I Know Who Killed Me

Let’s clear one thing up first: It was Lindsay Lohan’s appendicitis and subsequent infection — and not her muchpublicized rehab stint at Los Angeles’ Wonderland Center in January — that delayed production on this psychological thriller about a young woman (Lohan) who claims to be someone else after escaping from a serial killer. ”We never lost any shooting days because of rehab,” says director Chris Sivertson (The Lost). Instead, the actress balanced her treatment schedule with 13-hour shooting days and drew from the experience to tackle some of the movie’s darker themes. ”Everything that I go through, I use when I’m working,” she says. ”It just kind of happens.”

Despite Lohan’s very public hard-partying ways and constant press scrutiny, producer Frank Mancuso Jr.’s only concern in casting her was whether the actress, best known for her roles in family comedies and teen flicks, could continue to make the tricky transition to more adult-oriented fare that she started with last year’s A Prairie Home Companion. ”It was a risk,” he admits, ”but it didn’t scare me because I felt like she wouldn’t do this unless she was willing to go for it.” Even so, Lohan had some serious initial reservations about the gruesome injuries her character endures. ”I read that a limb was getting cut off, and I was like, Can’t they rewrite that?” she recalls. ”But I did it, and now I’m so glad that I went there.”

Amputation might be a new addition to the 20-year-old’s onscreen oeuvre, but dual roles certainly aren’t; Lohan made her screen debut as identical twins in 1998’s The Parent Trap, and she played both mother and daughter in 2003’s Freaky Friday. ”We needed someone who could play complete opposites…but not in a clichéd way,” says Sivertson. ”The movie really rests on Lindsay’s shoulders.” For Lohan, balancing two characters in a single performance was nothing compared with the movie’s physical demands. ”This is probably the most grueling role I’ll ever do,” she says of the part, which called for her to be buried alive in a coffin at one point. ”It’s totally Fear Factor,” she says. ”Oh, my God, I would have won!” (July 27)