sam in the balcony where Hallie made her wish. This was supposed to be a bit of foreshadowing.
It would be really cool if Disney releases a directors cut with the scene restored, but I don't expect it. I'm sure they had a good reason for cutting it in the first place. Well, we can see pieces of it in the theatrical trailer. (It's on the DVD.)
The film is dedicated to Hallie. Who's Hallie? A little cast & crew background is in order. The film was produced by Charles Shyer, and directed by Nancy Meyers, and the screenplay was co-written by both. This team has worked on many other films dating back to "Private Benjamin", and including "Irreconcilable Differences", "Baby Boom", and "Father of the Bride" (original and "Part II"). It is no surprise that this film turned out so great.
In the credits, the first person listed after the major stars is a character named Lindsay, played by Hallie Meyers-Shyer. So, which one was Lindsay? If you look at the credits here, it is obvious it is not in precise appearance order. If the credits were in appearance order, Lindsay would be the photo girl on the QE2. I had thought that Lindsay was actually one of the cell phone girls, but in fact the cell phone girls all have credits - listed after the Navajo cabin girls. My current theory is that Lindsay is the camp counsellor who is carrying Hallie's duffle in the opening camp scene.
Anyway, later in the credits, we see that "Towel Girl" was played by Annie Meyers-Shyer. I think she is the one who fetched the first aid kit for Nick at the pool scene at the Stafford hotel. Nepotism is alive and well in Hollywoodland. Well, the girls deserve it - it was their love of the original Parent Trap that inspired their parents to do the remake.
While we are discussing bit parts and nepotism, the boy at camp was played by Lindsay Lohan's younger brother Michael. He is listed fourth in the credits. He was not the fourth actor to speak in the movie, more proof that the credits cannot be in strict appearance order.
Joanna Barnes, who plays Vicki Blake (Meredith's mother), appeared in the original movie as Vicky Robinson, the fiancee to father Mitch Evers, played by Brian Keith. Supposedly, Hayley Mills was offered a part, but was unable to participate due to schedule conflicts. At the time, she was appearing as Anna in the touring company of "The King and I".
The QE2's last westbound transatlantic crossing of the summer departed Southampton on 29 August arriving in New York on 4 September 1998. Do you suppose there were two blue eyed, auburn haired bridesmaids running loose onboard?
How long did it take for Annie to get from Maine to Napa? Hallie leaves camp during daylight, and arrives at Heathrow in time to be in a taxi at 11:30 a.m. the next day. Hallie has tea, and goes to the Salon with her mother, and then goes shopping. Only then does Annie arrive in Napa? 24 hours after Hallie leaves camp?
OK, I figured this out, and it only took me seven months to do it. Leaving camp in a bus, you either go to the nearest small airport, or you go to Boston. If you go to the small airport, you take a commuter flight to a big airport. Next you take a big plane cross country, possibly with a change of plane. Then, you get on Napa Air. With all these plane changes, Annie would arrive in California between midnight and dawn. And she'd be dead tired. No, the likely scenario is that the bus takes the campers to Boston, where they stay overnight, and get their flights in the morning. Dad meets Annie at mid to late afternoon, and gets back to the Vineyard just in time for chili and a swim.
Hallie would be able to take the red-eye flight that departs the East Coast at 6pm and arrives in London at 6am. OK - say she actually leaves at 10pm and arrives at 10am. Baggage claim, customs, meet Martin, get the car, and be in the City by 11:30 (Watch Big Ben!) - this is a reasonable time line. Now I know why it took Annie twice as long to travel half the distance.
Does the Concorde get you to London in half the time? Currently, the Concorde is only doing the New York-Heathrow run. You save about three hours. Nick could have made up more time with good connections - there are no direct flights from Napa to JFK; plus the layover in New York could be long. Or, Liz & Annie might even have flown through Boston, DC, or even Chicago. So, even though Nick & Hallie could have made it first, it's no wonder they are still wearing their jackets.
Do girls who wear nail polish bite their nails? I don't wear nail polish, but I do bite my nails; I would think polish would put me off. In the '61 film, Susan is shown biting her nails nervously just after she and Sharon discover that they are twins. Hallie is never seen biting her nails.
Instead of recreating a page that has been done to death, I'll point you to some other Parent Trap pages.
There are a bunch of fan pages, built mostly by young fans. Some are pretty slick. Amazing how these kids keep up on the gossip. LL has signed with Donna Karan of New York, and has a three picture deal with Disney. She apparently turned down a role in the Inspector Gadget movie (let's assume she'd play Penny). She is apparently doing a made for Disney TV movie. I hate to say it, but from the descriptions, it sounds pretty bad.
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