Jamie Lee Curtis Interview
Did you ever think you'd be back playing Laurie Strode one more time?
Not to use the Field of Dreams analogy as Field of
Screams, but I knew "If I built it, they would come." I knew if I correctly
tipped my hat to the horror-movie audience, they would show up in droves. So
this one's for you.
Already MGM has moved Disturbing Behavior
to get out of H20's way, and your other thriller, Virus, has been
pulled from the summer schedule as well. Seems like you're a hit before you
open.
I try not to predetermine what something's going to do. That's
not my game. Already it's a success to me. I've seen it with audiences, and they
love it.
Is it better for an actress to be haunted by a role like
your mother's Marion Crane in Psycho or to move on and then be able to go
back and reprise a character 20 years later like you're doing now?
It's better
to reprise it: There's still hope. With poor, sweet Marion, it's over. You're in
the trunk of a car in a mucky lake. I always would vote for hope. Even though
Laurie is emotionally quite a damaged, shattered human being [in H20].
What do you think about the remake of
Psycho, which will star Anne Heche in your mother's role and Vince Vaughn
as Norman Bates?
Go with God is what I say. It seems kind of an
insane idea, but they're all talented people, every single one of them involved
certainly has the chops to do almost anything. Who am I to say that they
shouldn't make it? Maybe a new audience will watch it and love it and then watch
the old one and love it even more. Who knows? I certainly wouldn't have
green-lit that—but then I'm not a studio executive.
I saw Anne
Heche at the MTV Movie Awards, and she was a little nervous, I think, to come up
and say hi. I looked at her and said, "Just do great work!" She's a wonderful
actress; she'll be great.
For a horror movie,
H20 is pretty strong in showing how horribly affected Laurie's life has
been by what happened. She drinks, does tons of prescription medication, and is
overly protective of her 17-year-old son. And she's plagued by nightmares. What
specifically did you want to do with Laurie Strode when you suggested a
20th-anniversary feature?
Post-traumatic stress syndrome played in
this from the beginning in making this movie. I wanted to be responsible and
tell the truth about what happens when someone has their innocence taken from
them by a madman. We had an opportunity to show a human being who tried to get
on with her life, got a degree, got married, had a child--the four milestones of
adult life that are supposed to give you great happiness and satisfaction. And
still she's left shattered and no one can make up for the horror this woman
lives with every day. That to me is an interesting dilemma.
Was this
film your idea from the get-go?
I actually went to Bob Weinstein [who heads Dimension Films, the genre
division of Miramax Pictures] with the idea. I'd had the idea when I realized it
was 20 years later. He said, "I have this movie Scream coming out which
is pretty special and that you're already in, and it's going to reinvigorate the
horror movie." I said, "Great."
When you were
the Scream Queen, did you ever worry your career would get stuck in that mold
permanently?
I was happy to have a ledge to stand on in show
business early on. Let's not forget, 1978 was the time Jane Fonda, Sally Field,
Meryl Streep were in their late 30s, and this was their time. The movie business
wasn't particularly friendly to 18-year-old girls. You couldn't get work unless
you were a nymphet. Halloween really gave me a platform in show business
that I never had, a launch. I only stopped [starring in horror movies] because
clearly there was a point it would become a detriment if they were the only
thing I did. Having completed Halloween 2—only out of gratitude to
the fans—I quit, not out of embarrassment, but in the hope that there might
be another type of work I might get to try. I recognized the potential it gave
me.
Was moving to more mainstream roles a tough transition?
It happened the next day. I got the TV movie about the murdered Playboy
playmate Dorothy Stratten, The Death of a Centerfold, the day after
Halloween 2 finished filming.
Halloween made you a
star. How do you feel, as a second-generation actor especially, about
stardom?
I do think on some level, it was destiny. I was an actor
all my life. As a little girl, I used to play secretary and pretend. Quite
frankly, that work I did in my play, in my imagination, is the same work I did
in this movie.
Do you ever look at your sister
Kelly [an actress who has appeared in the TV show The Sentinel] or your
husband, Christopher Guest, who are both talented performers but with nowhere
near your level of success, and feel guilty?
Sure, you feel guilty.
There are so many wonderful, talented people ... but you know what? I work
really hard. I'm good at it, all the sides of it. It's OK now. I'm really
content with the way I do my work.
What about your kids? Do you see
them going into the business?
I truly just want them to be
interesting human beings. It would be a joy to watch them have a passion for
something and be happy, whatever it is.