My theory is that Superstar (1999) is a prequel to The Parent Trap (1998). Twenty-six year old Meredith Blake (Elaine Hendrix) from The Parent Trap is using a fake name, and is actually a slightly older Evian Graham, who is a high school student in Superstar. Evian is forced to change her name because she went on to murder Sky Corrigan (Will Ferrell) in a jealous rage at some point in time between the end of Superstar and the beginning of The Parent Trap. In Superstar, Mary Catherine Gallagher (Molly Shannon) has the ability to rewind and fast forward other movies into the lives of the people around her. “Meredith” from The Parent Trap wants to marry single dad Nick Parker (Dennis Quaid) for his money to help out her parents, who are now broke. After helping to cover up Sky’s murder, they were forced to leave town and their well-paying jobs, and then spent most of what was left of their money on Evian’s college tuition. When “Meredith” finds out that Hallie (Lindsay Lohan) has a twin, she screams because she realizes that Mary Catherine has used her power to fast forward The Parent Trap (1961) into her life and set her up for failure again.
Evian and “Meredith” have identical looks and personalities.
1. They’re both played by Elaine Hendrix, so they have the exact same face, body, and voice.
2. In The Parent Trap, Nick’s ex-wife comes to his house and plans on going camping with him and their twin daughters. “Meredith” gets very jealous and does not allow them to go without her. Evian proves to be equally as jealous when Sky talks to Mary Catherine right after breaking up with her. She gives a very loud, high-pitched scream and passes out. “Meredith” screams in this exact same way multiple times in The Parent Trap.
3. Like a classic bully, Evian taunts Mary in the locker room about her underdeveloped body, and calls her “boob sweat”. Similarly, when one of Nick’s eleven year old daughters accuses “Meredith” of wanting to marry her dad because of his money, instead of denying it, she becomes aggressive and tells the little girl that she’s in way over her head. She later kisses the twins’ dad very intensely in front of them just to make a point.
4. When Mary Catherine tries to sign up for the school talent show, not only does Evian bully her, but the two actually come to blows. In The Parent Trap, “Meredith” shows a similar physical aggression, kicking over a water pitcher when she becomes angry on the camping trip, and then throwing her engagement ring at Nick’s head.
5. Both Evian and “Meredith” show signs of eating disorders. In Superstar, Mary Catherine says Evian is bulimic. Later, she is shown eating a bag of Bugles while talking on the phone. She then leaves the phone for a moment, vomits, and returns to her conversation as if it were normal. Similarly, “Meredith” only has half a grapefruit after Nick’s nanny makes a big breakfast. Then on the camping trip with Nick and the girls, the group has to stop for “Meredith” to catch her breath, despite her seemingly fit figure.
6. Both Evian and “Meredith” really seem to enjoy public displays of affection. This character is frequently seen kissing her boyfriend/fiance in front of people in both movies.
These other reasons why it’s totally plausible that Meredith is really Evian
7. In The Parent Trap, we see Meredith’s parents, but we never see or hear about Evian’s parents in Superstar. These could easily be the same characters.
8. Although Superstar came out a year after The Parent Trap, the scenery and costumes make it look like it takes place at least a few years before. Not to mention, Mary Catherine is narrating. Since the main character already knows everything about the events in the movie, they probably happened in the past. There’s no reason Superstar couldn’t be set eight or nine years before The Parent Trap, when “Meredith” is twenty-six.
9. The first time “Meredith” sees both twins together is near the end of the movie. When she realizes there are two of them, she screams in horror. It’s too big and public of a reaction for simply realizing you’ll be having two stepdaughters instead of one. This might be when Evian realizes that Mary has fast forwarded the original Parent Trap into her life.
10. When “Meredith” has to stop for a rest on the camping trip, she specifically asks for her bottle of, what else, Evian. When Nick then asks why he hears screaming, one of the twins explains that “there was a lizard on her bottle of Evian.” Right after her real name is said twice in a row here, Nick addresses the character as “Mer”. She seems confused for a second, and then says “Oh, right, right, right.”
These other connections between the two movies.
11. Of the many Carrie (1976) references in Superstar, the biggest is when Evian showers Mary Catherine with a bucket of paint during her talent show audition. In The Parent Trap, one twin tries to pull the same trick on her sister, except with chocolate sauce, which ends up getting dumped all over the head counselor.
12. The first time Mary Catherine is shown in confession, she does a monologue from another 1976 film, Cybil, in which the title character has multiple personalities and identities. Not only does Evian arguably use a second identity as Meredith, but both twins in The Parent Trap definitely use alternate identities as they impersonate each other. Oh, and the name of Cybil’s first alternate personality is Vicky, which is also the name of Meredith’s mother in The Parent Trap.
13. So how similar are the names Mary and Meredith? Did Evian subconsciously choose Meredith because it sounds like the name of the girl Sky actually wanted to be with at the end of Superstar? Furthermore, does this mean Sky was murdered because he was pursuing Mary again?
14. In both movies, two girls meet, become best friends, and make it their goal to make a specific couple happen.
Mary was rewinding and fast forwarding into different movies during Superstar.
15. She works at a video store, where her job is rewinding movies on VHS. If anyone can acquire this very specific superpower, it’s the person who has this very specific job.
16. In one of the first scenes, Mary Catherine tells her grandmother that she’s using her telekinesis to kill the girl who poured pig blood on her (Carrie reference). Her grandmother doesn’t question her having a superpower.
17. Mary Catherine is an omniscient narrator. How does the main character already know everything about what happens in this movie? Is it because this story already happened in the past? Almost definitely. Is it because she also has a specific movie superpower on top of that? Possibly.
18. In the opening scene, Mary Catherine is narrating and says, “They say that God works in mysterious ways, and in my case, very mysterious. Anyway.” I would say giving her a superpower that allows her to rewind and fast forward movies into people’s lives is a pretty mysterious way for God to work. Near the end of the movie, the priest tells Mary Catherine to “use the gifts that God gave her.” Father, I’m telling you, she does. Anyway.
19. Let’s talk about all the sudden movie scene transformations that happen in Superstar. Armageddon (1998) is a no doubter, as is Carrie. The Seven Year Itch (1955) also makes an appearance when a breeze lifts Mary Catherine’s plaid skirt at school. There even seem to be allusions to Mean Girls and Napoleon Dynamite, both of which were released in 2004, five years after Superstar. I’m telling you, this superpower thing is real. Mary Catherine also gives monologues straight out of three other films.
The God character in Superstar is actually Sky’s ghost.
20. God is played by Will Ferrell, who also plays Sky. Also like Sky, he has a very laid back personality, is very friendly, and likes to dance. The God character also doesn’t seem especially smart, at least not in the way you’d like God to be smart.
21. When Mary Catherine asks this character if he’s God, he responds by saying that he’s just what Mary subconsciously thinks God looks like, going as far as to say that his appearance is partially based on Sky. Also, whoever this character is, later appears to Slater (Harland Williams). If this character were God, wouldn’t he then look like Slater’s subconscious idea of God? Is it possible that this is the bearded ghost of Sky Corrigan who has been rewound back to the time when Sky was alive ?
In The Parent Trap, it’s Meredith’s parents who need her to marry for money, not her.
22. She already has a really good job as a publicist, not to mention a sweet red convertible. So why does she not deny marrying Nick Parker for his money? She doesn’t seem to need it.
23. When “Meredith” tells her parents about Nick’s money, they are just as excited about it as she is. Why would parents be so happy about their daughter marrying for money when she already has an awesome job? Are the kind of parents who would do that also the kind of parents who would cover up a murder?
24. Lastly, it might be hard to imagine Evian/Meredith doing anything for unselfish reasons, but if you watch both movies closely, her parents appear to be the only characters in either movie that she is always nice to.
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