The role not even seven Razzies could make Lindsay Lohan regret: “That was really fun”
Lindsay Lohan is one of the more prominent celebs currently caught up in the Trumpian madness going on at the moment, but thankfully, she seems to be doing OK, and to be honest, seeing her name attached to the events in the Middle East almost doesn’t seem that surprising given the chaos she’s had to deal with over the course of her career.
For a long time, Lohan was a fully fledged Disney youngster, making a breakthrough with her dual role in 1998’s comedy The Parent Trap and using the success to land roles in Disney Channel movie roles before she signed on for another global smash, the 2003 body swap comedy Freaky Friday with Jamie Lee Curtis.
That one was a massive hit, bringing in more than $160million at the box office against a budget of just $26m and cementing Lohan’s position as the eminent teen idol of the era. She earned some rave reviews for her performance in the movie and followed it up a year later with the almost as successful Mean Girls, the high school film that became something of a cultural phenomenon, producing endless quotes and outfit recreations and merchandise.
By now, Lohan was a worldwide star, and almost inevitably, the paparazzi began to follow her every move as she became an adult, subjecting her to almost round-the-clock attention as she began to take on work like hosting Saturday Night Live and the MTV Movie Awards, the youngest person to ever do so. As if that weren’t enough, she also launched a singing career, releasing a debut album the same year, 2004, which sold over a million copies despite some decidedly mixed reviews.
More exposure followed in the years to come with subsequent albums and Disney movies, but then as Lohan moved into her twenties she defied expectations and began to make films that were low budget and independent, including Robert Altman’s musical A Prairie Home Companion and a film in which she played the girlfriend of the man who shot John Lennon, which struggled to find a distributor. Cracks were starting to show, and Lohan was criticised for excessive partying by one director, going into rehab in 2007.
While attending rehab, and either side of undergoing appendix surgery, Lohan then made a horror movie called I Know Who Killed Me, the story of a stripper with a split personality who is abducted by a serial killer. Press attention was fierce while the film was being made as its star battled addiction issues, and when it was finally released, critics jumped on it, panning it as one of the worst films ever made and trashing Lohan’s performance.
Lohan, however, looks back fondly on the experience, telling Vogue several years later: “That was really fun to do. It was my first step into doing something different and dark, which was really exciting. And the pole dancing lessons were a workout in themselves!”
The film somehow managed to bring in almost $10m at the box office and achieved some notoriety by picking up eight Golden Raspberry awards, winning seven, including ‘Worst Actress’ for Lohan. And as years went by, the movie began to achieve cult status, with special screenings taking place at horror festivals.
Recent years have seen a resurgence from Lohan, who seems in a far better place, signing a contract with Netflix and last year making a sequel to Freaky Friday, again with Curtis, which again proved a big hit, bringing in $135m at the box office. She’s now going to be starring alongside Game of Thrones’ Kit Harington in a TV miniseries called Count My Lies, which she’ll also executive produce.
