Does Chad Michael Murray remember 2003 pop culture? We quizzed him.
Chad Michael Murray, who stars in “Freakier Friday,” takes a quiz about 2003 pop culture, tied to when the original “Freaky Friday” movie came out.
NEW YORK – Chad Michael Murray’s current work trip, in which the Buffalo, New York-based actor traveled to North Carolina for a “One Tree Hill” reunion before heading north to New York City, is a little different from his typical promo runs.
“I’m having a daddy-daughter trip right now,” Murray, 44, tells USA TODAY. “We thought, ‘You know what? (Our youngest is) going to skip on this one. She doesn’t need to be on the plane right now, you know, terrorize everybody.'”
Murray and his wife of 11 years, actress Sarah Roemer, share three children: a son, 9, a daughter, 8 (who sits in on daddy’s interview from the USA TODAY studio control room) and another daughter, 2. The parents don’t share their children’s names publicly and only recently brought the two eldest into the spotlight, as they joined their parents at the Los Angeles premiere of “Freakier Friday” in July.
How has the former teen heartthrob, now in his mid-40s, kept his own youthful appearance? “I think your kids keep you young,” he says. “Try to get as much sleep and eat right. And that’s the best you can do.”
Murray is in New York to promote the digital release of “Freakier Friday” (streaming now on Disney+). He looks back fondly at the sequel’s creation, saying that the cast and crew “caught lightning in a bottle” twice with the much-anticipated follow-up to the beloved 2003 body-switch comedy starring Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis. In the film, Murray reprises his role as Jake Austin, who in the original was the boyfriend of Anna Coleman (Lohan). Jake and Anna are still friends in the sequel, but she’s now engaged to Londoner Eric Reyes (Manny Jacinto).
“There was just so much organic love and energy there, very much a family environment. Everyone came to work ready to go,” Murray recalls, adding the happy vibes made it conducive for Lohan, Curtis and the rest of the cast to improvise freely. “Everyone’s throwing ideas in, we’re just making changes and bringing light to everything. So maybe what was on the page wasn’t necessarily gonna stay there and you’re just gonna adjust and go on the fly. It was awesome.”
