The Parent Trap is a 1998 American romantic comedy film directed by Nancy Meyers, in her feature directorial debut, and produced by Meyers' then-husband Charles Shyer. The film stars Dennis Quaid, Natasha Richardson and Lindsay Lohan, in her film debut. The plot centers on a pair of identical twins who have been separated at birth and, upon meeting by chance at summer camp, decide to work together to reunite their divorced parents. The Parent Trap is a remake and a legacy sequel of the 1961 film of the same name and an adaptation of Erich Kästner's 1949 German children's novel Lisa and Lottie. David Swift, who wrote the screenplay for the original 1961 film, is credited along with Meyers and Shyer as co-writers of the 1998 film.