Halloween star Jamie Lee Curtis has revealed that iconic horror movie The Exorcist left her emotionally scarred after watching it as a teenager.
The actress helped pave the way for empowered female characters in horror, with her role as Laurie in the Halloween franchise being one of the most enduring and recognisable of the genre. But it turns out even she gets terrified every now and then.
Speaking to fellow scream queen Neve Campbell (Scream) for Variety, Jamie recalled the moment her parents screened 1973 supernatural horror The Exorcist for her 15th birthday, and it sounds as though it had a significant impact on her.
Jamie Lee Curtis' parents screened #TheExorcist for her 15th birthday; she was scarred https://t.co/LFzZPiy8PZ pic.twitter.com/kKXNd2QYlm
— Variety (@Variety) October 21, 2020
Jamie Lee Curtis on The Exorcist
“My parents screened The Exorcist for my 15th birthday,” she explained. “And it freaked me out so badly that for the rest of school, my girlfriends would run behind me in the hall and they would say, ‘Dimi, why you do this to me?'”
“[It freaked me out] so much so that I named my first car – my first car was a 1972 Mercury Capri, and it had a personalized license plate [saying] Dimi, and it freaked me out so badly!”
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The Exorcist, which is considered to be one of the greatest horror movies of all time, famously evoked some strong responses upon its release in the 1970s, with reports of crying, vomiting and even fainting among cinemagoers.
Jamie previously revealed that she was actually asked to audition for the part of Regan MacNeil, the possessed 12-year-old girl featured in the movie, but her mother refused the role on her behalf.
After her breakthrough role as Laurie in the original 1978 Halloween movie, Jamie went on to star in a number of horror movies including The Fog, Prom Night and Terror Train, and also appeared in Ryan Murphy’s cult classic TV series Scream Queens.
Fans will be able to see Jamie on the big screen once again in 2021, as she returns to play Laurie in the highly-anticipated sequel Halloween Kills.
