Dennis Quaid Reveals What His Relationship With Lindsay Lohan Is Like Today
The 1998 movie "The Parent Trap" not only served as a launchpad for Lindsay Lohan's acting career, but wound up leaving an imprint on the original fans and future generations alike. Lohan, of course, pulled double duty as twin sisters Hallie Parker and Annie James, who reconnect at camp and hatch a plan to get their parents back together. The young actor's talented performance made an immediate impression on Quaid, who played her on-screen dad. "She had me believing they were two different kids. She was a savant," he said on "The IMDb Show" in 2019. "Some people are like that and the rest of us have to work at it."
Lohan, who was only 11 years old while filming, was able to fool Quaid. "I actually thought that there were two girls," he said during a virtual "Parent Trap" cast reunion hosted by Katie Couric on Instagram in 2020. "I really did because your accent was so perfect," Quaid told Lohan. During the virtual cast reunion, Lohan also spoke about the "maternal" connection she had with her on-screen mom, Natasha Richardson (who died in a skiing accident in 2009, per People). Fellow cast member Elaine Hendrix — who played Meredith Blake — had previously said in 2021 that she did not "keep in touch" with Lohan due to their age difference, per Us Weekly.
Meanwhile, working together on "Parent Trap" had a different impact on the relationship between Quaid and Lohan.
Why Dennis Quaid and Lindsay Lohan share a connection
Perhaps not everybody involved with "The Parent Trap" stayed close over the years, but playing Lindsay Lohan's on-screen father in an unforgettable movie helped form a long-term bond between Dennis Quaid and the film's star. "Well, I'll always talk to her," Quaid told Us Weekly on April 11 when asked about Lohan. "'The Parent Trap' will always be in our conversation, of course, whether we speak of it or not, because I'm kind of like her movie dad."
When the cast virtually reunited on Instagram in 2020, Lohan became emotional when she reenacted the famous Range Rover scene, which saw her character Annie reunite with her dad, Nick Parker, who was played by Quaid. "You forget how much you miss people until you're with them when you haven't seen them in a while," the "Mean Girls" star said. Part of the reason that Lohan was able to reach a certain emotional register while filming the movie about two sisters looking to bring their parents together was because she could personally relate. "My parents were kind of separating at the time when this was all going on," Lohan said during the reunion.
Quaid could still recall the first time he met his future co-star. It was during a screen test when she had not even been cast yet. "She struck me as the smartest, most precocious 11-year-old I think I'd ever met. She just had this confidence about her," Quaid told "Today" in 2020.