Chad Michael Murray on returning to Jake’s motorcycle in ‘Freakier Friday’

“The biggest question is, what is sexy?” Chad Michael Murray asks in a new cover story interview with Entertainment Weekly, philosophically pondering the art of revving up his hunky side for his big-screen return as Jake in Freakier Friday. “I think that answer is different for everyone, for every moment, wherever you are, environmentally. I think sexy just means being comfortable in your own shoes and getting up and feeling yourself.”

Speaking of environments, Murray has found himself in an exciting one, at the center of an explosion of early aughts nostalgia, as he reprises the role of the motorcycle-riding, long-hair-wielding romantic interest of teenage Anna (Lindsay Lohan) from Disney’s 2003 Freaky Friday film.

And the 43-year-old wanted to make sure that everything was in place as he learned how to re-harness his sexy side — albeit in a different way, 22 years later — in the movie. Oh, right after he fixed his hair, that is.

“The hair had been locked in place for the entire day. I was trying to let it be free and let it loose to get the helmet and do the whole thing, so it was like bedhead in the morning,” Murray recalls of shooting his grand return sequence on the streets of Hollywood, where Jake, who now owns a record store, still rides his trusty motorcycle about town.

While it felt right stepping back into the role, “there was a lot of conversation for everything that was in Jake’s world” since the first film before Murray signed on, he says.

“He was this kind of liquid thing when we first started, and we were trying to mold it,” he recalls of the character, who spent the first portion of the 2003 film as the love interest of Anna. But, after an ancient spell switches her soul with that of her mother, Tess (Jamie Lee Curtis), Jake begins to develop a crush on Tess… or, at least Tess’ body, that is.

Fast-forward to the Nisha Ganatra-directed sequel, Jake unknowingly finds himself at the center of a plot hatched by Anna’s teenage daughter, Harper (who, thanks to another spell, inhabits her mom’s body), and her soon-to-be-stepsister, Lily (now inhabited by the spirit of Tess), to reacquaint the former high school flames.

While the girls’ intentions might be convoluted, Murray had a clear vision for how he wanted to approach Jake and imbue him with a comedic flair this time around.

“When I asked the question, ‘Where has he been?’ I always thought Jake had a room somewhere, in the closet of his house, where he’s got this wonderful Tess shrine, and that he’s been in love with her and he keeps a faded photo of her in his wallet, but he still loves it and opens it up from time to time and touches it,” Murray explains. “That was all part of the backstory that was going along with who Jake is in this fantasy world that he’s put himself in.”

Speaking of fantasies, Lohan also creates a vivid one in a comical scene of attempted seduction between Anna and Jake inside the record store, which sees Lohan improvise, climb atop a table, and offer up a highly physical dance in front of an unsuspecting Murray.

“There was so much creativity flowing and everybody just having fun,” Murray recalls of that scene. “I loved watching Lindsay own it. It was like, Oh, there she is.”

Murray calls the scenes in the store “incredible” and felt the rush of the moment hit him all at once on the set that day.

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“There was a real moment for all of us,” he says, smiling at the memory. “Just the moment of Jake and the bike and pulling up, you could just see the 23-years-ago version of all of us that knew the film, come to life.”

Freakier Friday is in theaters Aug. 8.