Jamie Lee Curtis is an aristocracy of Hollywood and, at the same time, the least prone star to stretch the little finger that can be imagined. Winner of her first Oscar only two years ago despite her long career (by All at once everywhere), He does not hesitate to launch with a comedy to break the box office recovering a role with which the new generations in 2003 was made intelligently in 2003. Two decades later, Dr. Tess Coleman is again Put in my place (Freaky Fridayalso known as A Crazy Friday), Anna’s mother (Lindsay Lohan) and now, in addition, Harper’s grandmother (Julia Butters) in Put on my place againwhich will be released in cinemas on August 8. Friendly and educated, stretch the answers, give a little more of the agreed time and hugs at the end of the talk.
With her yellow suit, Curtis, 66, looks happy. Recognizes being, half jokingly, for not having to face a talk again with a influencer: “Because you are a journalist and you will not ask me to change my place, or you will ask what clothes I wear, or what it means I do not know what and I will have to tell you things that mean nothing … so very happy.” The sincerity of Curtis is legendary, for something he has been treading since he was a baby, being the daughter of two legends like Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, and with almost a hundred titles to his credit for half a century of career. From terror to action, through comedy, everything is doing well, including the famous role that now takes up: a mother who exchanges her body and life with her teenage daughter.
And he has done it by his own decision. She is the one who decided that Put in my place I would have second part and, in addition, produce it. Who lifted the phone and took Lindsay Lohan out of his retirement – had a close friendship in these two decades – and put the Disney executives on a tray. A diametrically contrary position to that of the first film: then he learned that he was going to participate in it just a week before starting to roll.
This time, Curtis has taken the reins. “It all started when I was promoting with Halloween, The last of the trilogy (Halloween: El finalin 2022) “, he explains sitting at a luxurious hotel in Los Angeles, early, one Sunday.” Put in my place, It was clear that everyone worshiped her. My answer was: ‘But Lindsay has to be greater enough to be a mother of a teenager.’ And someone said: ‘It is’. He said he was 35 years old, and it was like: ‘Wait, 35 years? Then I could have had a baby with 20! What a fun, come on! ‘ There I called Disney and told them: ‘It’s the moment. “So, all this fuss, this immense campaign of marketing World Cup, this recovery of adolescent nostalgia, this new film, is yours? “A little. A little. I assume all the responsibility,” he laughs, then refine. “I would like to assume all responsibility, but there is a talented group of producers, our director, Nisha (Ganatra), the scriptwriters and Disney itself. It is a family.”
But was it necessary? There were requests from followers who, like Lohan, are already closer to the forties than the institute, but is that enough? Why resume it? “Because it brings happiness. It makes people happy,” he says, very expressive. “The films can challenge us with great dramas that tell us incredible aspects of history, of human behavior, that throw light, bright dramas. But comedies bring us joy. The world is a bit unstable right now. It gives the feeling that we are facing a certain political, social, social, spiritual, social agitation. And what unites people? Nostalgia, security, “he says. For her, the film can become a safe space; Curtis says that the spectators tell her that after seeing her call her mothers, her daughters. “You can be sure that it will connect to your family.”
Feminism, present in a way not so clear in the 2000s, is more obvious in this second part. If it was already in the first film, with its two protagonists, it is now reinforced with four women. The film presents Lohan as a single mother by choice, and Curtis as the grandmother who, by choice too, supports her. “Many women make that decision and do not have the support of their families. Others do not take it because they do not have that support and cannot maintain a family. So, without a doubt, that means a feminist statement,” argues Curtis. “And it is produced by women, written by women, directed by a woman and starring mainly by women. Do not tell Mark Harmon,” he jokes, referring to the actor, who participates in the film and for the first time in more than 14 years he gets into a role beyond that of the series NCIS.
The actress is satisfied with the high participation of women in the film. “It transmits the feeling that you can make a film centered on women in the middle of an industry that remains clearly dominated by men,” he says. Although he acknowledges that there have been advances since she started in business, half a century ago. So, directly, there were no women. ” If perhaps, makeup artists, “maybe, some, in costumes, but normally not in design”: “few in the technical world, few producers, there were basically not directors. And that is changing. Slowly, gradually, not as fast as I would like, but changing.”
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Curtis suffered with the serious fires last January, which almost take their home ahead. This film is a love letter to Los Angeles, its hometown and headquarters of the film industry, very harmed after the pandemic: the cuts, the natural catastrophes and the great rise in the costs have made many productions move to other cities or countries. The actress recognizes that being a producer has given him an advantage in that. “In one of the first conversations I had with Disney, I told them: ‘I’m not going to make this movie in Atlanta, or in Vancouver. If you want to do it, it has to be in California, the original was in California and this will be in California.’
It was also key to her to return to the same house where the first was recorded. “It was the house where we shot 22 years ago, in Pacific Palisades. We rolled in a lot of the same locations. As you say, it is a love letter to Los Angeles: we are on the beach, in Hollywood, everywhere. But sadly, with the fires, that house of Pacific Palisades burned on January 7,” he laments sadly. “Today does not exist, the house, the street, is wasteland,” he says. A tennis track that appears in the film also burned. “There were many losses, for the city and for many people, catastrophic, not for me. But the movie will always live. Within 25 years those streets may seem like a bit … it is bittersweet, but I am very happy that, being head, insisted on shooting there.”
Curtis is a powerful lawyer of its causes, speaking high and clear in a often Pacata industry, scared that a word higher than the other penalize to its stars. She is not so. Therefore, he has not hesitated to raise his voice against Donald Trump from the same day he won. Then he said: “Raise and fight.” That was months ago, does that maxim continue to maintain? “Yes, but we had to have gotten up and fought a long time,” he reflects. “The United States was born getting up and fighting.”
So, are you fighting enough in your country, given the circumstances? A second is taken, he reflects and affirms: “No … probably not, no.” And his reflection lengthens: “But you can’t fight every day. You can disagree every day, but there is a time for the struggle, and we live in a country where you can fight politically. Democracy can be practiced, simply voting, supporting the candidates, challenging authoritarian regimes.”
“But yes, we will have to go out more and more, as time goes by, as is done worldwide, do the same thing we did with civil rights,” he continues. “In the US we had to fight for civil rights, for women’s rights. We continue to fight for women’s rights. We will have to fight for the rights of trans people, to fight for the rights of homosexuals, for homosexual marriage. We will have to fight for all that again. They will try to take it out. We will have to fight against it,” says the actress, who has a trans daughter, suffers constant threats. “Roe against Wade,” he quotes, about the controversial repeal of the right to abortion in 2022, “we will have to fight again. It is in the nature of the people.” “I will fight. In the best way I have to do it, and you are going to fight yours. Do we do it together?”, Ask, with very open eyes. And gets up to end a hug: “And everything will go well.”