Life-Size
Life-Size is a 2000 American fantasy-comedy television film directed by Mark Rosman and starring Lindsay Lohan and Tyra Banks. It originally premiered on March 5, 2000 on ABC as part of The Wonderful World of Disney block. The film follows a young girl whose Eve doll (somewhat like Barbie) is transformed into a human being.
| Life-Size | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover | |
| Written by | Mark Rosman Stephanie Moore |
| Story by | Stephanie Moore |
| Directed by | Mark Rosman |
| Starring | Lindsay Lohan Tyra Banks Jere Burns |
| Composer | Eric Colvin |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Producer | Fitch Cady |
| Cinematography | Philip Linzey |
| Editor | Bonnie Koehler |
| Running time | 101 minutes |
| Production companies |
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| Distributor | Buena Vista Television |
| Budget | $7 million |
| Release | |
| Original network | ABC |
| Original release |
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| Chronology | |
| Followed by | Life-Size 2: A Christmas Eve |
A sequel, titled Life-Size 2: A Christmas Eve, premiered on December 2, 2018 on Freeform with Tyra Banks returning.
Plot
Casey Stuart, is a tomboy who is the quarterback of her school's 7th-grade football team. Since her mother died, she has been avoiding her old friends and arguing with a boy on her team. Wanting to bring her mother back to life, Casey finds a book called "The Book of Awakenings" at local a book store. The book contains a section on resurrecting the dead and a successful resurrection will become permanent unless it’s undone before sunset on the fourth day after it begins. However, since the book was expensive, she left all the money she had on the shelf in a glass compartment which is where the book was. Following the book's instructions, Casey collects artifacts from her mother's life, including strands of hair in her hairbrush. However, the resurrection is unwittingly sabotaged when Drew Mitchell, a woman who works with and is romantically interested in Casey's father Ben, gives Casey an Eve doll. Eve is a plastic doll in the form of a beautiful young woman, manufactured by Marathon Toys. She has many accessories, including outfits appropriate to challenging careers such as law enforcement, medicine and outer space, and lives in Sunnyvale, "in the middle of America".
As Casey is preparing to resurrect her mother, Drew stops by to give her the doll for her birthday and uses the hairbrush to brush the doll's hair. With strands from the doll remaining on the brush as Casey utters the incantation, the magic acts on the doll rather than Casey's mother, and Casey wakes up the next morning to find Eve in bed with her in full-size human form. Casey is upset by this, but Eve is excited about being human. Over the next few days, Eve buys clothes at the local shopping mall, uses her police training to stop a truck that almost runs Casey over, smells and eats for the first time, tries and fails miserably to do secretarial work, sings her theme song on stage during a dance with Ben, and almost sets the Stuarts' kitchen on fire. She also helps Casey cope with the loss of her mother. Meanwhile, Casey discovers that she needs the second volume of the magic book to reverse Eve's spell.
During this time, tension builds between Casey and her father, who has been missing her football games while trying to secure a promotion in his law firm. The tension is further increased by Ben's attraction to Eve, which Casey resents as a betrayal to her mother. Eve helps people turn into a better version of themselves.
As the film proceeds, Casey and Eve gradually become friends. Eve displays insight and sensitivity in talking with Casey about her mother, and she helps Casey with her self-confidence. In exchange, Casey gives Eve tips on how to be a popular doll and a good role model. By the time the magic book arrives at the local bookstore, Casey has decided she likes Eve, so she doesn't buy it. Unfortunately, Eve has been getting homesick. Discouraged by her difficulties in being human and worried about being discontinued by Marathon, Eve decides to undo the spell herself. After buying the book and saying goodbye to Ben at Casey's championship game, she goes to Sunnyvale, a specially decorated room at Marathon headquarters, and recites the incantation. When Casey and Ben arrive, she tearfully bids them farewell and turns back into a doll. Sometime later, with the lessons learned from her experiences in the human world, she becomes a popular toy again. Casey resumes her old friendships, Ben is promoted at work and Drew takes him to lunch.
The film ends with the cast dancing to Eve's theme song, with an apparently still-human Eve singing and dancing along.
Cast
- Tyra Banks as Eve
- Lindsay Lohan as Casey Stuart
- Jere Burns as Ben Stuart
- Anne Marie Loder as Drew McDonald
- Garwin Sanford as Richie
- Tom Butler as Phil
- Jillian Fargey as Ellen
- Dee Jay Jackson as Coach
- Corrine Koslo as Toy store owner
- Alfred Humphreys as Bookstore owner
- Kerry Sandomirsky as Ms. Weiner
- Sam MacMillan as Sam
- Katelyn Wallace as Sarah
- Shaina Tianne Unger as Jessica
- Jessica Lee Owens as Shannon
- Chantal Strand as Sara's sister
- Laurie Murdoch as Mr. Boring
- Candice Connelly as Mrs. Boring
- Alvin Sanders as Guard
- Ryan de Boer as Weiner
- Lesley Ewen as Francine
- Kaitlyn Burke as Girl with doll
- George Blondheim as Bandleader
- Joanna Piros as Newscaster
- Stephanie Moore as Woman in mink
- Campbell Lane as Judge Peterman
- Kasper Michaels as Litter man
- Monika Lisowska and Rosa Zavaglia as Mall extras
- Garvin Cross as Truck driver
- Aliana Lohan as Girl at Football Stands (uncredited)
Production
Casting
The film was made-for-television. Lohan didn't have to audition for the role of Casey Stuart, the girl whose doll comes to life. The producers of the film offered her the role as a part of a three-picture contract with The Walt Disney Company.[1] Banks was given the role of Eve, the doll that is magically transformed into a live woman during Casey's attempt to bring her mother back to life. Costume designer Maya Mani said, "It was a joy to work with Tyra because she knows how to wear clothes. No matter what we put on her, she could carry it off."[2]
Filming
Stephanie Moore came up with the idea of a doll coming to life. She collaborated with the director, Mark Rosman, on the teleplay for the film. Pre-production began in the summer of 1999, and filming began in October 1999.
The film starts with a commercial that promotes buying Eve dolls. For the doll commercial, production designer David Fischer deliberately went for a retro 1950s look, similar to The Jetsons. "It had to look dated but fun and inviting", stated Rosman.
Filming took place for three weeks. For the location, the producers thought Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada would be a good location for the film. The toy store used in the film is named Kaboodles. This is the actual toy store's name, as it wasn't changed during production. It is located in Point Grey in Vancouver.
There are British Columbia flags on Ben's license plate, indicating that it is set in British Columbia Canada . However, also on the license plate, it says: Evergreen State. The Evergreen State is Washington. The film was originally going to premiere as a part of The Wonderful World of Disney on February 27, 2000. It was delayed by one week, and later released on March 5.
Music
George Blondheim and Mark Rosman wrote a song titled "Be a Star" that Tyra Banks sings at a business party. The song is the theme song for the film, and was also reprised at the end of the film. Two songs by the group B*Witched were used in the film: "C'est la Vie" and "Rollercoaster". A song from Nobody's Angel's debut album, "Keep Me Away", was used near the end of the film.
Sequels
A sequel to the movie was first reported in November 2012.[3] In January 2014, Disney Channel announced that they were working on a sequel to Life-Size titled Life-Size 2, with Tyra Banks reprising the role of Eve.[4] In March 2015, Banks tweeted that they were still working on the script.[5] In September 2015, Banks said to Hollywood Life: "We have gotten many drafts of scripts, and the one thing I can say is that to the Disney Channel executives, Life-Size is so precious. It's like their baby, so they just want it perfect. They keep redoing it, and redoing it, and redoing the script, and we are in another round of redos, and we're hoping for Christmas 2016."[6] Banks once again announced her involvement with the film during an interview with Variety in December 2015: "There is no one else that can play Eve but me, thank you very much! I'm just joking with you, but yes, I am going to be Eve."[7]
In April 2017, it was announced the film would debut on Freeform in December 2018.[8][9] Banks said in a January 2018 interview that the script was almost finished and that production was expected to start in the summer of 2018. In July, Francia Raisa was confirmed to star.[10] In mid-November 2018, it was announced on Freeform TV that Life-Size 2 would debut on December 2, 2018.
In February 2020, Banks revealed she was working on Life-Size 3.[11]
References
- Dale, Austin (February 20, 2012). "What Really Happened To Lindsay Lohan, Part 2: The Ingenue". IndieWire. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
- Fishman, Elana (May 1, 2017). "Life-Size's Costume Designer on Dressing Tyra and What Eve Would Wear Today". Vox Media. Retrieved September 30, 2018.
- Shine bright, shine far! Disney plans a sequel to Tyra Banks/Lindsay Lohan flick 'Life-Size' Entertainment Weekly, Retrieved January 20, 2014
- Wightman, Catriona (January 19, 2014). "Tyra Banks on Life-Size sequel: 'It will be very modern'". Digital Spy. Retrieved May 4, 2015.
- Tyra Banks [@tyrabanks] (March 17, 2015). "We are working on the script still. Gotta get it to sparkle and shine!" (Tweet). Retrieved May 4, 2015 – via Twitter.
- "Tyra Banks: Life-Size 2 Is Happening, and There Are Script Reads to Prove It". September 9, 2015.
- Tyra Banks Confirmed to Reprise Role as Eve in Disney Channel's 'Life-Size' Sequel (EXCLUSIVE) Variety, Retrieved December 8, 2015
- Andreeva, Nellie (April 19, 2017). "'Life-Size 2' Starring Tyra Banks A Go At Freeform For 2018 Premiere". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
- Wagmeister, Elizabeth (April 19, 2017). "'Life-Size' Sequel Movie Starring Tyra Banks Officially Greenlit at Freeform". Variety. Retrieved April 19, 2017.
- Nolfi, Joey (July 9, 2018). "Tyra Banks reveals Francia Raisa as her costar, more Life-Size 2 plot details". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 12, 2018.
- Rice, Nicholas (February 24, 2020). "Tyra Banks Reveals She Is 'Working on Life-Size 3'". People. Retrieved February 24, 2020.