“Jamie Lee Curtis returns to her iconic role as Laurie Strode, who comes to her final confrontation with Michael Myers, the masked figure who has haunted her since she narrowly escaped his killing spree on Halloween night four decades ago.”
Today, Accessreel had the opportunity to interview Hollywood royalty, Jamie Lee Curtis. The daughter of Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, she has spent her entire adult life in the public eye. As an actor, she has won numerous awards and starred in a multitude of diverse roles such as Trading Places (1983), A Fish Called Wanda (1988), True Lies (1994) and Freaky Friday (2003). She is also a children’s author and a political activist.
Her film debut was in the original Halloween movie in 1978. This and roles in movies like Prom Night (1980) and The Fog (1980), earnt her the title of “Scream Queen”. She subsequently appeared in four Halloween sequels and now, forty-years from the where it all started, Jamie reprises the role of Laurie Strode yet again.Darran Price from Accessreel spoke with Jamie Lee at the end of her massive publicity tour. As he says, “The interview may be short, but I found it one of the top ten chats I have had in the near 10 years Accessreel.com has been around.”
Halloween is in cinemas from tomorrow, Thursday, October 25.
You can listen to the full interview or read the transcription below.
Accessreel: Now obviously you’ve come back to this role, it’s forty years since the original. What is it that brought you back this time around?
JLC: Well David Gordon Green really, my phone rang and basically Jake Gyllenhaal was on the other end of the phone saying that he had just worked with David on a movie called Stronger and that he had a very, you know, very creative wonderful experience working with David and he wanted to talk to me about a movie. And that’s how I’m sitting here talking to you today.
Accessreel: Laurie Strode is an incredible character, well-loved by anyone who enjoys the horror franchise. When you were going back into play this role again did you give David Gordon Green any notes of what you wanted in this film?
JLC: Well you know the film is a collaborative medium. It is 120, sometimes more, human beings coming together to create something and David is a very collaborative and creative man and I am Laurie Strode and it is my job to work and make sure that the integrity of Laurie’s journey be preserved.
Accessreel: What was your experience like on set on your first day and on your last day?
JLC: Well there was a lot of emotion. The first day, because the first person who I saw when I walked on the set, and you know the crew was giving me a lovely welcome applause and I looked up and the son of Moustapha Akkad, the man who was the original financier of the first movie, was standing there. Moustapha was killed in a suicide bombing at a wedding years ago and just seeing his son Malek standing there, brought me to tears because it had been a long time and there was his son carrying on his father’s tradition. That was very moving for me.
The last day involved a scene where Laurie is alone in her truck that is in the movie, a very brief moment, but was actually shot for about an hour and it was really Laurie revisiting the entire trauma of her earlier life-book, kind of by herself. It was going to be an emotional night and my entire crew all wore name tags that said “We are Laurie Strode” in sort of silent solidarity to me to let me know that I wasn’t alone and that they were with me. That they were with Laurie Strode and that they were with every victim of violence who survived and those who don’t and it was just a beautiful moment of solidarity with my crew.
Accessreel: I love the film and I love the generational aspect of it,seeing these three strong women basically come together in a time of crisis and work together what was it like working alongside Judy and Andi this film?
JLC: Well it is a movie about generational trauma and that in itself involves different reactions to the same action. I thought that both Judy and Andy brought really interesting perspectives to it and it’ll be really you know should we ever get to make another movie, it’ll be really interesting to see where their stories lead us.
Accessreel: Working on a film like this, it’s high-octane, screaming, yelling, running, punching everything. What do you do to unwind after the director yells cut?
JLC: Well, you know I live a kind of good private life. I have a beautiful life and I read, I have good friends, I’m sober, I have a gorgeous life.
Accessreel: How much do you think fan culture has contributed to keeping this franchise alive?
JLC: Well, there is no more devoted loving fan than the fan of a horror movie and I’m grateful to all of their support all over a long long time because without them I don’t think I would have a career.
Accessreel: One thing I love about you, because obviously I’ve watched a lot of interviews to prepare for this is your honesty and your integrity. Watching what you said to Jimmy Kimmel on Kimmel and then on The View. You seem like one of those actors who hasn’t been jaded by the industry or is fake… well, you know what I mean… you’re selling a film and you seem really open and honest about these things… is that the sort of person that you..
JLC: You know what you’ve just said is the greatest compliment I could ever get. And to be honest, you’re going to now be gob-smacked, right now, is the last interview I’m doing for the movie Halloween, probably forever, because I have been, as you said, on the hustle for a couple months now. This interview with you right now is the last one I am doing and then I have a premiere tonight which really isn’t an interview and then I’m going to go home and resume my life.
For you to end your interview, saying that that’s what you have taken from the work I have been putting out there, means that the very nature of what I’m trying to do which is linked to us all somehow, because if we are all linked, then we’re not alone and if we’re not alone then we have a chance. And so that you would grace me with that as your farewell address to me, let’s me know when I hang up this phone that my aim was true and that I can now move into the next creative experience with a big sigh of relief and a sense of accomplishment and so I’m grateful for that. Thank you so much for this call.