Jamie Lee Curtis Had a 'Tough Time' Making 'Knives Out' Because She Was 'Isolated' Much of the Time

While Jamie Lee Curtis had "a very tough time" filming Knives Out due to being "isolated," she says the movie "was just such a delightful surprise"

Knives Out
Jamie Lee Curtis in Knives Out (2019). Photo: Claire Folger

As a seasoned scream queen, Jamie Lee Curtis has seen her fair share of twists in film — but Knives Out might take the cake.

"It turned out to be this fantastic movie," Curtis, 63, raved to Entertainment Weekly of the 2019 hit comedy thriller, which featured an ensemble cast and was directed by Rian Johnson. "I would never have known that the movie we were making was the movie that we made."

"It wasn't evident to me, because Rian was so specific in his methodology, and it's not like we're all watching monitors and seeing all the work. We had no idea," she added. "We'd just do our little thing and then go home. It was just such a delightful surprise."

But of the experience filming, Curtis said she "was actually quite isolated," adding, "I was living in this weird hotel by myself, and a lot of the movie, I'm not in."

"I was alone for a lot and it was a very tough time," she told EW.

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knives out
Knives Out (2019). Lionsgate / Everett

Knives Out focused on Daniel Craig's detective Benoit Blanc investigating the death of Harlan (Christopher Plummer), the patriarch of an eccentric and combative family. Aside from Craig, 54, Plummer and Curtis, the cast included then-newcomer Ana de Armas, plus Chris Evans, Toni Collette, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson and Katherine Langford.

The first of at least two planned sequels, titled Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, is set to debut Dec. 23 on Netflix, with Craig returning as Blanc alongside a new ensemble cast including Janelle Monáe, Kate Hudson, Leslie Odom Jr., Madelyn Cline, Kathryn Hahn, Jessica Henwick, Edward Norton, Ethan Hawke and Dave Bautista.

Johnson, 48, teased the sequel's story on Twitter in June, explaining that he was taking a page out of iconic mystery writer Agatha Christie's books for his original film franchise.

"Something I love about Agatha Christie is how she never tread water creatively. I think there's a misperception that her books use the same formula over and over, but fans know the opposite is true," he wrote. "It wasn't just settings or murder methods, she was constantly stretching the genre conceptually. Under the umbrella of the whodunnit she wrote spy thrillers, proto-slasher horrors, serial killer hunts, gothic romances, psychological character studies, glam travelogues."

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"When I made Knives Out," Johnson continued, "that's what excited me about the prospect of making more mysteries with Daniel as Benoit Blanc — to emulate Christie and have every film be like a whole new book, with its own tone, ambition, reason for being … and (ta dah) title."

The first Knives Out film made more than $300 million at the worldwide box office.

"I remember when they wanted me to go to CinemaCon with Knives Out, I was like, they want me to go to CinemaCon?" the Halloween Ends actress told EW. "They don't want all those other people to go to CinemaCon? Because I really felt like I was this tiny, tiny, delicious but tiny little part of the puzzle."

"It just was so fun to actually become its head cheerleader," Curtis added. "I'm a bit of a weapon of mass promotion and I got behind that one in a big way, because it was so fun and great and people loved it."

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