It was but one year ago when Jamie Lee Curtis became an Oscar winner, taking home the trophy for best supporting actress thanks to her work in the night’s eventual best picture winner “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” Back at the Oscars this year as a presenter, Curtis said during Variety On the Carpet presented by DIRECTV that last year’s win changed her career in ways that can’t even be measured.
“In really incalculable ways,” Curtis said when Variety’s Marc Malkin asked how the Oscar win changed her career. “I’m making a movie with James L. Brooks right now! I’ve been asked to work with people that I never thought I’d get asked to work with. James L. Brooks being one of them…it’s hard to put into words. But the good feeling that I’ve had from all over the world has changed me.”
“I’ve been around a long time,” Curtis continued. “That movie changed people. That movie had an impact. That’s what movies do. That’s the beauty of movies, they have an impact and they change the way we think and the way we feel and shift us. I’ve had that shift. The unexpected moment last year has just kept growing and rolling and it’s been beautiful.”
Curtis said she “never thought I’d get a call” from a director like James L. Brooks, but now that’s happened after her Oscar win. The same goes for other opportunities, a major one being her supporting turn in an episode of “The Bear” as Donna, the mother of Carmy, Michael and Natalie. Curtis said she’s unsure if she’ll return to the Emmy-winning FX series.
“They haven’t talked to me. Obviously, I felt like Donna’s story was very complete in a way. You really saw what happened and you saw what happened afterwards…the beginning, the middle, the end. In a way, Donna’s story is complete. She doesn’t want to ruin their lives so she stays away. Maybe it’s better.”
“The reason why I think it’s so profound is because we all know Donna,” Curtis added. “Some people have been raised by a Donna. Some people work with a Donnas every day.”
Curtis is keeping with Oscars tradition as the year’s previous acting winners always take the stage to present this year’s acting categories. The James L. Brooks movie she’s starring in is “Ella McCay,” which also features Emma Mackey and Woody Harrelson. The film stars Mackey as an idealistic young politician who juggles familial issues and a challenging work life while preparing to take over the job of her mentor.
