Jamie Lee Curtis Recalls Finding Out She Landed Her Freaky Friday Role ‘2 Days Before They Started Shooting’ (Exclusive)

Jamie Lee Curtis was a last-minute addition to one of her most beloved films.

“I found out I was going to be in Freaky Friday two days before they started shooting, because someone else was in the movie and dropped out,” the actress, 66, told PEOPLE exclusively at the Amazon Upfront in New York City on May 12.

Cast as Tess Coleman, an overprotective mother and hardworking psychologist who swaps bodies with her teenage daughter, played by Lindsay Lohan, in the 2003 film, Curtis further explained, “I had a 10-year-old and a five-year-old at home, and I found out on that Monday I was going to be doing a movie where I played a 15-year-old and a 45-year-old.”

“I don’t remember any of it because I was now juggling like a circus performer,” continued the star — who shares two daughters with husband Christopher Guest: Ruby and Annie.

“So my memory at the time was to simply be in the moment of the job, and then the movie came out and people loved it,” Curtis added.

Curtis and Lohan, 38, starred in Freaky Friday as a mother and daughter who switch bodies through the use of Chinese fortune cookies.

Freaky Friday (2003) marked the third film adaptation of the 1972 novel of the same name by Mary Rodgers.

Related Stories

‘Freakier Friday’ Director ‘Begged’ Jodie Foster for Cameo in Sequel

Freakier Friday Trailer: See Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis Reunite

The first was the 1976 version starring Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster in the lead roles, and the second was a Wonderful World of Disney exclusive film that featured Shelley Long and Gaby Hoffmann.

The Disney Channel later released another version of the film, which adapted the musical of the same name. It premiered in August 2018 and saw Heidi Blickenstaff and Cozi Zuehlsdorff in the lead roles.

Freakier Friday, a soon-to-be-released sequel to Curtis and Lohan’s popular Disney film, will see the pair reprise their family roles as they swap bodies with two others — 22 years after their first time doing so.

“The story picks up years after Tess (Curtis) and Anna (Lohan) endured an identity crisis. Anna now has a daughter of her own and a soon-to-be stepdaughter. As they navigate the myriad challenges that come when two families merge, Tess and Anna discover that lightning might indeed strike twice,” a synopsis for the project teases.

The PEOPLE App is now available in the Apple App Store! Download it now for the most binge-worthy celeb content, exclusive video clips, astrology updates and more!

Mark Harmon, Chad Michael Murray, Christina Vidal Mitchell, Haley Hudson, Lucille Soong, Stephen Tobolowsky and Rosalind Chao are among the returning actors from the 2003 version.

Vanessa Bayer, Julia Butters, Manny Jacinto, Maitreyi Ramakrishnan and Sophia Hammons, meanwhile, have joined in new roles, and Lohan’s The Parent Trap costar Elaine Hendrix also makes a cameo.

Freakier Friday is in theaters on Aug. 8.