‘Parent Trap’ star Elaine Hendrix defends Meredith Blake, questions villain status

Maybe The Parent Trap‘s iconic antagonist Meredith Blake didn’t deserve that brutal breakup…or the lizard crawling into her mouth…or being set adrift in the middle of a lake on an air mattress, after all.

Actress Elaine Hendrix, who played the prickly publicist engaged to Nick (Dennis Quaid), the father of mischievous twins Hallie and Annie (Lindsay Lohan), in the 1998 Disney classic, tells Entertainment Weekly she’s not so sure that Blake was all that bad in the first place.

“I have the millennials to thank for that,” she says when asked about the character’s contemporary reassessment, as new generations have discovered the film and amassed a cult following behind the character’s diva-centric antics.

“It’s been incredible, the long legs that Parent Trap has had. It’s spanned generations to remain so beloved. As an actor, when you create a character, you’re not sitting there going, well, I’m the bad guy so I’ll do this,” Hendrix explains. “My whole career, I’ve defended Meredith Blake, tooth and nail. I had to justify everything she did and believe in her. I had to think, she’s the good guy! I’m happy and grateful that everybody else is catching up with that, now.”

Though her demeanor wasn’t the most pleasant throughout the film, she suffered mercilessly at the hands of Hallie and Annie’s pranks, which included setting sail to Blake’s aforementioned air mattress, putting a lizard inside her water bottle, and ultimately pushing her to the point of an emotional break that forced Blake to ask Nick to choose between her or his daughters.

“It’s kind of like, was she really [a villain]? All said and done, it’s great fun,” admits Hendrix. “All the memes are fun, the videos, so many people dress up as her for Halloween. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t get posted, I don’t get an email, stopped on the street, I don’t get something about her, and that’s incredible in the span of anyone’s career. What an honor.”

Hendrix loves the character so much, she explains, that she would “hands down, in the right situation” join a potential Parent Trap sequel if asked.

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But, she asks, “How would you bring Meredith Blake back into the sequel?” after her character’s initial departure. Still, adds Hendrix, “I’d be so crushed if she wasn’t part of a sequel.”

Hendrix reunited with Lohan in another capacity in Freakier Friday, with the actress filming a brief cameo as a magazine employee, in her first on-camera appearance with Lohan since The Parent Trap was released 27 years ago.

“She lives on the other side of the world and has a family and is busy. We both have full lives, but particularly through social media and texting, we’re staying in touch, which is quite lovely,” Hendrix tells EW of their reunion. “I’m so happy for her and where she is in her life. It’s nice, in these new chapters of our lives, to be in contact.”

Freakier Friday is in theaters Aug. 8.