Jamie Lee Curtis recently spoke about how glad she was that she could dodge the pressures of childhood stardom, even though it meant that she missed out on what could have been one of her most defining roles. Curtis later broke out in John Carpenter’s Halloween, before enjoying a packed career that spanned decades.
Jamie Lee Curtis’ mother saved her ‘childhood’ by declining The Exorcist audition
During a recent appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, Jamie Lee Curtis opened up about how her mother saved her from the pressure of childhood stardom after she got an opportunity to star in what could have been one of her most iconic roles.
Curtis’s famous mother, Janet Leigh, got a call from producer Ray Stark for an audition. The film in question was The Exorcist, which went on to become one of the biggest classics in horror.
“He called my mom and said, ‘Hey, I’m producing the movie of the book The Exorcist. Will you let Jamie audition for it?” Curtis recalled in her latest appearance, “And at the time, I was probably 12 and, like, cute and kind of sassy, and I had some personality, and I’m sure he saw me at a party and was like, ‘Oh, she’d be funny.'”
Perhaps this could have worked out, but Janet Leigh had her mind made up. She responded with a firm “no.”
Drawing a bit from Drew Barrymore’s experience, who started out as an actor when she was just seven years old, Curtis added, “My mom really wanted me to have — thank God — a childhood, which I understand you didn’t get. You didn’t get that option. And people didn’t step in and say, ‘No, [Drew] will have a childhood, she will have protection.'”
The role of Regan, the young girl possessed by the devil, ultimately went to Linda Blair, who immortalized the character with a haunting performance that continues to be a benchmark for films from the genre. She earned an Oscar nomination for the role at just 14 years old.
Jamie Lee Curtis went on to star in multiple horror films herself in the later years. She is also regarded as a “scream queen.”
Originally reported by Sourav Chakraborty on ComingSoon.
