First Look at Jamie Lee Curtis as Madame Leota in Disney's HAUNTED MANSION and New Insight

Disney has shared a new photo from director Justin Simien’s Haunted Mansion movie, and it offers our first look at Jamie Lee Curtis in the role of the fan-favorite medium character Madame Leota.

The character appears during the ride's iconic séance scene. During an interview with EW, Simien talked about the character in the movie, saying: "She starts off as one of the relics, one of the items, one of the aspects of the house that has to be discovered, but becomes a functional character and a useful ally in the film."

Madame Leota then assists a single mother (Rosario Dawson) and her young son in ridding their New Orleans home of infesting spirits. The character is described as "a little subversive and a little funny in its translation from park to screen. Though, it also packs the gravitas you'd expect from the legendary conduit between the realm of the living and the spirit world beyond.”

Haunted Mansion is about a mother and her son “who enlist a motley crew of so-called spiritual experts to help rid their home of supernatural squatters.” It has a great cast that also includes LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Rosario Dawson, and Danny DeVito star, with Jared Leto as the Hatbox Ghost. Winona Ryder, Dan Levy, and Hasan Minhaj will also appear in the new movie.

The filmmaker went on to talk about the movie, saying: "You really do meet the mansion the way you would as a guest at the park: through the eyes of a new cast exploring the lore along with you. The script firmly plants it in the New Orleans mansion. That's not to say there are not other mansions in the movie.”

He added: "We got down to the point where we were obsessing over the angle you first see the mansion when you walk onto the ride in Disneyland, when we see it through the gates and we see the pillars. That angle has to hit. That's how specific we were. When you first glide through the dining hall and you see the waltzing dancers, that angle had to be right, because that's the one where you gasp on the ride."

When talking about the feeling that he hopes the movie captures, he said: "You know there's a trick being played on you, but you're not sure how they did it. The Pepper's Ghost effect [during the ride's finale], it's so old school, you know it's not a screen, but it's because it's so old school that it feels like it's really there. There's a practicality to the tricks on the ride that I felt was important. When I took the job I said, 'I don't want to make CGI soup. We have to build the house.' Even if we're not doing an effect practically, we have to make it look like we did, because there's something about the grounded-ness of the ride that makes it what it is. It makes it charming."

In this horror adventure, “a doctor and her 9-year-old son (Chase Dillon), looking to start a new life, move into a strangely affordable mansion in New Orleans, only to discover that the place is much more than they bargained for. Desperate for help, they contact a priest, who, in turn, enlists the aid of a widowed scientist-turned failed-paranormal expert, a French Quarter psychic, and a crotchety historian.”

I’ve liked what I’ve seen from the movie so far. It looks like it’s going to be a fun family horror film that captures the spirit of the Disneyland attraction that it’s based on. This must’ve been such a cool experience for Simein, because to help make the movie, Disney offered him access to stuff that most of us will never see or experience.

The movie is set to be released on August 11th, 2023.