Jamie Lee Curtis revealed at SXSW that she would likely have declined the 2018 Halloween sequel if she had known it was part of a trilogy. She used the discovery to negotiate a development deal with producer Jason Blum. Curtis discussed her career, horror genre appreciation, and upcoming projects during the panel.
At the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival, during a panel titled “If Not Now, When, if Not Me, Who? Pivoting and Manifesting,” Jamie Lee Curtis shared insights into her return to the Halloween franchise. She explained that when she agreed to star in David Gordon Green's 2018 film—a sequel to the 1978 original—she believed it was a single project. “The only reason I am sitting in this chair today is because of Jason. Jason Blum, who runs Blumhouse, is the one who brought back the ‘Halloween’ movies,” Curtis said, crediting Blumhouse Productions for reviving the series through low-budget filmmaking. However, she learned later, during editing, that the plan involved a trilogy. “If they had come to me and said it’s going to be a trilogy, I don’t think I would have said yes,” she admitted. Curtis described Blum's approach: “Jason Blum is notoriously cheap. How do you make low-budget movies? You don’t pay people. That’s the model.” Seizing the opportunity, she approached Blum for a development deal. “While we were editing and doing the mix, David said, ‘You know it’s a trilogy.’ I was like, ‘Uh, no.’ I went to Jason Blum and said, ‘I have some ideas, maybe you could give me a first look deal, just pay me a little money,'” she recalled. This led to a “vanity deal” for her production company, Comet Pictures, initially to support the project Mother Nature with filmmaker Russell Goldman, who now heads development there and is debuting his feature Sender at SXSW. Curtis highlighted another outcome: after hearing an NPR story about a school bus driver saving children, she pitched it to Blum, resulting in The Lost Bus, an Apple TV film nominated for Best Visual Effects at the Oscars. On the horror genre, Curtis expressed appreciation for its independent spirit and growing diversity, including representations of various genders and sexualities. “I’m in love with the independent filmmaking aspect of the genre,” she said, noting the Academy's recent recognition, such as for Sinners. Despite her status as a Scream Queen, she clarified, “I owe my life to the genre, but I don’t have to pretend... that I’m a genre girl, and that I love it.” Curtis also discussed Scarpetta, a TV adaptation of Patricia Cornwell's books. Initially not planning to star, she was persuaded by Nicole Kidman, whom she met years earlier at the Academy Awards. “I really didn’t want to be in an hour TV show, because the hours are awful,” Curtis added, though she ultimately agreed.
