They’re more than sisters, they’re like twins! During her Saturday Night Live hosting debut, Jenna Ortega mounted a reboot of The Parent Trap — with her Wednesday costar Fred Armisen.
“We’re so excited to be doing this remake of The Parent Trap [and] you know, we found some ways to update the original,” cast member Bowen Yang kicked off the Saturday, March 11, sketch, pretending to be the upcoming film’s director. “You know, the scene in the cabin when Hallie and Annie realize they are twins is such a classic, so we wanted to leave it as it was.”
The Scream 6 star, 20, immediately agreed, noting that it was “really special” to book the role of both Hallie and Annie. However, since Ortega would be playing both characters, Yang, 32, enlisted one of the movie’s “crew guys” (Armisen) to step in as her body double during production.
“This is going to be fun, I think I get the gist,” the 56-year-old former SNL cast member quipped as he walked onto the stage.
Ortega and the Portlandia alum went to perform the notable scene from the 1998 film adaptation where Lindsay Lohan’s twins disagreed over when to switch off the cabin lights at bedtime.
“Turn them off,” Armisen retorted, shortly before his scene partner called him annoying. “And I’m starting to think you’re a real bitch. … Sorry about that, I did a little off-the-cuff thing, you know, like they do on Curb [Your Enthusiasm]. You guys watch Curb? I love Curb.”
Armisen’s character continued to pitch new ways to spice up the scene, including having his Annie constantly be “on the toilet” and sharing his crush on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum Lisa Rinna. Ortega’s Hallie remained on task for the complete scene, while Armisen exclaimed that their project seemed like “that Lindsay Lohan movie with the twins!” (The Mean Girls star, 36, portrayed both twins in Nancy Meyers‘ 1998 adaptation of The Parent Trap, which was based on the 1961 movie of the same name and premise.)
“Wow, I’m like crying now!” Armisen later exclaimed after the pair’s characters put it together that they were twins. “So [our parents] just split us up? Why would they do that to us? We gotta kill ‘em. … If we work together, we can kill ‘em. I’m kidding, I love you.”
Ortega’s Saturday appearance on the late-night variety series marked her hosting debut on the show. Armisen, for his part, was a longtime cast member prior to his 2017 exit.
“Everyone here has been so kind, and this week has been a dream come true, [and] you know, I’ve got a couple friends here tonight, including one of my costars from Wednesday,” the Stuck in the Middle alum said in her SNL monologue before the camera panned to Armisen in the crowd. “Seriously, Fred, I’m so honored that you’re here. You’re the reason I started watching SNL actually. My favorite sketch of all time was The Californians.”
Saturday Night Live airs on NBC Saturdays at 11:30 p.m. ET.
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