On Saturday night, Jamie Lee Curtis went to New York Comic Con like a silver-haired, foul-mouthed – and sometimes emotional – tornado.
At the event, Curtis talked to talk show host and Scream star Drew Barrymore and mainly discussed her involvement with the Halloween franchise, from the original film by John Carpenter in 1978 to the forthcoming Halloween Ends (drops October 14).
With David Gordon Green serving as director, Halloween Ends will reportedly see Curtis portraying the character of Laurie Strode for the final moment.
“You know endings are a b**ch,” Curtis stated at the beginning of the panel,” but so is Laurie Strode.”
When asked by Barrymore about originating her legendary last girl role in Carpenter’s 1978 movie, Curtis said when she was younger, she was not Laurie, so it became an opportunity for her to be an actor.
“So, when I was 19, I was not like Laurie Strode. Laurie Strode was an acting part. You know, you would have hired me to play Linda (the character played by P.J. Soles in the movie). I [was] just a little snarky, and I was a little promiscuous, but I was not Laurie Strode,” she said.
“What was amazing to me was [it was] an acting part. She didn’t look like me, she didn’t dress like me, she didn’t think like me. I barely got out of high school. She was like the valedictorian of her class. There was a real opportunity for me to be an actor. I hadn’t had that opportunity before. For me, that was incredible.”
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Halloween Ends: A Permanent Ink in Curtis’ Life
Furthermore, Curtis shared with Barrymore and the crowd that the actress had morphed into her signature character through time.
“At this point, Jamie and Laurie have become woven together. There is no separation,” she said with voice cracking. “I wouldn’t have anything in my life without Laurie Strode. Nothing. I wouldn’t have a career. I would not have a family…
“Everything good in my life from that s—ty little office on Cahuenga Boulevard in Hollywood, that was about the size of where these two chairs are, when John Carpenter and Debra Hill [producer and co-writer of the first film] cast me in the part of Laurie Strode.”
She added that the character is a permanent mark in her life.
“I didn’t know it then, I know it now,” she said. “You know, one of these days, hopefully not tomorrow, but, you know, I’m 64, do the math, it’s not in my favor. Sooner or later, it’s going to say three words: ‘Halloween actress dies.’ My point is, it is the permanent ink of my life.”
And regarding Halloween Ends, Curtis referred to the movie as concerning “how we treat each other. And it’s a movie about how the entire town of Haddonfield has turned against Laurie Strode, the innocent victim whose life was brutalized by Michael Myers, and it just shows… what violence does to people… These movies are about way more than just Michael Myers and Laurie Strode, they’re about who we are.”
Halloween Ends drops in theaters and on Peacock on October 14.
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Photo: Inew News
