Jamie Lee Curtis shares film industry advice and gratitude for Michelle Yeoh
Film star Jamie Lee Curtis has shared her emotional reaction to her newfound title as an Oscar-nominated actor thanks to her role in the heavily praised film Everything Everywhere All At Once, citing her co-star Michelle Yeoh as the one responsible.
Curtis appears alongside acclaimed actor Yeoh in the Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert film and cited her as the reason for her new title. During a sit down with Variety’s Awards Circuit Podcast, Curtis shared: “Michelle Yeoh is the reason that for the rest of my life, you will say, ‘Oscar-nominated actress Jamie Lee Curtis.'”
The 64-year-old star first found success in John Carpenter’s 1978 slasher Halloween and is now receiving global acclaim for her appearance in Everything Everywhere All At Once. The sci-fi comedy-drama showcases a Chinese immigrant living in America, played by Yeoh, who discovers that she must jump between alternate realities and versions of herself to fight an evil threat, including Curtis’s role. It also stars Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu, Jenny Slate, Harry Shum Jr., and James Hong.
The film has garnered 11 Oscars nominations, including ‘Best Picture’, ‘Best Actress’ (Yeoh), which is a historical nomination as Yeoh is now the first Asian woman to be nominated, ‘Best Supporting Actor’ (Quan), and two for supporting actress (Curtis and Hsu).
The actor also shared her love for the movie industry, which is also a family business, as her mother was the brilliant Vivien Leigh, whose appearance in the opening scene of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho is one of horror’s most timeless images. When asked about actors or directors avoiding the press, Curtis states: “They do when the project that they really want to get out to the world requires them doing the New York Times, or whatever it is.”
“It’s the posturing of some separation of church and state — that one is art, and one is commerce and advertising. And the bullshit is that we’re all in this together,” she continues. “We cannot exist without you, you cannot exist without us. That makes us partners.”
Curtis also offers some advice for aspiring figures in various areas of filmmaking and exposition. “There is no prerequisite to be in this business,” she says.
The star adds: “Hustle, talent, timing, hard work…boom! And if you have the acumen of a film degree, does that help you? Of course, but it’s not a requirement. It’s about something coming alive on the screen, and I don’t think you can teach that.”
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