Freakier Friday’s Manny Jacinto reveals advice he got from first film's star

"When I compared the first one and read this new one, I felt like I was the new Mark Harmon," he told RadioTimes.com during an exclusive interview, referring to the actor who played Tess's (Curtis) fiancé in the original film and who briefly reprises his role this time around.

"And so then I got some advice from him. And he just told me, straight up, just protect yourself and be as truthful as possible, because there is going to be a lot of weird things going on. A lot of personality changes, a lot of costume changes, and as the straight man, I think the best thing you can do is is be as truthful and authentic as possible.

"So yeah, it's quite the dance when everybody around you is freaking out – pun intended," he added. "But when you're the the straight man of the movie, kind of the heart of the movie, you have to lean in on making everything feel the most authentic, because everybody else is so extreme."

The straight man of the film he might well be, but Jacinto still had plenty of opportunity to get involved in all sorts of pretty fun activities while making the film.

"It was a blast," he said. "And we got to do it all in Los Angeles, where not a lot really filmed anymore. [I was] ticking off all the boxes – crowd surfing, dancing like Patrick Swayze, surfing... like doing all the bucket list items during this movie, and I truly hope that that fun just emits on screen."

Perhaps one of the biggest bucket list items of all for Jacinto to tick off was working with Lohan. He recalled watching the original Freaky Friday as a teenager with his family back in 2003 and "just watching Lindsay being an icon during that time" and said he never "thought I'd be acting opposite an icon 22 years later."

It all made his first encounter with her "a little intimidating" although thankfully he was able to move past that very quickly.

"I remember getting into an elevator with her, and wondering is that her?" he said. "But [we had] a rehearsal process beforehand, we got together, Julia [Butters], Sophia [Hammons] Lindsay and I to figure out our relationship and to truly hone down that emotional family aspect to these four people.

"And, yeah, it was weird, because we were doing a lot of weird acting exercises. But luckily, she was all for it. Everybody was vulnerable and willing to do what it took to to kind of bring us together and make us feel like a family. And it was great. She was a great scene partner before we started, and during, and then after!"

Freakier Friday is released in UK cinemas from Friday 8th August.

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