OH, THE HORROR

Oscar Winner’s Mom Wouldn’t Let Her Audition for Iconic Horror Role

Jamie Lee Curtis is now grateful her mom Janet Leigh wouldn’t let her audition for ‘The Exorcist.’

Academy Award winner Jamie Lee Curtis, who got her start as a scream queen in John Carpenter’s 1978 classic Halloween, was not allowed to audition for a role in another staple of 1970s horror, The Exorcist. Curtis revealed during an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show that her mother, Psycho star Janet Leigh, received a call from the film’s producer asking if she would let Curtis audition for the role of Regan MacNeil. “He called my mom and said, ‘Hey, I’m producing the movie of the book The Exorcist. Will you let Jamie audition for it?’” Curtis said. “At the time I was probably 12 and, like, cute and kind of sassy and I had some personality. I’m sure he saw me at a party and was like, ‘Oh, she’d be funny.’ And my mother said, ‘No.’” The role went to 14-year-old Linda Blair, who earned a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her work. Curtis would go on to make her feature film debut as Laurie Strode in Halloween, a role she has returned to several times over the past 46 years. Speaking to Barrymore, herself a former child star, Curtis acknowledged that Barrymore was not afforded the same protection she was. “My mom really wanted me to have—thank God—a childhood, which I understand you didn’t get. You didn’t get that option.”