Chad Michael Murray Joins Family at Freakier Friday Premiere
Alexa, play Pink Slip’s “Take Me Away” — Chad Michael Murray is once again enchanting Us.
At the Los Angeles premiere of Freakier Friday on Tuesday, June 22, the 43-year-old Murray embraced early 2000s style, donning a light pink jacket, white T-shirt, and black slacks. He sported his classic red carpet look with a smile while keeping his hands casually in his pockets.
The One Tree Hill star was joined by his wife, Sarah Roemer, and their two eldest children for the special occasion. Roemer, 40, looked stunning in a pastel green floor-length gown, with her blonde hair styled in loose waves and a silver clutch in hand. She coordinated with their daughter, who wore a similar green dress adorned with yellow and pink flowers, while their son opted for a classic all-white suit without a tie. (Murray and Roemer, who have been married since 2014, keep the names of their three children private.)
Freaky Friday, which premiered in August 2003, featured Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis as Anna and Tess, a mother-daughter pair whose lives are flipped upside down when they wake up in each other’s bodies. Murray played Jacob, Anna’s crush, a bad boy who mistakenly thinks he’s falling for Tess, unaware of the body swap. He reprises his role in the upcoming sequel, set to hit theaters next month, where Anna and Tess encounter another body swap, this time involving Anna’s daughter and soon-to-be stepdaughter.
“It was awesome. It felt like a nostalgic journey,” Murray shared with People in a December 2024 interview about returning to the project. “It was like a high school reunion. It felt as if no time had passed, yet we had lived full lives in between.”
However, filming came with its challenges, especially when it came to keeping track of four characters switching places.
“There were moments where I’d sit there thinking, ‘OK, who’s who?’ … I had to stay very focused,” he explained. “I had to do a lot of homework, and even then, I’d still get mixed up. But it was fantastic. So much fun.”
Murray rose to fame as a heartthrob in the early 2000s, initially making guest appearances on WB shows like Dawson’s Creek and Gilmore Girls, before landing the lead role of Lucas Scott on One Tree Hill. He also starred alongside another rising star, Hilary Duff, in the 2004 film A Cinderella Story.
With renewed interest in an OTH revival and the return of Freaky Friday, Murray, who currently portrays Cal in The CW series Sullivan’s Crossing, believes he and Duff, 37, could reprise their roles as Sam and Austin. (The film also featured Jennifer Coolidge and Regina King, offering a contemporary twist on the classic fairy tale.)
“If I were to approach it, it’d be about how love in high school often doesn’t last. They’ve taken different paths and lived their lives,” Murray shared with Parade in a July 19 interview. “Perhaps my character, Austin, would be an English teacher back at the school and Hilary’s character, Sam, might have gotten married, had kids, and it didn’t work out. Now her daughter, who is a bit shy and doesn’t fit in, is in my class, which sets the stage for a dual Cinderella story. My character would help nurture that situation. That could be a great narrative.”
Freaky Friday is set to premiere in theaters on Friday, August 8.
