One of the basic requirements for being a true, bonafide '90s baby is a deep nostalgic love for The Parent Trap. As a kid, you probably watched it a hundred times, until the tape of your VHS started detaching from the plastic housing and it became totally impossible to wind. And as an adult, you probably still watch it every time you come across it playing on cable TV, because there's just something about it that you can't pass up. But no matter how many times you've seen this Lindsay Lohan gem, there are probably still a handful of things you don't know about the beloved classic. So we've collected 15 of our favorite behind the scenes facts about The Parent Trap that are sure to blow every '90s kid's mind.
15 A star is born
Lindsay Lohan, through all her stages of sobriety and sanity, has been a Hollywood legend for what seems like forever. Like really, if you were to look back to the beginning of Hollywood, Lohan would be there. Or at least it feels that way. In reality, The Parent Trap was her big debut, her first step into the world of stardom. And it didn't come easy. In order to find the perfect actress, producers held casting calls in Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Miami, Vancouver, Toronto, London, New York and Los Angeles. Director Nancy Meyers was looking for "a little Diane Keaton" and found her in Long Island native Lindsay, who had faked being sick in order to skip school and go to the audition instead.
14 Janice, AKA Marva Kulp Jr.
If you haven't seen The Parent Trap in a while then you've probably forgotten about the movie's other major '90s star. That's right: Lindsay Lohan isn't the only '90s queen in everyone's favorite childhood film. Maggie Wheeler, AKA Janice from Friends, is one of the main camp counselors. Marva Kulp Jr. is everyone's favorite counselor at Camp Walden, the camp owner's daughter and the lady responsible for the crazy extreme fencing duel that takes place between Hallie and Annie (the one where they both wind up in the horse trough). Marva Kulp Jr. shares Janice's affinity for big hair and tight clothes, but thankfully the nasally, whiny squawk we're so used to with Janice has become way less annoying and way more tolerable. So next time you pop in The Parent Trap, keep your eyes peeled for Janice in the beginning and prepare to have your '90s-child mind blown.
13 The secret handshake
After watching The Parent Trap, every single one of us walked away with two new major life desires: to have and find our long-lost twin, and (somewhat more realistically) to create a super intricate secret handshake with one of our closest pals. While the existence of a benevolent butler like Martin wasn't a requirement for our secret handshake plans, length, originality and ability to replicate all were. After all, our inspiration had a total of 18 moves (which is really quite lengthy for a confidential greeting). And the moves took Lindsay over an hour to get down! Which all goes to explain why none of us could never remember our new handshakes hours after working so hard to create them—we were shooting a little too high with not enough time dedicated to practice.
12 Hallie and Annie
It turns out our queen Lindsay Lohan wasn't the only '90s It Girl to be considered for the role of Hallie and Annie. While we literally cannot imagine anyone else giving such a legendary performance, the directors actually considered three other actresses for the part originally. Michelle Trachtenberg read for the part first, followed by Scarlett Johansson and then Mara Wilson. And while we love all three of these women (after all, what would the '90s have been without Harriet the Spy and Matilda?! and how would we have been angsty teens in the '00s without Lost in Translation?!), we just can't imagine them as our generation's favorite, separated at birth set of twins. It would have been an entirely different film.
11 The ear piercing problem
If you were anything like we were as a child, then the scene in the isolation cabin when Hallie pierces Annie's ears definitely gave you the heebie jeebies. We got our ears pierced at the '90s ear piercing emporium (Claire's) and as a pre-teen were totally grossed out by someone inflicting that untrained pain on themselves. Apparently, so were the British Film authorities, because they cut the scene from the movie entirely to in an effort to discourage copycat behavior. Granted, the scene was also longer in the original script. In the first draft of the scene, Hallie passes out after sticking the needle through her sister's ear, and has to be slapped awake by Annie who insists she do the other one as well because she just won't go through life with one pierced ear. We're honestly glad the extended version didn't make it in the final cut, because that would have just been more than we could have handled.
10 Her royal highness
In what was sure to be a piece of cinematic gold, there was a deleted Parent Trap scene where Annie (dressed as Hallie) meets the queen. It fit in after Martin picked her up from the airport, and as the two are in the town car driving back to the house, they pass by Buckingham Palace. Annie hops out and tries to persuade one of the palace guards to move, when suddenly the Queen is spotted leaving the palace. Once in the car, the queen rolls down a window to speak to Annie, who fumbles for the proper title and protocol for meeting the British monarch. Feeling caught out, she tells the Queen her secret and Her Royal Highness promises that she won't tell a soul so that the plan may proceed. Ultimately, Nancy Meyers cut the scene due to pacing issues, but we would have loved to have seen it as part of the final cut.
9 Twin magic
The magic of the movie lies in the fact that it's not two, but one actress that plays both Hallie and Annie. As a pre-teen we remember being shocked when we realized that there weren't two Lindsay Lohans, and that Hallie and Annie were just a bit of cinematic magic. Shooting scenes that both girls were in wasn't an easy feat—there was a lot of GCI work to be done—but it was made easier by the fact that Lohan had a very convincing body double in Erin Mackey. Mackey was seven years older than Lindsay, but looks eerily similar to the actress. In shots where you don't see both girl's faces, it's most likely Mackey's body you see acting alongside Lohan. But Mackey's role was also a totally silent one. Lindsay acted both parts all the way through, and for the split screen scenes had an earpiece in that would play back her dialogue as the other sister, meaning that Mackey's only real job was to give Lohan someone to look at as she acted.
8 A family affair
Lindsay isn't the only Lohan with a part in The Parent Trap. Her mother, Dina Lohan, as well as her two brothers, Cody and Michael, and sister Ali Lohan all have bit roles in the movie as well. In the scene when Annie (dressed as Hallie) first arrives at the airport in London and is greeted by Martin, you can get a quick glimpse of the real Lohan family, dressed as fellow travelers, walking by. Ali even turns around for a split second to watch her sister do her thing. Michael also has a more extended cameo as the only boy at the all-girls Camp Walden, who spends his entire summer desperately trying to get home only to leave camp promising to return the next summer. So it turns out, the film didn't launch just one Lohan into stardom, but rather five.
7 Two Vickis
The 1998 film wasn't the first Parent Trap movie. You may not have seen it, but there is actually a 1961 version that was also insanely popular after its release. In the original version, actress Joanna Barnes played the wicked (potential) step-mother named Vicki. When the 1998 version began production, Barnes expressed interest in being involved again, and was cast as Vicki 2.0. This time around the wicked (potential) step-mother was named Meredith, and her mother kept the name Vicki in tribute to her original role. So while she didn't get to be quite as horrible as before, Joanna Barnes still got her turn at playing evil by doing everything in her power to get Nick Parker and his millions hitched to her daughter. What a legend.
6 The nods
Joanna Barnes' role wasn't the only nod to the original version of The Parent Trap. In fact, the 1998 version is littered with references to the first Trap. For example, when Meredith is checking out the hotel as a potential venue for her wedding, she is heard talking on the phone to a Reverend Mosby, who was a character in the original. Similarly, the name of hotel itself, The Stafford, is a reference to a crush of one of the twins in the original film. And when Annie steps onto the elevator at The Stafford Hotel she's heard singing "Let's Get Together," a key song from the 1961 movie. And finally, Marva Kulp Sr. and Jr. are both named in honor of the camp counselor in the original Parent Trap.
5 The booby trap
In one of the best scenes in the movie, when Annie and friends wake up after having their cabin booby trapped by Hallie, a water balloon falls on Annie's head and immediately pops. This seems like the simplest part of the entire scene, at least compared to everything else that had to go just right with the chocolate, feathers, shaving cream, toilet paper, honey and water bucket. But, it turns out, it was actually one of the trickiest. The balloon was so heavy that just dropping it wouldn't have broken it on Annie's head, and producers were worried about causing the young actress head and neck injuries from repeated attempts. So Lindsay had a needle fastened into her hair so that the balloon would pop on the first try, giving the scene a much darker backstory.
4 Hallie and Annie and Lindsay
Hallie, Annie and Lindsay are characters and actresses in the 1998 version of The Parent Trap. Here's how it all breaks down: Hallie and Annie are the real-life daughters of the film's director, Nancy Meyers, and its producer, Charles Shyer. The couple named the twins in tribute to their girls, who are obviously both played by Lindsay Lohan. But both Hallie and Annie Meyers-Shyer have small roles in the film as well. Annie Meyers-Shyer plays the towel girl at the hotel who brings Elizabeth the first aid kit after Nick falls. Hallie Meyers-Shyer plays a girl at Camp Walden who asks where the Navajo bunk is. And Hallie's character is named Lindsay, in honor of Lindsay Lohan. Wrap your mind around that!
3 Nick and Elizabeth
One thing that the movie doesn't spend very much time on is Nick and Elizabeth's marriage and their reasoning behind splitting the girls up. Maybe it's because the writers realize that no real parents would ever actually consider this "solution," and so they try to skim over the whole situation in the hopes that we won't think to hard about it. But, they did leave us one little clue as to what went wrong and why this awful decision was made: youth. In the opening of the movie we get a glimpse at the couple's marriage certificate and discover that Nick and Elizabeth were married on January 8, 1986, when he was 24 and she was 23. If we reason that they couldn't have been married for more than a couple of years before they divorced, it makes sense that it was the stupidity of being young 20-somethings that drove them to each take a twin without ever telling them that the other exists.
2 L-O-V-E
The '90s version of The Parent Trap has two really iconic love songs associated with it. As the movie begins, and the opening credits role, Nat King Cole's "L-O-V-E" plays over pictures of Nick and Elizabeth's first wedding. And as the film ends, and the closing credits roll, Natalie Cole's "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)" plays alongside pictures and video from the second Nick/Elizabeth wedding. That's right, the movie is so family-centric that its two most recognizable songs came from a father/daughter duo. Which really solidifies for us that the '90s were a sweeter, simpler time. And it's little details like this that make us wish we could go back and relive them as adults, when we'd appreciate it so much more.
1 The end
Finally, there once was an extended ending for the movie. The extended scene was shortened due to time constraints, but it originally went like this:
Hallie (to Annie): "You guys are going to love living in California."
Annie (to Hallie): "California? You guys are going to love living in London."
Hallie: "London?"
The camera panned out to show the front yard, where Sammie is barking at another dog next door, Chessy and Martin are kissing and Charles is getting home. While we can't complain about the way the movie ends now, we would have loved to see this bit make the final cut. And it may have finally answered the question we've all been asking for the last 20 years: WHERE DID THEY LIVE?!
sources: imdb.com, seventeen.com