The Parent Trap (film series) The Parent Trap (film series) The Parent Trap is a "Disney" film series, originating in 1961 with Hayley Mills playing both roles of twin sisters who were raised separately by divorced parents, without any knowledge of each other. They meet at a summer holiday camp, and switch places so that they can each meet their other parent. Mills reprised her roles three times in subsequent made-for-television sequels. A remake was released in 1998, with a plot similar to the original film and written by the original film's writer/director David Swift, with segments of the story being reworked into a romantic-comedy.
The Parent Trap II Grand are the same names of the characters that Mills portrayed in the Disney films "The Moon-Spinners" and "In Search of the Castaways". Director Ronald F. Maxwell revealed that this was an homage to Mills' films with The Walt Disney Company. The characters of Walter and Lillian Elias are named after Walt Disney and his wife. (Disney's full name was Walter Elias Disney; Lillian was his wife's name.) Ronald F. Maxwell was chosen to direct this sequel, taking over from the original's director David Swift. When the film premiered on the Disney Channel, a documentary titled "On Location: Parent Trap