Jamie Lee Curtis knew she was going to star in The Bear long before she landed the role of Donna Berzatto, the alcoholic, unstable mother of the restaurant siblings at the center of the show. While watching Season 1, Curtis had an uncanny feeling. "I was like, 'I'm going to play her.' I swear to god," she says. And then she got the call. "My agent said, 'You got offered a role in The Bear.'" Curtis called the show's creator, Christopher Storer. "I said, 'What do you want her hair to look like?' He sent me a picture of Monica Vitti. I said, 'What do you want her nails to look like?' He sent me a picture from Desperate Housewives of New York ." Now, in the midst of filming the highly anticipated sequel to fan favorite Freaky Friday , Curtis opens up about how Peter Falk made her famous, her best advice, and why Lip Sync Battle missed their chance when they didn't think to cast her.
Jamie Lee Curtis on Manifesting Her Role in 'The Bear' | The View
The Job That Got Me StartedI was an unintentional actor. I was never going to be an actor, I was going to be a cop. I had three lines in an episode of Columbo as a grumpy waitress. Columbo walks into a restaurant with his coat all askew and his hair all crazy, and he's holding a doughnut. The waitress says, "You can't have that in here." And he says, "Okay," and he hands her the doughnut. She says, "Have you decided yet?" And he says, "Yeah, I'll have a doughnut." A month later I'm walking down the street and someone says, "Hey, I saw you on The Tonight Show." Peter Falk had put that clip on the show. So, my second ever job in show business, I was on The Tonight Show.
The best advice I ever gotI've been sober for 25 years, and [I've learned] that advice is a form of hostility. Advice is somehow saying to someone, "I have a better idea than you." And I've felt that many, many, many times when people give advice. That doesn't mean I can't say to you, "What do you think I should do here?" That's a very specific question that you can answer. But the best advice is, "Don't give it." The way I've adapted it is to offer "suggestions." My new favorite is, "Can I give you feedback?" But that's ultimately a form of control and a bit of arrogance and ego on my part.
My first TV lesson Be on time. I have a production company and whenever we have a Zoom, whether we're Zoom with Amazon or Zoom with Audible, our rule is we show up 15 minutes early. If it's scheduled for 10:00, at 9:45, Comet, my company, we're on, and we do 15 minutes together before anyone else shows up. That's my rule.
