Jamie Lee Curtis reveals her six favourite movies
The daughter of actors Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis, Jamie Lee Curtis was raised in the shadow of Hollywood and regards herself as one of the “original nepo babies”.
Of course, she’s gone on to make a name for herself that might even overshadow her parents. From her first appearance on the silver screen in John Carpenter’s Halloween, she made it clear she was a star.
Initially pigeon-holed as a ‘scream queen’, she’s long since established herself as a dynamic actor with a list of credits that runs the gamut of virtually every genre you can imagine. From Trading Places and A Fish Called Wanda to Freaky Friday and Knives Out, Curtis continued to garner praise throughout her career. More recently, she’s continued to captivate us as the glass canon matriarch of the Berzatto family in The Bear and the brassy but loveable bestie of Pamela Anderson’s Shelly in The Last Showgirl.
It’s safe to say Curtis knows a thing or two about the industry. Dishing out her four favourite films to Letterboxd—yet again—she proves her knowledge. “I know all about this,” she tells the interviewer in her typical self-assured fashion, while her younger Freakier Friday co-stars seem a tad taken aback. Usually, stars of Curtis’ calibre are completely in the dark about these popular formats or have completely forgotten their previous go-round due to the sheer amount of interviews they tend to be subjected to.
Not Curtis. “[The] Godfather I, [The] Godfather [Part] II, Terms of Endearment, Newsies,” she rattles off, counting on her fingers, followed by a cocky, “Bitch!” She came prepared, which wasn’t necessarily difficult, seeing her previous turn back in 2023. Her first two picks remain the same, and the seminal first two chapters in Francis Ford Coppola’s trilogy need little introduction, but it does expand her list of all-time favourites to six.
But she changes things up for the latter half. First, Chloe Zhao’s The Rider gives way to the classic 1980s tear-jerker Terms of Endearment. Starring Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger and Jack Nicholson, it follows the rocky but heartwarming relationship between a mother and daughter. It’s a touching exploration of mother-daughter relationships and the ways we can learn from each other, even if it is difficult.
Second, Maggie Gyllenhaal‘s The Lost Daughter is replaced by a much less serious, much more left-field choice in Newsies. Starring an incredibly young Christian Bale, the historical musical film loosely tells the story of the New York City newsboys’ strike of 1899. Following a week in their life, they sing, dance and strike against their publisher, Joseph Pulitzer, as he attempts to extract even more profit from them. It was a box office bomb that Bale apparently didn’t even know was a musical when signing on, but, nevertheless, spawned a Tony Award-winning stage production and has since amassed a cult following, including, apparently, Curtis.
Overall, it’s a slightly more playful list than last time, but this might have something to do with the films she was promoting at the time of each interview. Undoubtedly, this list matches the themes of Freakier Friday better than her previous favourites and demonstrates her loyalty to The Godfather films. It’ll be interesting to see how her top picks might evolve further over the years.
Jamie Lee Curtis names her six favourite movies
- The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)
- The Godfather Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)
- The Rider (Chloé Zhao, 2017)
- The Lost Daughter (Maggie Gyllenhaal, 2021)
- Terms of Endearment (James L Brooks, 1983)
- Newsies (Kenny Ortega, 1992)
