Freakier Friday director Nisha Ganatra has revealed she felt ‘torn about the Asian representation’ in the first film, with actor Manny Jacinto also sharing his concerns. 

Moviemaker Nisha, 50, is at the helm of the sequel to the 2003 Disney comedy, which is set to hit theaters August 8.

The film saw Chinese restaurant owners casting a body swap spell on feuding mother and daughter Tess (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Anna Coleman (Lindsay Lohan) via pair of fortune cookies.

Nisha brought up the ‘problematic’ issue with producers as soon as she signed on to the project.

She told Entertainment Weekly: ‘I remember watching it and feeling torn, mostly about the Asian representation, and also the soundtrack that was being used.

‘It was something I brought up right away when I had my first meetings with the producers. I had a moment of the presentation that was like, ‘problematic Asian representation!”

Freakier Friday director Nisha Ganatra has revealed she felt ‘torn about the Asian representation’ in the first film, with actor Manny Jacinto also sharing his concerns

Moviemaker Nisha, 50, is at the helm of the sequel to the 2003 Disney comedy, which is set to hit theaters August 8

The first film – which was a modernised remake of the 1976 film that starred Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster – was directed by Mark Waters, and Ganatra felt that she needed to ‘make it right’ for audiences this time around, so she has added in ‘little moments’ to deal with the issue.

She added: ‘We owed audiences to make it right on this one.’

‘There’s little moments that don’t betray this movie, but were satisfying for people who found hurtful moments in the last one.

‘It was a different time and wasn’t done intentionally [in the 2003 film], but it’s a real thing. It’s something I, being Asian, was super conscious of.’

In the upcoming film, Manny stars as Anna’s fiancé, and he noted that the lack of ‘diversity’ in the initial movie was a problem for him.

He said: ‘When I considered hopping on board, I remember watching the first Freaky Friday and being like, this did not age very well, regarding the diverse characters.

‘Knowing Nisha and speaking to other people within our circles, I knew we had a captain who was very much aware of those archetypes, or those issues presented in the first one. I felt very well taken care of.’

It comes after Nisha revealed she ‘begged’ Jodie Foster for a nostalgic cameo, but the star refused. 

The film saw Chinese restaurant owners casting a body swap spell on feuding mother and daughter Tess (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Anna Coleman (Lindsay Lohan) via pair of fortune cookies

In the upcoming film, Manny stars as Anna’s fiancé, and he noted that the lack of ‘diversity’ in the initial movie was a problem for him

Read More Fans are all saying the same thing about Freakier Friday trailer

‘We begged her,’ Ganatra, 50, told Entertainment Weekly, before revealing that Jodie declined. ‘She’s not going to do it.’ 

‘Honestly, we tried everything,’ the filmmaker shared, explaining that she ‘never found out why’ the Silence of the Lambs star refused. 

‘We were going to make her the principal at the school,’ Ganatra said, in reference to the school Lohan’s character Anna goes to.

The official trailer kicks off with Lohan (Anna) and her mom Curtis (Tess) talking to a fortune teller – played by SNL alum Vanessa Bayer.

As she gave them a reading, the fortune teller could be heard saying, ‘Your lifelines… it’s like they’ve intersected before! You’ve walked in each other’s path.’

Lindsay and Jamie then looked at each other and pretended to be shocked over the revelation.

However, the fortune teller added, ‘You learned a lesson. A lesson that may serve you again.’

The 2003 movie raked in $160.8 million in the box office on a budget of $26 million; Lindsay and Jamie Lee seen in a still from the Freakier Friday trailer

Freakier Friday will follow a similar plotline to the first movie in which Lohan and Curtis’  characters switch bodies – but with a big twist; the duo seen April 3

The next morning, Lohan and Curtis wake up to shockingly realize they were no longer in their bodies and loudly scream into the mirror as they peer at their reflections.

But all is not what it seems when Lindsay’s daughter Harper (Julia ʙuттers) and soon-to-be stepdaughter Lily (Sophia Hammons) appear to also be involved in the switch as well.

Curtis can then be seen dramatically saying, ‘My face looks like a Birkin bag that’s been left out in the sun to rot!’

The rest of the teaser shows snippets as the family figure out how to reverse the switch while pretending to be each other in their normal daily lives.

At the end, Curtis and Lohan strolled down a sidewalk while glammed up, with Jamie telling Lindsay, ‘Okay, I’ll let you know when it’s time for you to make your Sєxy grand entrance.’

The ‘Freaky Friday’ sequel is set to hit theaters August 8

She replies with, ‘Sєxy grand entrance?’ and the scene cuts to Chad Michael Murray pulling up in a motorcycle and removing his helmet.

‘Oh, like that,’ Lohan says out loud which concluded the trailer.

The premise of the sequel is: ‘Years after Tess and Anna endured an idenтιтy crisis, Anna now has a daughter and a soon-to-be stepdaughter.

‘As they navigate the challenges that come when two families merge, Tess and Anna discover that lightning might strike twice,’ per an IMDB synopsis.

Other stars that have been cast in the movie include Manny Jacinto, Mark Harmon, Ryan Malgarini, Haley Hudson and Christina Vidal Mitchell.

Freakier Friday is released in cinemas on August 8.