In 2000, Disney released Life-Size, starring Tyra Banks and Lindsay Lohan. The movie originally aired on ABC and told the story of a young girl, Casey Stuart, played by Lohan, whose doll is magically transformed into a human being after Casey’s attempt to resurrect her recently deceased mother goes wrong.
Casey is initially upset by this but throughout the movie, she becomes friends with the doll, Eve, and doesn’t want to change her back. Unfortunately for her, Eve starts getting homesick and Casey ends up saying goodbye to her beloved friend as she turns back into a doll.
In 2017, it was announced that there would be a sequel to the movie and Life-Size 2: A Christmas Eve was born. Tyra Banks reprised her role as Eve in the new movie and also served as executive producer this time around. While chatting with Shadow and Act , Banks talked about her character and what it was like to step back into the familiar role.
“It was so exciting to step into the high heeled shoes — the very painful high-heeled shoes of Eve after eighteen years,” she said.
Banks said it was important to focus on all the reasons the original movie was successful.
“I wanted to make sure as an executive producer of the sequel to give you all that stuff that you loved about it the first time but switch it up. I wanted to twist it up and also mature it up a little bit so that people who watched Life-Size when they were little and are now adults could have something that they could relate to,” she continued.
In the sequel, Eve is accidentally transformed by Grown-ish actress Francia Raisa, who plays Grace Manning, “a spoiled twenty-something socialite turned CEO, who has been tasked with taking over her mother’s toy company.”
Lohan doesn’t make an appearance in the film but Banks revealed that she consulted the 32-year-old actress throughout the creative process, according to a report from Just Jared .
“We had many conversations! Mostly on DM and text. Like a lot! And then we had real conversations on the phone. I loved these conversations because she was literally at the beach of her clubs, and I could hear the music,” she said.
Banks said Lohan was prepared to do the film but ended up taking another offer. She said it was “heartbreaking” but she still felt the need to keep Lohan involved.
Life-Size 2: A Christmas Eve airs Sunday, December 2 on Freeform.
