Lohan Tackles Another Classic

(CBS)  When it comes to rising stars in Hollywood, few are brighter than Lindsay Lohan. She's back in theaters with her latest family film, an update of the Disney love bug classic called "Herbie: Fully Loaded."

"I needed Herbie," Lohan tells The Early Show co-anchor Hannah Storm, recalling her car accident as she was chased by paparazzi.

"I don't think I really realized what was going on," she explains. "I pulled a U-turn to get a police officer's attention. And they can't really do anything because it's legal. I'm sure that's harassment at that point. And they all turned around.

"It actually looked really cool. I saw it in my rearview mirror, like a movie, ten cars making a U-turn. I literally turned and the guy tried to block me. 'What are you doing? You already got my picture. Leave me alone.' He smirked at me. I turned to my friend: 'I can't believe --' and boom! He smacked into my car. I saw my friend fly."

Glad that no one was injured, Lohan notes now that the event got media attention, she feels that she's in a position to take a stand.

For the film, Lohan took driving lessons at the Richard Petty School of Driving. The movie. she says, is about girl power.

"It is very empowering for women," Lohan notes. "A male-dominated sport, NASCAR, so I think it is nice."

In 1969, the Walt Disney classic "Herbie The Love Bug" first introduced the world to the whimsical wonders of #53, the little white VW Bug with a mind and feelings all his own. This time, Herbie is heading from the scrap heap to the hairpin curves of NASCAR as he helps Lohan's character, Maggie Peyton, discover her destiny.

Peyton had a childhood talent for NASCAR driving, but she's headed to New York to do something completely different. And for a graduation present, her dad takes her to a junkyard, to get a car.

Lohan explains, "I think he's just doing everything he can for her not to leave. If he did get her a car that was along the lines of racing; he doesn't really support her racing, because she used to do street racing and had a few accidents. And she lost her mother. So that's a sore spot. He's very protective of her."

As for her new look as a blonde, Lohan says, "It is for a Robert Altman film, 'A Prairie Home Companion.' I play Meryl Streep's daughter. I haven't seen her recently. But I wanted to go lighter."

Lohan, who will turn 19 on July 2, is listed at No. 52 on this year's Forbes Celebrity 100 list of famous people who make the most money and attract the most attention. The magazine bases the ranking on estimated earnings as well as counts of magazine covers and mentions in the news media.

Lohan's first starring role was in yet another Disney classic: that of the twins in the 1998 remake of "The Parent Trap." She was only 11, but she had already started her career as a model at the age of 3 and went on to work in TV commercials, including one for Jell-O with its famous spokesman, Bill Cosby.

The young actress also had recurring roles on two daytime dramas ("Guiding Light" and "Another World").

With her mother, Dina Lohan, she appeared in the Family Channel series "Healthy Kids." (Dina Lohan, who manages her daughter's career, is a former Radio City Music Hall Rockette.) In 2000, Lohan starred in the Disney TV movie "Life-Size" and played Bette Midler's daughter in the pilot of her TV series. (She left the show when production shifted from New York to L.A.)

In 2003, she made a splash as Jamie Lee Curtis' daughter in the remake of "Freaky Friday" and, the year after that, she starred in "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen" and "Mean Girls." For her work in "Mean Girls," she won the award for best female performance at the 2005 MTV Movie Awards.