Actor Jamie Lee Curtis had to rely on a lot of physical comedy for her role in Freaky Friday. So, the star took a cue from this Three’s Company alum to inform her performance.
How this ‘Three’s Company’ star affected Jamie Lee Curtis’ ‘Freaky Friday’ performance
Curtis had the chance to show off her comedic chops by doing the 2003 feature Freaky Friday. The movie saw Curtis and Lohan playing a mother and daughter who switched bodies. In a resurfaced interview with Phase 9, Curtis asserted that Freaky Friday might’ve been the most successful feature she made at the time. The project fell in Curtis’ lap during a period where she was exploring interests other than acting. But apart from liking the film’s script, everything about Freaky Friday accommodated Curtis’ situation. In the end, Curtis felt she had to do the movie.
“So the fact that it was all in LA, a family film, a comedy, right round the corner from where I live, you know, I got paid…it could have been all of those things and a little independent movie where there’s no up front money and I would have said no, because quite frankly I’ve got to earn a living,” Curtis said. “So quite an extraordinary set of circumstances fell together to have this happen for me, and in that sense to then have it be successful is kind of crazy and fabulous.”
The physical comedy she delivered for the film came naturally to her. However, she once admitted that she modeled her Freaky Friday character after a Three’s Company star. The late John Ritter, who was a highly revered comic actor, showcased his humor for several seasons on the hit sitcom. And Curtis couldn’t help to draw inspiration from Ritter’s role.
“All my physical comedy in Freaky Friday is due to him,” Curtis once said according to Daily Collegian.
Jamie Lee Curtis only realized that she was funny thanks to John Ritter
After seemingly botching a Saturday Night Live performance, Curtis already made peace with not being very funny.
“I had made Trading Places, hosted Saturday Night Live – terribly – and was light on my feet, but figured I was a straight person,” Curtis once said according to The Spokesman Review.
But Ritter showed Curtis otherwise when she auditioned for a sitcom he produced titled Anything but Love. Curtis was eventually cast on the show, which lasted for four seasons, and discovered her hidden comedic talents.
“Anything but Love was supposed to be about a romantic triangle involving a woman and two men and I had to do this scene where one of the men backed me up against a table to make a pass. When it was over, Ritter came over to me and whispered in my ear, ‘You’re really funny. And you have really funny legs,’” she said.
Curtis also attributed her True Lies role to Ritter’s influence. The Halloween star found herself starring as an awkward housewife in the action thriller, which also required some physical comedy.
“And I believe that all of Helen in True Lies is directly attributable to John Ritter. Because I was as free physically as I’ve ever been during True Lies. In all of it, Helen was just such a fabulous person. And I credit the late great John Ritter for giving me just that little permission to go for it,” she once said according to IndieWire.
Jamie Lee Curtis has starred in several comedy movies
Curtis has become an established comedic actor in her own right. In addition to features like True Lies and Freaky Friday, she’s starred in other comedies like A Fish Called Wanda and Christmas with the Kranks. She recently won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Everything Everywhere All At Once. There, she also delivered another performance that was heavily reliant on physical comedy.
