THE FILMMAKING TRAP; UPDATING CLASSIC DISNEY MOVIE A DELICATE TASK.

Byline: Bob Strauss Daily News Film Writer

This takes guts.

Remaking ``The Parent Trap,'' the 1961 Hayley Mills twin farce beloved of preteens and soccer moms everywhere, could not be just another crass, commercial update like such recent Disney vault-raids as ``101 Dalmatians'' and ``Flubber.'' It had to capture the strong, primal allure of the original movie - itself an unpretentious family comedy - while carefully giving it a '90s sensibility.

``First of all, you can't be disrespectful to the original,'' says producer Charles Shyer, who co-scripted the remake with his wife, director Nancy Meyers. ``And you have to be smart enough to know what it was about the original movie that appealed to people, because that doesn't ever change. Then, while keeping those intact, you try to bring it up to contemporary times and put your own stamp on it.''

The basic plot line is pretty well-preserved. Two 11-year-old girls meet at summer camp, immediately dislike each other despite (or because) they look identical, soon discover they're twins who were separated at birth, switch places in order to meet the parent they've never known, then scheme to reunite their mom and dad.

A few new wrinkles: rather than living in Boston, Annie James, the mother's girl, is from London. Hallie Parker, the dad-raised daughter, still hails from California, only this time her home is a Napa Valley winery. Each unit also has a beloved employee who serves as a surrogate parent - for Hallie, it's an earthy housekeeper; for Annie, a playful British butler.

High-tech twins

Other than that, things follow the basic pattern, with high-tech assists from computer-connected, motion-control cameras that allow Lindsay Lohan, the young actress who plays Annie and Hallie, to interact with herself in ways Hayley Mills never could.

Of course, that also made filming much more complicated and work-intensive than the original, which employed relatively simple split-screen technology and a locked-down camera. With more than 100 digital shots that required meticulous staging and restaging, Meyers had a lot to handle in her directing debut (Shyer helmed the couple's previous features: ``Irreconcilable Differences,'' ``Baby Boom'' and the ``Father of the Bride'' remakes).

She didn't really have time to worry about whether ``Trap'' fans would approve of her interpretation. Then again, she didn't feel a need to worry, either.

``I am one of those people,'' she says. `` `Father of the Bride' wasn't anything I was personally attached to, but `Parent Trap' is a different story. I absolutely adore the film, so I wasn't nervous about that. I thought I knew the picture well enough to know what not to change and what I could modernize to make it work for kids today. People who love `The Parent Trap' should be real happy with this movie. I did not betray them.''

What about ``The Parent Trap'' strikes such unlikely, deep chords in people?

``It's basically the fantasy of every divorce child, of putting your parents back together again,'' says Dennis Quaid, who plays Nick Parker, the father role originated in the first film by Brian Keith. ``I think all of us who come from divorced families have that; I still have it, even though my dad's not even around anymore.

``And it's a lot of women's favorite movie, too,'' adds Quaid, who confirms one of those fans is his wife, actress Meg Ryan. ``I think that's because it was their introduction to romance as children.''

An empowering film

Meyers debates the perception that the story skews female.

``I don't think it just empowers girls; it empowers kids,'' she says. ``My experience is that it isn't just moms who like this film. I can't tell you the amount of guys on this set - these guys with big belts full of tools - who said `I love ``The Parent Trap.'' ' I think the element of discovering you have a twin, that there's another you and you're not alone in the world, is also a big part of it.''

To get to that one, though, audiences have to accept a view of divorced families that was questionable in 1961 and seems unconscionable 37 years later, after the emotional practicalities of raising children in broken families have become much better researched and widely experienced.

Basically, what kind of parent just gives up one of their children for good with, apparently, no second thoughts? And why on Earth would the abandoned, deceived child want to meet the absent parent ... or still trust the one who's been hiding this from them her whole life?

``She's a monster!'' Natasha Richardson says of her ``Trap'' character, the female parental unit Elizabeth James. ``We decided it was a can of worms you can't open, but I was bothered by it. The truth is, I cannot justify any mother giving one up,'' adds the actress, herself the mother of two and the child of an amicable, custody-sharing divorce between actress Vanessa Redgrave and the late director Tony Richardson.

``Obviously, the most difficult question in the movie is why they did it - how could they?'' Meyers acknowledges. ``But if you're going to make this movie, you've got to buy into that. You can't change that and make `The Parent Trap,' right?

``There were a few weeks, before I fully committed, when I tossed and turned about it, being a mother,'' adds Meyers, who has two daughters with Shyer. ``It's not a decision I could make. But then again, I wrote `Private Benjamin' and I never would've joined the Army. There are premises in films that are outrageous. I mean, when was the last time an asteroid hit the planet? It's a fantasy that turns positive in the film.''

Setting the scene

Though they never address why Nick and Elizabeth broke up, Shyer and Meyers did try to give it some basis with an opening credits sequence in which the couple meets and impulsively weds on an ocean liner. They also separated the two halves farther apart physically - on the other side of the world rather than just across the continent - so they'd be less inclined to initiate contact.

Still, it all boils down to a movie concept you either buy or you don't.

``Hopefully, you don't ask those questions while you're watching the movie,'' Quaid says. ``But you know, the story is told from the twins' point of view. You never really find out an adult reason why we split up, and that's the point of view of a child as well. Anyway, it's intended to be light and airy entertainment.''

Light entertainment that some love as passionately as others react to ``Saving Private Ryan.''

``Look, I wouldn't want to remake `The Apartment,' '' says Shyer, referring to Billy Wilder's sophisticated, Oscar-winning romantic comedy. ``I'm not stupid; that's great filmmaking. But I didn't consider it a sacrilege to remake this movie because it wasn't, like, the greatest film of my life.

``It is a beloved movie, though, so you have to aim high. I'm real proud of this movie, though; the production values are first rate, the acting is great. You'd better not be inferior to the original, or you're in a lot of trouble.''

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2 Photos

Photo: (1--2) Above, technology enables the ``Parent Trap'' twins, both played by Lindsay Lohan, to get closer than ever. Below, Natasha Richardson and Dennis Quaid are the parents who the twins conspire to reunite.