Story of movie The Parent Trap 1998 Film :
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The Parent Trap is a 1998 American romantic comedy-drama film co-written and directed by Nancy Meyers, and produced and co-written by Charles Shyer. It is a remake of the 1961 film of the same name and an adaptation of Erich Kästner's German novel Lottie and Lisa (Das doppelte Lottchen).
| The Parent Trap | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Nancy Meyers |
| Produced by | Charles Shyer |
| Screenplay by |
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| Based on | Lottie and Lisa by Erich Kästner |
| Starring |
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| Music by | Alan Silvestri |
| Cinematography | Dean Cundey |
| Edited by | Stephen A. Rotter |
Production company | Walt Disney Pictures |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures Distribution |
Release date |
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Running time | 128 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $15 million |
| Box office | $92.1 million |
Dennis Quaid and Natasha Richardson star as a divorced couple who separated shortly after their identical twin daughters' birth; Lindsay Lohan stars (in her film debut) as both twins, Hallie Parker and Annie James, who are fortuitously reunited at summer camp after being separated at birth. David Swift wrote the screenplay for the original 1961 film based on Lottie and Lisa. The story is comparable to that of the 1936 Deanna Durbin film Three Smart Girls. Swift is credited along with Meyers and Shyer as co-writers of the 1998 version.
Screenplay
In 1986, American winery owner Nicholas "Nick" Parker (Dennis Quaid) and British wedding gown designer Elizabeth "Liz" James (Natasha Richardson) meet, fall in love, and get married during an ocean cruise on the Queen Elizabeth 2. After the birth of their identical twin daughters, Annie and Hallie (Lindsay Lohan), they get divorced and each has custody of one girl. Nick raises Hallie in Napa Valley, California and Elizabeth raises Annie in London, England.
Eleven years and nine months later in the summer of 1998, Nick and Elizabeth coincidentally send their daughters to Camp Walden, a girls sleep away camp in Maine. Annie and Hallie, who do not know each other, take an immediate dislike to one another. After a fight of pranks, they are isolated together as punishment until camp is over. They eventually discover that they are twins and hatch a plan for each to meet the parent they have never met. Hallie imitates Annie's British accent and flies to London to meet their mother, grandfather, Charles (Ronnie Stevens) and Martin (Simon Kunz) the butler. Annie imitates Hallie's American accent and flies to Napa Valley to meet their father, Chessy (Lisa Ann Walter) the housekeeper, and Sammy the dog. After discovering that their father is engaged to child-hating, gold-digger Meredith Blake (Elaine Hendrix), Annie and Hallie plot to reunite Elizabeth and Nick by falsely telling Elizabeth that Nick wants to meet her in San Francisco. Chessy, Martin, and Charles discover the girls' secret plan. Nick is shocked, but delighted to see Elizabeth after so many years. Meanwhile, Chessy and Martin are growing romantically attracted to each other. Despite the girls' best efforts, which include recreating the night their parents met, they fail to reunite Nick and Elizabeth. They resort to a last-ditch effort by demanding a three-day family camping trip, refusing to reveal which twin is which until after they return. Elizabeth tricks Meredith into taking in her place on the camping trip. Annie and Hallie play a number of pranks on Meredith, who becomes enraged after waking up in the middle of the lake on her air mattress and gives Nick an ultimatum; choose either the girls or her. Nick, finally seeing Meredith for who she truly is, chooses the girls over Meredith, but being a responsible father, still punishes them for their mischief.
Nick and Elizabeth realize they still have feelings for one another, but decide it is better to go their separate ways. Elizabeth and Annie later board a flight for London, but when they arrive, they find Nick and Hallie waiting for them (them having taken a faster flight on Concorde). Nick realizes his previous mistake was not going after Elizabeth when she left him, and proposes to her. Photos show Nick and Elizabeth getting remarried aboard the "Queen Elizabeth 2", with Annie and Hallie as bridesmaids, and Martin proposing to Chessy.
- Lindsay Lohan as Hallie Parker and Annie James, eleven-year-old twin sisters who were separated after birth. Following their parents' divorce, they were raised separately with no knowledge of each other's existence -- until they meet at summer camp by chance.
- Dennis Quaid as Nicholas "Nick" Parker, Annie and Hallie's father, a wealthy American winemaker.
- Natasha Richardson as Elizabeth "Liz" James, Annie and Hallie's mother, a wealthy British wedding gown designer.
- Simon Kunz as Martin, the James family's butler, who falls in love with Chessy.
- Ronnie Stevens as Charles James, Elizabeth's father and Annie and Hallie's maternal grandfather. After he catches Hallie on the phone with Annie, she tells him about switching places.
- Lisa Ann Walter as Chessy, the Parker family's housekeeper, who meets and falls in love with Martin. She also discovers that "Hallie" is actually Annie after noticing her strange behavior.
- J. Patrick McCormack as Les Blake, Meredith's father.
- Joanna Barnes as Vicki Blake, Meredith's mother.
- Elaine Hendrix as Meredith Blake, a 26-year-old publicist and child-hating gold-digger who is planning to marry Nick.
- Polly Holliday as Marva Kulp Sr., the owner and manager of Camp Walden.
- Maggie Wheeler as Marva Kulp Jr., Marva Kulp Sr.'s daughter and assistant.
Lindsay's mother, Dina, and siblings, Michael, Ali and Cody, all appear in uncredited cameos at the airport. Michael also appears in the movie as a boy who accidentally winds up at Camp Walden, mistaking it for a boys' camp. Erin Mackey was Lindsay's stunt double for Annie and Hallie. Joanna Barnes, who in the original 1961 film played Vicki Robinson, child-hating gold-digger who wanted to marry the girls' father for his money, appears in this film as Vicki Blake, the mother of child-hating gold-digger Meredith. The characters of Marva Kulp Sr. and Marva Kulp Jr. were most likely named after actress Nancy Kulp, who played the camp counselor in the original film 37 years earlier. The scene where Nick sees Elizabeth and leans over in the elevator is a repeat of Cary Grant and Irene Dunne's classic scene from My Favorite Wife.
Principal photography started on July 15, 1997, in London, United Kingdom, and continued in Napa Valley AVA, San Francisco, Lake Arrowhead, and Los Angeles, California.
The song used in the opening sequence in which glimpses of Nick and Elizabeth's first wedding is seen is Nat King Cole's "L-O-V-E". The song used in the end credits, in which photos of Nick and Elizabeth's second wedding is seen, is his daughter Natalie Cole's "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)".
The instrumental music featured prominently in the hotel scene where the girls and their parents cross paths serendipitously is "In the Mood", which was previously made famous by the Glenn Miller band. Later in the hotel, Hallie sings a few bars of "Let's Get Together", a tune from the first version of the film that was a hit for its star, Hayley Mills. The song is also quoted over the Walt Disney Pictures logo, and at the end of Alan Silvestri's closing credits suite.
When Hallie shows up at Annie's poker game at Camp Walden, the music used is "Bad to the Bone" by George Thorogood and the Destroyers.
The background song heard in the campfire scene is "How Bizarre" by the music group OMC.
The tune playing as Hallie and Annie are making their way up to the Isolation Cabin is the main theme from "The Great Escape" by Elmer Bernstein.
Soundtrack
| The Parent Trap | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Various artists | |
| Released | July 28, 1998 |
| Length | 54:08 |
| Label | Hollywood |
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