Jamie Lee Curtis Says She Might Have Passed on the HALLOWEEN Trilogy if She Knew the Plan, But Turned It Into a Development Deal

When Jamie Lee Curtis returned to the Halloween franchise in 2018, she thought she was signing on for a single reunion with Laurie Strode.

What she didn’t know at the time was that the film would eventually become the start of a trilogy that would stretch across three movies and years of production.

So when Curtis eventually discovered the bigger plan, she made sure to turn the situation into an opportunity.

During a SXSW panel titled “If Not Now, When, if Not Me, Who? Pivoting and Manifesting,” Curtis reflected on her career as both an actor and producer and talked about how her return to the iconic horror franchise came together.

She first credited Jason Blum, the founder of Blumhouse Productions, for bringing the series back to life.

“The only reason I am sitting in this chair today is because of Jason. Jason Blum, who runs Blumhouse, is the one who brought back the ‘Halloween’ movies.”

When the project was first pitched, Curtis believed it would simply be a single sequel to the original 1978 classic. It wasn’t until later in the process that she discovered there were larger plans in motion.

“If they had come to me and said it’s going to be a trilogy, I don’t think I would have said yes,” she said. “Jason Blum is notoriously cheap. How do you make low-budget movies? You don’t pay people. That’s the model.”

By the time she realized what was happening, production was already underway and the movie was deep in post-production. Director David Gordon Green casually revealed the trilogy plan while they were working on the film.

Curtis decided it was the perfect moment to negotiate something that would benefit her beyond just appearing on screen.

“While we were editing and doing the mix, David said, ‘You know it’s a trilogy.’ I was like, ‘Uh, no.’ I went to Jason Blum and said, ‘I have some ideas, maybe you could give me a first look deal, just pay me a little money,’” she recalls.

“I said to Jason, ‘How about a little development deal?’ And I owed him two ‘Halloween’ movies, so what was he gonna say?”

That move helped Curtis support filmmaker Russell Goldman, who had been collaborating with her to develop a project titled Mother Nature. Goldman now works in development at Curtis’s Comet Pictures and recently premiered his feature directorial debut, Sender, at SXSW.

Curtis joked about the arrangement she secured with Blumhouse.

“Jason Blum gave me a vanity deal,” she says, referencing an earlier moment of the conversation where they discussed how every actor takes the producer credit differently.

That deal has already led to additional projects. Curtis later heard an NPR story about a school bus driver and teacher who rescued 22 children during a wildfire.

She immediately wanted to produce it, which eventually became the Apple TV+ film The Lost Bus. The film is currently nominated for an Oscar for Best Visual Effects.

The conversation also shifted toward the horror genre itself. Curtis may be widely known as a Scream Queen thanks to her role in Halloween, but she admitted she doesn’t necessarily consider herself a devoted horror fan.

“I’m in love with the independent filmmaking aspect of the genre,” she said, adding that she’s so thrilled to see how diverse it has become — showcasing different genders and sexuality, or, how she puts it, “the words that Donald Trump is trying to erase from our language.”

Curtis added: “So because of that, the genre aspect, I appreciate, and I owe my life to the genre, but I don’t have to pretend to you that I’m a genre girl, and that I love it.”

She also discussed another project she helped bring together, the upcoming series Scarpetta, based on the novels by Patricia Cornwell. Curtis originally pursued the project simply because she was surprised the books had never been adapted for the screen.

At first, she didn’t even plan to appear in it.

Years earlier, she had met Nicole Kidman at the Academy Awards and remembered a moment that stuck with her.

Kidman told her, “I see you. I see who you are. I see what you do. I see how you do it. And I really like it, and I want you to continue doing it.”

When the project came back around and Kidman asked if Curtis would appear in it, she found herself agreeing despite her initial hesitation.

“I really didn’t want to be in an hour TV show, because the hours are awful,” Curtis added. “My only desire is to be made a sitcom!”

Curtis’ return to Halloween ended up becoming much bigger than she expected. The trilogy went on to include Halloween (2018), Halloween Kills, and Halloween Ends, giving Laurie Strode one last major arc in the franchise she helped launch decades ago.

And along the way, Curtis managed to turn that surprise trilogy into something even more valuable, a chance to expand her producing career and help get more movies made telling stories she wants to tell.

Via: Variety