50 Fun Facts About The Parent Trap

Who plays both twins, Hallie Parker and Annie James, in the 1998 Parent Trap?

It was her film debut; the other three all auditioned or were considered, and Jena Malone turned the roles down more than once.

The 1998 film was the directorial debut of which filmmaker?

Her then-husband Charles Shyer produced and co-wrote it, shortly before their divorce; the twins are named after their daughters.

Who play the divorced parents, Nick Parker and Elizabeth James?

Quaid said in 2025 that sequel talk ended with Richardson's death in 2009: 'I don't think we'd have the heart for it.'

What are the parents' professions in the 1998 film?

They married aboard the QE2 in 1986 and remarry on the same ship at the end.

Where do Hallie and Annie meet?

They first come face to face at the end of a fencing match, then escalate from poker to a prank war and the isolation cabin.

Where was the fictional Camp Walden actually shot?

Filming also took Lohan to Napa, San Francisco, Lake Arrowhead, Los Angeles and London.

What sport are the twins playing when they first see each other's faces?

They lift their masks and are stunned to be looking at themselves.

What clue tells Hallie and Annie that the two of them are sisters?

In the novel the girls compare birthdates too: both born on October 14 in Linz.

Which real Napa Valley estate stood in for Parker Knoll?

The estate is called Parker Knoll in the film.

What is the name of the Parkers' housekeeper, played by Lisa Ann Walter?

She is based on Verbena in the 1961 film and Resi in the novel, and she is the first to work out that 'Hallie' is Annie.

What is the name of the James family's butler, who ends up with the Parkers' housekeeper?

Simon Kunz plays him; he proposes to Chessy at the parents' second wedding aboard the QE2.

Who plays Meredith Blake, the 26-year-old publicist engaged to Nick?

Her mother Vicki is played by Joanna Barnes, who was the gold-digger Vicky Robinson in the 1961 original.

Which actress is a gold-digger in the 1961 film and her mother in the 1998 film?

Vicky Robinson in 1961, Vicki Blake in 1998.

How does the family finally get rid of Meredith?

Elizabeth insists Meredith go camping in her place; the pranks mirror the 1961 honey-and-bear-cubs sequence.

How do Nick and Hallie beat Elizabeth and Annie back to London at the end?

Elizabeth's father Charles, played by Ronnie Stevens, had earlier caught Hallie on the phone and coaxed out the truth.

How was the effect of one actress playing two twins on screen created in 1998?

Erin Mackey doubled for Lohan; Meyers said she asked for shots that, had she known better, she would not have.

Roughly how many young actresses submitted audition tapes for the twin roles?

Lohan was 11 when she filmed it and won a Young Artist Award for the performance.

What was the 1998 film's budget and worldwide gross?

It opened second behind Saving Private Ryan.

Which film kept The Parent Trap out of the number one spot on its opening weekend?

It took $11.1 million from 2,247 theatres.

Who attended the film's London premiere in November 1998?

It was a Royal Film Performance; a deleted scene had Jeannette Charles playing the Queen meeting Hallie.

Which Nat King Cole song plays over the opening wedding sequence?

The 1961 song 'Let's Get Together' is quoted over the Disney logo and in Alan Silvestri's end-credits suite.

Which song plays when Hallie walks into Annie's poker game at camp?

'Parents Just Don't Understand' by DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince plays on Meredith's car radio.

What treat features in the 1998 film in place of the 1961 film's Fig Newtons?

Both twins, it turns out, eat them with peanut butter.

Which relative of Lohan's plays the 'Lost Boy' who did not realise Camp Walden was all-girls?

Her mother Dina and siblings Aliana and Dakota also appear uncredited at the London airport.

Who plays the captain who marries Nick and Elizabeth aboard the QE2 in the opening?

Meyers and Shyer's daughters Hallie and Annie also cameo, credited as Lindsay and Towel Girl.

Who plays the twins in the original 1961 Parent Trap?

It was the second of six films she made for Disney, straight after Pollyanna with the same director.

Who wrote and directed the 1961 film?

He is still credited as a co-writer of the 1998 remake alongside Meyers and Shyer.

Who play the divorced parents in the 1961 film?

The characters are Maggie and Mitch; the twins are Sharon McKendrick and Susan Evers.

What are the twins called in the 1961 film?

Sharon lives in Boston with their mother; Susan on their father's California ranch.

Who wrote 'Let's Get Together' and the other songs for the 1961 film?

Hayley Mills's double-tracked single, credited to 'Hayley Mills and Hayley Mills', reached number 8 on the Billboard chart.

Who sang the 1961 film's title song?

They were on the Disney lot shooting Babes in Toyland; Funicello also sings 'Let's Get Together' on the camp record player.

For which two Academy Awards was the 1961 original nominated?

It grossed $25.1 million.

What prank finally drives Vicky Robinson off the camping trip in 1961?

The 1998 remake reworks the sequence with the lizard and the lake mattress.

What was the girls' summer retreat called in the 1961 film?

It was based on a real girls' camp, Camp Crestridge in North Carolina; the California scenes used a Carmel ranch and Pebble Beach.

How was the star of the 1961 film shown as two people at once?

The uncredited Henning stood in for whichever twin had her back to the camera.

The Parent Trap is based on which 1949 German novel?

Erich Kästner first pitched the plot as a film in 1942, but the Nazis stopped him working.

In Kästner's novel, in which two cities do the separated twins live?

Luise Palfy lives in Vienna and Lottie Körner in Munich; both were born in Linz on October 14.

How old are the twins in the original novel?

They meet at a summer camp at Seebühl on Lake Bühl.

Under what title did Kästner propose the twins plot to director Josef von Báky in 1942?

He had briefly been allowed to work as a screenwriter under the Nazis before being banned again.

Which 1945 Hollywood film has a plot very close to The Parent Trap?

Disney's film is nonetheless credited to Kästner's novel.

How many television sequels did Disney make to the 1961 film?

Parent Trap II (1986), Parent Trap III (1989) and Parent Trap: Hawaiian Honeymoon (1989), all with Hayley Mills.

Where did The Parent Trap II premiere in 1986?

It ran under the channel's 'Hayley Mills Film Festival' banner and focused on Sharon's daughter Nikki, with Tom Skerritt.

Who served as Lindsay Lohan's double, playing the second twin in shared scenes?

Disney CEO Michael Eisner reportedly remarked at the premiere that two different girls had played the twins.

The 1998 twins are named after the daughters of Nancy Meyers and which co-writer/producer?

The couple divorced shortly after the film; both daughters cameo and the film is dedicated to Hallie Meyers-Shyer.

Which future star turned down the 1998 twin roles multiple times?

Johansson, Wilson and Trachtenberg were also considered; Wilson was thought too young and Meyers wanted 'a little Diane Keaton'.

Which Natalie Cole song plays over the 1998 film's end credits?

It bookends the opening sequence, which uses her father Nat King Cole's 'L-O-V-E'.

Which two films beat The Parent Trap to the top spot on its UK opening weekend in December 1998?

It opened at number three in Britain after finishing second to Saving Private Ryan in the US.

Who hosted the virtual cast reunion for the 1998 film's 22nd anniversary in July 2020?

The charity reunion raised money for Jose Andres's World Central Kitchen during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under what working title did production of the 1961 film begin in July 1960?

Disney had earlier announced it as His and Hers; it was also known as Petticoats and Blue Jeans.

Hayley Mills's single 'Let's Get Together', credited to 'Hayley Mills and Hayley Mills', peaked where in the US?

In the film the tune is sung double-tracked by Mills when the twins restage their parents' first date.