The Parent Trap is a film series, originating in 1961 with Hayley Mills as the twins. She reprised her role three times in made-for-television sequels; once in 1986 and twice in 1989.
Contents
The Parent Trap (1961)
The Parent Trap is a film directed by David Swift for Walt Disney Pictures released in 1961. It was based on the book Das Doppelte Lottchen written by Erich Kästner. The film stars Hayley Mills who plays the roles of the thirteen-year-old twin girls, Sharon and Susan. Maureen O'Hara and Brian Keith play the twins’ parents, Maggie and Mitch. The film is about the two girls who meet at a summer camp as strangers and realize that they are identical twins. They switch places so that each can meet the parent they don't live with, and they plan to bring their divorced parents back together. Soon after switching, the twins learn that there is a new woman, named Vicky Robinson (played by Joanna Barnes), in their father’s life. After Mitch tells Sharon about his engagement to Vicky, the girls come up with a new game plan to get rid of the woman who threatens their plan to reconnect their parents.
The Parent Trap II
The Parent Trap II, written by Stuart Krieger, is a television film that aired on July 26, 1986 on The Disney Channel. It was directed by Ronald F. Maxwell. The film is a continuation on the Walt Disney film, The Parent Trap. The Parent Trap II was filmed twenty-five years after the original film. The idea of a second film was announced in 1985. The only actor who returned from the original film, Hayley Mills, continues to portray the twins, Sharon and Susan. The Parent Trap II focuses on Sharon's daughter Nikki who tries to set up her mother with her best friend’s father, portrayed by Tom Skerritt.
Parent Trap III
The Parent Trap II was such a success for the Disney Channel that it spawned another made-for-television sequel, Parent Trap III, in 1989. Hayley Mills again reprises her role as twins Susan and Sharon, with Barry Bostwick as a father of triplet girls and Patricia Richardson as his snobbish girlfriend.
Parent Trap: Hawaiian Honeymoon
Parent Trap: Hawaiian Honeymoon (1989) is the final sequel, with Hayley Mills again reprising her role as Susan and Sharon, now both married. Also returning from Parent Trap III is Barry Bostwick and the Creel triplets: Joy, Leanna and Monica.
1998 remake
Lindsay Lohan stars in the remake of the first Parent Trap film, playing the role of the identical twins whose lives change at the summer camp they attend. The remake caught the attention of audiences when it premiered on July 29, 1998. The parents of the twins, Nick Parker (played by Dennis Quaid) and Elizabeth James (played by Natasha Richardson), marry on a cruise ship and quickly figure out their lives are in two separate places. They each take one of the twins and then go their separate ways. Eleven years pass and the identical twins, Annie James and Hallie Parker, embark on their summer journeys not knowing each other. The initial rivalry between them turns out to bring them closer and they realize that they must be sisters. Their new goal is to make their parents fall in love again before their father and his fiance Meredeth Blake (played by Elaine Hendrix) marry. The film was directed by Nancy Meyers.