“We’ve all lost people”: Jamie Lee Curtis talks strong, female survivors in iconic films

The Halloween star talks about the love behind these characters in particular.

Throughout the decades and decades of cinema, there have been plenty of characters who have defied all of the odds and somehow made it to the end credits. But when you think of some of the greatest cinematic survivors in history, really only a handful come to mind. And if you whittle it down, they're all female, and they all arrived on the big screen within just a few years of each other. Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) first appeared in 1978, Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) arrived in 1979, and Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton) in 1984. Ever since, cinema has tried to recapture the magic of these characters, and has often brought these characters back to the big screen themselves, with decades of film fans still loving to see them in action, fighting the good fight. We recently caught up with Jamie Lee Curtis in the run-up to the release of Halloween Kills, the sequel to the 2018 movie, before the new trilogy ends with 2022's Halloween Ends. You can check out JOE's interview in full right here: On top of announcing plans for a two-day Halloween movie film festival in Ireland for October 2022 (more details on that here), the actress also discusses why she thinks audiences love characters like Laurie Strode, or Ellen Ripley from Aliens and Sarah Connor from The Terminator, even all these decades later. Curtis tells us the following: "I think everybody loves a survivor story, because we are all survivors. Every single human being has suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and unspeakable sadness. We've all lost people, we've lost jobs, we've all had illnesses, we've all been divorced. Life happens to everybody. "But I think we look at these characters and we see them and they epitomise the thing that we are walking every day. I think that is what it is, it is the best I can imagine. "It didn't used to be that they would let an actress do something when they were 19, do it when they were 40, do it when they were 60, keep doing it. Because is just not how people did them. So it is also something lovely, the longevity that these movies have allowed us. Because all of us that you mentioned are still working in the industry as we did back in the day. "I'm known as Laurie Strode. Laurie Strode is very different from those other two characters, Ripley and Sarah. Laurie Strode is an every woman. I think what made Laurie Strode so spectacular in 1978 is that she was the quintessential image of American innocence. A 17-year-old smart high-school girl who couldn't get a boy to kiss her because she was socially awkward. "All of her randy friends and snarky friends teased her and all of the rest of it. And that innocence is coupled with this incredible malevolence. As Donald Pleasance says, he is 'the essence of evil, he has the blackest eyes'. You can't create an energy field stronger than that simple collision between goodness and evil. "So those other women, it is hard to relate to them, to their stories, for me. But Laurie Strode is just an American girl. And I think people relate to her." Halloween Kills arrives in Irish cinemas on Friday, 15 October. Clip via Universal Ireland