Jamie Lee Curtis is striking gold.
Months after winning the best supporting actress Oscar for “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” the screen icon is already drumming up early Emmy buzz for her scorching turn in FX and Hulu’s “The Bear,” which released its star-studded second season last month.
Curtis, 64, appears in flashback as Donna Berzatto, mom to prodigal chef Carmy (Jeremy Allen White). In the season’s standout sixth episode, Donna’s simmering rage and fragility boil over into violence during a fraught family dinner.
“It’s a beautiful show,” says Curtis, who next plays Madame Leota in Disney’s “Haunted Mansion” (in theaters July 28). “It’s my favorite thing on television. I can’t believe that I get the opportunity to be on it, and to be part of this incredible group of creative people. I think it’s just stunning and I love it so much.”
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Season 2 of “The Bear” premiered after the cutoff date for the 2023 Emmys, meaning Curtis’ performance won’t be eligible until next year’s awards. If she’s nominated, she’ll be one step closer to achieving a rarified EGOT: the entertainment quadruple crown of Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony wins.
“I’ll never get an EGOT because I can’t sing,” says Curtis, in a joint interview with her “Haunted Mansion” co-star Tiffany Haddish. “I actually was nominated for a Grammy for an audiobook of one of my children’s books, but I didn’t win it. But a Tony is going to require me to sing, right?”
“You can do a stage play!” Haddish suggests. “You can do a one-woman show!”
“Maybe I’ll do ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ I’ll just take Donna and bring her to the stage,” Curtis says. “No, you know what we’re going to do? ‘The Odd Couple.’ I’m Felix, you’re Oscar. What a good idea! EGOT, I’m comin’ for ya!”
“Yes, baby, we got this!” Haddish says.
Curtis won her first Oscar for her go-for-broke performance as IRS agent Deirdre Beaubeirdre in “Everything Everywhere,” which swept the awards earlier this year with seven trophies including best picture and best actress (Michelle Yeoh). The A-lister revealed in March that she gave her Oscar they/them pronouns, in honor of her trans daughter, Ruby. The statue resides in her office and is adorned with a googly eye (a key symbol in the film).
“It was an unexpected season of shiny things,” Curtis says. “They’re going to stay permanent in my office as an amazing reminder of the miracle of being patient. They have a little googly eye attached to the center of their forehead. It was a really astonishing moment for me in my life, and one I never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever thought would happen.”
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“Wait, you have a googly eye in the middle of the statue’s forehead?” Haddish asks. “So it’s like they have a third eye?”
“Did you see ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once?’ Do you remember the googly eyes?“ Curtis says, pulling up a picture of the Oscar on her phone, and showing it to both Haddish and USA TODAY.
“Oh, that’s dope! I love it!” Haddish says. “They’re so cute.”
“Haunted Mansion” is adapted from the classic Disney theme park ride, and is set in an eerie New Orleans estate with 999 happy haunts. Lakeith Stanfield, Rosario Dawson, Danny DeVito and Owen Wilson co-star in the horror comedy, which is directed by Justin Simien (2014’s “Dear White People”).
Check back for more of our interview with Curtis and Haddish later this month.
