Actress Jamie Lee Curtis is primarily known for her roles in horror and slasher films, making her one of the iconic scream queens in Hollywood. She rose to fame with her debut film Halloween (1978) and her character of Laurie Strode would become her most celebrated role in her career. The film spawned six sequels where she reprised the particular role. She continued with her horror roots with films such as The Fog (1980), and Roadgames (1981) while also dabbling in comedies such as Trading Places (1983), True Lies (1994), and Freaky Friday (2003).
She recently won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022). With such an illustrious career, one would think Curtis would not have a single regret with her film choices. Surprisingly, she singled out one film out of her filmography that was a bad experience and left her thinking about why she did the film after all.
Jamie Lee Curtis Hated Her Film Virus and Regrets Doing It
In an old retrospective interview with IGN, Jamie Lee Curtis was promoting the 2003 film Freaky Friday and her role of Tess, the expectations around women’s bodies, and her co-star Lindsay Lohan. When the interviewer asked about any regrets or pitfalls in her career so far, she was very frank and singled out her 1999 film Virus as a film that she regrets doing and criticized the awfulness of the finished film. Regarding the film, she said,
“Virus is so bad that it’s shocking… That would be the all-time piece of sh*t…It’s just dreadful… That’s the only good reason to be in bad movies. Then when your friends have [bad] movies you can say ‘Ahhhh, I’ve got the best one. I’m bringing Virus.’”
Curtis is not wrong regarding her thoughts about the dreadful quality of the film. When the film was released in 1999, it was a box office bomb and was heavily criticized by critics and audiences. It is only fair that success and failure are a part of any profession and a star like Curtis also has a bad day at the office sometimes.
Jamie Lee Curtis Was Aware of the Dismal Product But Her Hands Were Tied
In another interview with WENN (via Express UK), Jamie Lee Curtis further talked about her awareness regarding the film’s failure. Virus was doomed to fail from the start but she couldn’t do anything about it, maybe because of her commitment to the studio and the producers of the film. She said,
“That’s a piece of s**t movie. It’s an unbelievably bad movie; just bad from the bottom. It was maybe the only time I’ve known something was just bad and there was nothing I could do about it. I just do the best I can and there have been bad movies that have been wildly successful and great movies that have tanked, so you never know. It was an independent precursor to all of these Marvel comics movies. I thought maybe that fan base would show up for it, but no”
Curtis already has a large body of successful and superior work in her career. One small pitfall such as this is insignificant and does not affect her status as a powerhouse actress. But it is interesting to know that she considers this particular movie as the worst of her career.
What is Jamie Lee Curtis Working on Now?
After her historic win at the 2023 Oscars for Everything Everywhere All at Once, Jamie Lee Curtis has once again made headlines and her career is at an all-time high. She recently appeared in the second season of the dramedy The Bear (2023). She also starred in Disney’s Haunted Mansion (2023).
She will be starring in the upcoming film Borderlands which is an adaptation of the video game series of the same name. The film will also star Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, and Jack Black. It will be released in theatres on August 9, 2024.
Source: IGN
