Lindsay Lohan is a seasoned pro when it comes to romantic comedies — but having to pretend she got high after eating a bag of weed gummies in her new holiday film Our Little Secret presented some challenges.
“You know, I didn’t even know where to go [with that scene], actually,” Lohan, 38, exclusively told Us Weekly ahead of the movie’s release. “And I was like, ‘I just need to be really calm today.’ Because I didn’t know what that feels like! So I was really nervous and I was like, asking people, ‘Do you know what it’s like? What’s this like?’”
Lohan portrays Avery in the Netflix flick, who finds herself thrown into chaos when she and her ex Logan (Ian Harding) realize they’re now dating siblings — and are forced to spend the holidays together. While the pair have an endless amount of baggage to unpack, Logan does come to Avery’s aid when she accidentally snacks on marajuana gummy bears minutes before going to church.
Harding, for his part, wanted to follow his character’s lead by helping guide Lohan through her acting challenge, but wasn’t sure how to approach the situation.
“I know what that says if you jump in [and give advice]. I was a little afraid to be, like, ‘Oh, this is what it’s like!’ and [have someone] be like, ‘Excuse me, Ian?’” he said. “Also in the house of God, you know?”
Not only does Avery ingest the gummies before attending a religious service — she’s also expected to read a story to the entire congregation, which includes the stepmonster from hell, Erica (Kristin Chenowith). When the words start to jumble up before Avery’s eyes and the Virgin Mary starts speaking to her in real time, it’s clear things have taken a turn for the worse.
Despite Lohan’s apprehension — “When I read the script, I was like, ‘I don’t know about this!’” she told Us — Harding and Chenowith fully supported the scene.
“That was one of my favorite parts! I was like, ‘Oh, let’s do it,” Harding insisted, while Chenowith added, “Same, same!”
Spoiler alert — Lohan ends up crushing the scene in question. And even with her anxiety over how to properly portray someone “super stoned” (as Harding’s character points out in the film), Lohan — along with the rest of the cast —were in full agreement that filming the movie brought them all closer together.
“It was great. It was really fun. It was a fun shoot,” Lohan told Us. “We all spent a lot of time together on the stage that we were shooting on, so we all kind of had to find fun things to do on our down time, whether it was ordering food in from outside, having lunches together. But it was a great experience.”
While Lohan has been known for her rom-coms since playing lovable twins Hallie and Annie in 1998’s The Parent Trap, she’s also become the Queen of Christmas in the past few years. For her, doing seasonal movies has become more special now that she’s a mom.
“They’ve always been sentimental to me, but now they’re even more special and more sentimental because I get to share it with my son and everything is new through his eyes,” she shared. “Everything’s like the first time. So it’s so beautiful. get really mushy about it.”
Lohan and her husband, Bader Shammas, welcome their son, Luai, in 2022, and the Mean Girls star couldn’t help but gush over his recent major milestones.
“I’ll just sit here and talk about him,” she quipped, before adding with a laugh, “He runs fast now. And, like, knows his food and will [breathe heavy] if it’s rice, or pasta.”
Chenowith, for her part, is also enjoying leaning into holiday traditions with her husband, Josh Bryant — just don’t expect her to cook.
“I think people think that I’m, like, the decorator and the cook. That I’m really good at it,” Chenowith started, before Lohan interjected. “I saw you making Halloween cookies and I was like, ‘I don’t think she can cook!’”
Chenowith joked that her attempt at Halloween treats was actually the “first time” she ever used her stove, but she is a fan of attending other people’s parties — and is learning to lean into the decoration aspect of the holidays.
“I do like to do my tree though,” she noted. “My tree is my husband and I’s [thing]. This will be our second [Christmas together].”
While their levels of culinary expertise may vary, one thing Lohan, Chenowith and Harding all can do is act — and don’t be surprised if Lohan continues her legacy as a holiday rom-com staple for years to come.
“The story of holidays is always light and uplifting,” she told Us. “But I think also rom-coms bring that too. It’s just the essence of fun. I mean, you can go a little Christmas crazy when there’s decorations everywhere all the time. [Create a] Winter Wonderland.”
Our Little Secret hits Netflix on November 27.
With reporting by Travis Cronin