20 Questions: Jamie Lee Curtis

Despite her days as the queen of the screams and the tantalizing glimpses of skin to which audiences were treated in "Trading Places" and "Love Letters," there is more to Jamie Lee Curtis than an unforgettable figure and a banshee wail. She is an actress on the move---and she can be seen moving this month with co-star John Travolta in "Perfect." We asked Contributing Editor David Rensin if he would mind spending a few hours with Curtis in the Lower Manhattan apartment she shares with her husband, Christopher Guest. Said Rensin quickly: "No problem."

1.

[Q] Playboy: After two engagements that didn't work out, you recently devastated American males by marrying Saturday Night Live's and This Is Spinal Tap's Christopher Guest. Had you seen him in the film before you met? Was it the hollow-chested English-rock-star look that attracted you?

[A] Curtis: Yes, I saw the movie first. Actually, I've been reluctant to talk about this, because I don't want to take advantage of something that was really great and special. [Pauses] I was single, working on a film, not going out to parties much anymore. I was reading Rolling Stone and there was this picture of three guys: Michael McKean, Harry Shearer and Christopher. They had their arms around one another---nice and normal. And I went, "Who's this?" Chris had a smirk and looked great. I flipped the page and there they were as David, Derek and Nigel, from Spinal Tap. I did a double take.

I went to see the movie and came away thinking Chris was very, very talented and that I'd like to meet him. I didn't know how to go about it, but one day, in a fit of self-confidence, I called his agent. I rambled on about how I'd never done anything like this but would like to meet Chris. He took my number and said he'd give him the message. But nothing happened.

Three months later, a girlfriend and I were having dinner and there he was across the room. We smiled and said a little "Hi," but then I turned to my girlfriend and went, "God!" like a child. He was with a girl and a guy and I didn't know the situation. So I stayed away. He called the next day. We had dinner a couple of nights later.

2.

[Q] Playboy: What were you thinking a few months later when the minister finally said, "You may kiss the bride"?

[A] Curtis: I was worried that my nose was running from crying so much. I was seriously wondering if anyone had a Kleenex or if it would be terribly uncouth to wipe my nose on my sleeve. Our minister had warned me to take tissues. She was right. I lost it during the vows. As a little girl, I had dreamed of saying all the words. So when "to have and to hold" came up, I just went. Then I laughed and so did everybody else. It broke the tension. We have an audio tape of the ceremony. We've since listened to it together. It's a very strange experience.

3.

[Q] Playboy: When did you stop being a girl?

[A] Curtis: I still am. I'm a girl rather than a woman. Woman to me means hair spray and perfume. I look forward to being one, but I want to be my own kind of woman. I don't want to have to respond to society's expectations about sex, relationships, how I dress. I want to be a wise old woman. Not smart, wise. That leaves you fluid.

4.

[Q] Playboy: Do girls just want to have fun?

[A] Curtis: Ever hear the song Boys Just Want to Have Sex? Well, girls also want to have babies.

5.

[Q] Playboy: In earlier interviews, you insisted you wouldn't take your clothes off on camera. What happened?

[A] Curtis: [Deadpan] I lied. [Laughs] The realities changed my mind. Love Letters, for instance, was a movie about an obsessive love affair. You had to see it.

In Trading Places, I was nude for seven seconds. I timed it. But there are some reviews that claim I was naked for the whole movie. If Ophelia had turned her back and shielded herself, it would have been false modesty. She was a prostitute. Any hesitancy would have been wrong. But it was a terrific movie and all I can tell you is that the nudity helped a lot.

Had I not done the work that involved nudity, I don't think I'd be working right now. It has given me a career and let me hold on to my self-esteem. Now the nudity thing has become a pain in the ass. But I can live with it. It's a big deal only if I make it one.

6.

[Q] Playboy: Once, you were stigmatized as the queen of the screams for your work in horror films. What makes you scream now?

[A] Curtis: Being asked about those films. I say I don't want to do them and it's like being forced to hate them. I'm trying not to. I had a really good time.

7.

[Q] Playboy: What's the most important thing you have to do to be taken seriously as an actress?

[A] Curtis: To stop thinking that some people may not consider me as seriously as I do. If someone thinks of me only for my body---well, that's all he's going to think of and there's no way I can make him change his mind.

8.

[Q] Playboy: In Perfect, you walk around in gym clothes. When can we expect the Jamie Lee Curtis exercise book?

[A] Curtis: You can't. I've turned it down many times. I wouldn't do it for all the money in the world.

9.

[Q] Playboy: What did you discover about John Travolta that you hadn't expected to discover?

[A] Curtis: There's something that happens to people when they become very, very famous. It's a look in their eyes---you can never look into them. They're not looking at you, they're looking at themselves. But when he walked in and said, "Hi, I'm John," it was like [claps hands], boom, it was OK. I know about the problems and pressures he's had. They're not unlike those my dad had at 27.

10.

[Q] Playboy: Compare Tony Curtis and John Travolta.

[A] Curtis: They're both amazingly handsome men. Both enjoy their stardom. We need the reclusive stars, but we also need those who say, "I don't know how this happened, but I'm not going to hide behind it."

11.

[Q] Playboy: What does the press have wrong about Hollywood?

[A] Curtis: That it's shallow, hollow, that everything is a façade and everyone is just out to make a buck. There are those people, but there are also those who love making movies. Hollywood is filled with talented people waiting for their chance. You know, (concluded on page 201)Jamie Lee Curtis(continued from page 143)Perfect is about what the press can and cannot do and about how much it can hurt people. My character has been burned by the press one time too many. Then she gets burned by Travolta's character. He puts down a couple of girls for being promiscuous and for wanting plastic surgery to improve their looks.

12.

[Q] Playboy: OK, defend plastic surgery.

[A] Curtis: Oh, in a second. If it makes you feel better about yourself, do it. It's not immoral. If someone says her husband wouldn't like it, the hell with her husband. Don't expect too much, though; it will straighten your nose, but it won't give you happiness. I live with my body every day, and every day I see changes. Some I like, some I don't. I like lines around my eyes. I don't like fat. The breasts drop. It happens to everybody. So if it's going to take getting my eyes pulled up, I'll do it. Any woman who wants to do it should, and I'll stand up for her and punch her husband.

13.

[Q] Playboy: What's the second-best thing about your body?

[A] Curtis: What's the first? [Pauses] My eyes are. My toes are pretty great, too. Cute. Like little hands.

14.

[Q] Playboy: How do women make friends?

[A] Curtis: Many are made at school, where there's a lot of bonding because of the hormonal changes. You end up in little groups, going, "Is this happening to you, too?" Plus, you're shielding yourself from boys. Then you discover boys and end up spending so much time with your lover that your friendships with girls change drastically. I'm going through that now.

15.

[Q] Playboy: What's the best advice a woman has ever given you?

[A] Curtis: My mother told me to be true to who I am. Dealing with everyone's expectations of who I was supposed to be was my biggest burden. For example, when I first became intimate with men, I heard that if you don't make love six times a day, something is wrong with you. Now I'm trying to throw all those expectations--external and internal--out.

16.

[Q] Playboy: How do you pack? What do you always take with you?

[A] Curtis: I'm an amazing packer. I've even got pictures of me packing for a European tour I did to promote Trading Places. Pretty funny. I always overpack if someone else is going to carry my bags. If I have to carry them, I underpack. I carry only basic things, and always in black. When black gets dirty, I just clean it with a lint brush. I always take tennis shoes, because I wear them with dresses and I have a terrible back anyway. I've learned how to pack cashmere in tissue paper so it doesn't wrinkle. That's a good tip. I'm just very organized and I have everything in plastic bags--underwear in one, something else in another. Now I'm thinking about reading this one day and wondering who cares if I put my underwear in a plastic bag. I also unpack wherever I stop, even if it's just for a day. Everything goes into drawers. I'm usually very neat--though I tend to litter horribly around my airplane seat.

17.

[Q] Playboy: What are your home-improvement skills and what have you done with them?

[A] Curtis: I've laid tile. I've refinished furniture. I'm handy with a hammer and nails. Stripping wallpaper is a nightmare. Once you start, you do not finish until you're finished. But I like to do things myself. If a jar needs opening, I don't like to ask someone else to do it. I'll do everything in my power to get it open before I turn to Chris and go, "Honey?"

18.

[Q] Playboy: Your personal corporation is called Kid Curtis. What are some of the names you considered and rejected?

[A] Curtis: Invisible Ink. Flat Feet. Or was it Knock-Kneed?

19.

[Q] Playboy: What kind of role would you like to play that you suspect you will never be offered?

[A] Curtis: Royalty. I was brought up in Beverly Hills and was privy to a certain brand of royalty. I say royalty because it best covers someone with real clout, upbringing and class--a thoroughbred. I don't think I'd be the spot-on choice for the role, though, because I don't dress like royalty or hang out with them. But I have insights. Not to name-drop--like "I know Julio"--but I've had dinner with the Khashoggis. Their sense of reality is different from ours.

20.

[Q] Playboy: What is the most ridiculous notion of the Eighties?

[A] Curtis: That sleeves on jackets are supposed to be pushed up above your elbows. I don't get it. The greatest invention of the Eighties, however, is Tenax. We're a mousse generation. The stuff is like drugs. I'm trying to quit right now.

"When I became intimate with men, I heard if you don't make love six times a day, something is wrong."