‘Freakier Friday’: Manny Jacinto Talks Recreating ‘Dirty Dancing’ Scene With Lindsay Lohan (VIDEO)

Manny Jacinto was in “disbelief” at the fan reactions to him being the Freakier Friday romantic lead. He tells TV Insider in the interview above that when he first booked the role, “impostor syndrome” kicked in and he feared his ability to carry a central love story in a blockbuster. But he was also ready to “step into the fear and try and have fun.” He succeeded at creating a touching love story with Lindsay Lohan in the Freaky Friday sequel. Jacinto came to TV Insider’s studio to discuss the movie ahead of its November 12 streaming debut on Disney+.

In Freakier Friday, Tess (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Anna (Lohan) discover that lightning may indeed strike twice as they navigate the myriad challenges that come when two families merge. Anna’s daughter, Harper (Julia Coleman), is just as punk as her mom was as a teen, and much like her mother, she struggles to adapt when her family blends with Anna’s fiancé’s. Eric (Jacinto) is the father of Harper’s school nemesis, Lily (Sophia Hammons), and the girls don’t take well to living together. The sequel’s body swaps occur just before Anna and Eric’s wedding and are between Anna and Harper and Tess and Lily. When it’s time to rehearse their wedding performance — an homage to Dirty Dancing — it’s Harper in her mom’s body.

Jacinto, who comes from a dance background, was tasked with learning some of the original choreography from the iconic final dance number of Dirty Dancing, and he made moving like Patrick Swayze look easy. But it was far from that. You’d think that Jacinto watched the film over and over again to prepare for this scene, but he turned to unexpected inspiration to bring that Dirty Dancing scene to life.

“I watched clips of the movie, but more importantly, I watched interviews of Patrick Swayze,” Jacinto reveals. “The type of person he was, he was an incredible talent on screen, but also he felt, at least from the interviews that I saw, just [like] a really good human being who liked to play.”

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“He also was a dancer when he was younger and was very cognizant of his physicality and his body early on,” The Good Place alum goes on. “I think that helped a lot, just knowing how he was as a person kind of informed his movements as well, and the joy that he brings when he starts dancing. I think that’s the whole thing. I think when people ask about dance, they’re like, ‘Oh, Manny, what do I do on the dance floor to try and impress people?’ I’m like, it’s all in the face. It’s just all in how you carry yourself. And I just saw how Patrick Swayze carried himself, and I was like, OK, that’s the most important thing.”

Dance training is important when recreating a scene like this, but a good dance performance is a lot like good acting; you have to really feel what the scene requires.

“It’s just like interactions with people,” Jacinto adds. “It’s 100% not exactly what you say on the day that people remember. It’s how you make them feel.”

Learn more about the making of Freakier Friday ahead of its Disney+ debut in the full interview above.

Freakier Friday, Streaming Debut, Wednesday, November 12, Disney+