Jamie Lee Curtis is a national treasure, isn’t she? From being a legendary scream queen in the Halloween movies, to starring in beloved films from True Lies to Freaky Friday, she’s done quite a bit in her time. Of course, one of her more recent hits was Rian Johnson’s Knives Out, which will soon have its sequel in the upcoming movie, Glass Onion. The OG flick is a fun watch but, while recently reflecting on making the 2019 whodunnit, Curtis admitted the filming process was not ideal for her.
Knives Out had a massive ensemble cast that included Chris Evans, Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas, Michael Shannon and so forth. When sharing her experience on the mystery comedy, Jamie Lee Curtis (who played Linda Drysdale-Thrombey) admitted that she wasn’t able to enjoy the shoot partially due to her living situation at the time. In her words:
I was actually quite isolated. I was living in this weird hotel by myself, and a lot of the movie, I’m not in. I was alone for a lot, and it was a very tough time. It turned out to be this fantastic movie. I would never have known that the movie we were making was the movie that we made. It wasn’t evident to me, because Rian was so specific in his methodology, and it’s not like we’re all watching monitors and seeing all the work. We had no idea. We’d just do our little thing and then go home. It was just such a delightful surprise.
While speaking to Entertainment Weekly about Knives Out, Jamie Lee Curtis shared that she felt rather lonely while making the movie due to the specific circumstances shooting in Massachusetts. Apparently, Curtis also didn’t necessarily expect the exciting success Rian Johnson’s mystery movie received. She also didn’t count on how much praise she’d get, due to her limited presence in the production.
During the same interview, the actress also said she was surprised when she was asked to go to CinemaCon to promote the movie because she felt like a “delicious, but tiny little part of the puzzle.” Looking back, the actress is honored to have been the “head cheerleader” for the movie, which made an impressive $311 million worldwide and was nominated for Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars.
The Golden Globe winner is definitely still a major catch in the Hollywood space. To that point, this year, she stumbled upon another original gem of a movie as of late with Everything, Everywhere All At Once. In the A24 movie, she played a small, but important, role as a tax official auditing Michelle Yeoh’s character and her family. Ultimately it was one of the most highly-praised movies of this year, earning a five-star review on CinemaBlend.
But shifting back to the Knives Out franchise, Glass Onion has a stacked cast filled with new stars — aside from Daniel Craig, who returns as Detective Benoit Blanc. Rather than focusing on an elite family in Massachusetts, the sequel revolves around friends going on a getaway in a private Greek island. Now, I’d imagine Jamie Lee Curtis is a bit jealous that she wasn’t able to take in that sunny setting.
It’s unfortunate to hear that the veteran star didn’t have the best time working on the acclaimed detective movie. But I think I speak for everyone when I say I’m glad she stuck it out and gave that pitch-perfect performance.
Rian Johnson’s upcoming sequel is set to have a one-week theatrical release before heading to Netflix this December 23. Glass Onion premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival to glowing reviews, with CinemaBlend’s own attendees touting it as better than Knives Out in our video review. While you wait for that movie, you can see Jamie Lee Curtis face off against Michael Myers in Halloween Ends, which hits theaters and Peacock on Friday, October 14.