Ever since Jamie Lee Curtis starred in the original Halloween movie in 1978, the franchise has gone through multiple reboots, creating a handful of alternate timelines with their own unique casts of characters. After Curtis initially departed the series, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers brought in child star Danielle Harris as Jamie Lloyd, the daughter of Laurie Strode, to serve as the new protagonist; Harris reprised the role for the fifth film. In Rob Zombie’s pair Halloween movies, Harris rejoined the franchise with her new role as Annie Brackett while Scout Taylor-Compton played a different incarnation of JLC’s Laurie Strode.
While Harris played Laurie’s daughter and Taylor-Compton played an alternate Laurie, neither of the two scream queens had ever managed to meet Curtis. The opportunity to do so finally came along at the Halloween Ends premiere, as was revealed in a photograph from the event of the two with Curtis and A Nightmare on Elm Street stars Heather Langenkamp and Amanda Wyss. Ahead of the event, Harris had also spoken about how stoked she was to finally meet Curtis.
“Well, I can’t wait to meet her,” Harris told Variety on the red carpet. “I’m looking for her. I’m gonna corner her and tell her how much I appreciate her for setting the bar so high for all of us women in horror, because she really did start it for us, so we’re very appreciative.”
Even though she hadn’t met Curtis personally at that point, Taylor-Compton also told the outlet that it was very emotional to watch the original Laurie say goodbye to the character, understanding what that feeling was like in some ways.
“I don’t know why I’m getting emotional. It’s emotional. I mean, it really is,” she said. “For me, I got to play her in the remakes, and now that she came back and made this amazing comeback, she’s saying her goodbye… I mean I said my goodbye to Laurie, and now she is. It’s just, it’s emotional. She did such an amazing job and I envy her as a person, and as Laurie. It’s like Jamie and Laurie are one person, so saying goodbye to that is pretty intense.”
What Happened When Scout Taylor-Compton and Danielle Harris Met Jamie Lee Curtis?
Trancas International
Per Dread Central, Scout Taylor-Compton and Danielle Harris have since explained what happened on their horror-themed podcast, Talk Scary to Me. Harris was the first one to meet Curtis, approaching the horror legend and introducing herself as the actress who played her daughter in Halloween 4. Curtis was said to be bemused, promptly informing Harris she wasn’t familiar with her or the role as she never saw the film.
“I’ve never seen those movies, I don’t know who you are,” Curtis is quoted as saying.
For Harris, she was blindsided, feeling like a deer caught in headlights. This was partly because she’d been told that Curtis loved her and her performance in Halloween 4, and now she’s finding out that’s apparently not the case. Harris describes waiting for Curtis to then blurt out that she was just “just kidding,” but that didn’t happen.
Taylor-Compton hadn’t observed what happened and was still hoping for a positive interaction when she approached Curtis. According to Taylor-Compton, she told JLC how honored she was to have also played the role of Laurie Strode. She doesn’t state specifically what was said beyond that it was very similar to what happened with Harris, but Taylor-Compton fought back tears recounting the experience.
“We just left [the party] feeling very, very hurt,” Taylor-Compton said.
“I just felt dumb,” Harris added.
With that said, the scream queens explained that they wanted to be honest about their experience as they had promised their podcast followers that they’d share the story of the meeting. The story was not meant to besmirch Curtis, who might have been feeling overwhelmed by having such a big day at the time. Taylor-Compton and Harris still tout JLC as the “face of the franchise” and are happy to see her getting so much love from the fans upon what seems to be her final movie in the series.
Halloween Ends is playing in theaters and on Peacock.
