Why Tom Selleck Dropped Out Of Freaky Friday
Although 2003’s Freaky Friday is a cult classic, the Disney body swap comedy originally offered a major role to Tom Selleck. Directed by Mark Waters, Freaky Friday was a huge hit for its stars Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis. Earning over $160 million on a budget of only $26 million, Freaky Friday paved the way for Lohan and Waters to make teen movie history a year later when the pair reunited on Mean Girls. Freaky Friday’s adaptation of Mary Rodgers’ classic novel was hugely popular and its sequel, Freaky Friday 2, will be released in 2025.
Before Freaky Friday became a cult classic, the movie endured a surprisingly lengthy production process filled with snags. Producer Andrew Gunn wanted the original movie’s young star Jodie Foster to return as the new movie’s mom, but Foster felt that this stunt casting would detract from the remake. Screen legend Annette Bening was then cast alongside Buffy the Vampire Slayer supporting star Michelle Trachtenberg, but both actors eventually left the project due to scheduling conflicts. The long wait for Freaky Friday’s sequel is not surprising considering how troubled the original movie’s production was, with another major star also dropping out.
Tom Selleck Quit Freaky Friday Because Annette Bening Dropped Out
The Blue Bloods Star Was More Interested In Working With Bening Than In Freaky Friday
According to The Hollywood Reporter’s oral history of the remake, Freaky Friday originally cast Tom Selleck as Ryan, the fiancé of Curtis’ character Tess. Selleck was cast around the same time as Bening and, per Waters’ recollection, the Magnum PI star dropped out of the project because he was most invested in the chance to work with Bening. There was no bad blood between the movie’s creators and its erstwhile star since Selleck was straightforward and honest about his reasoning. Meanwhile, recasting Bening and Trachtenberg meant Freaky Friday’s creators had plenty of time to search for a new Ryan too.
The perfect candidate was eventually found in NCIS star Mark Harmon. Strangely, both Selleck and Harmon would go on to become two of the biggest stars in TV procedurals decades later, thanks to Blue Bloods and NCIS respectively. Harmon had been a TV mainstay for years by the time Freaky Friday arrived and was as well known for his role in Chicago Hope as Selleck was for Magnum PI. Harmon was arguably a better fit for the part, as he fit the cast of Freak Friday perfectly and his romance with Tess gave the movie a sweet subplot.
