How Trading Places Broke Jamie Lee Curtis Out Of The Horror Genre
Trading Places helped Jamie Lee Curtis break free of the horror genre and her «Scream Queen» typecasting. Jamie Lee Curtis is the daughter of actors Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, the latter of whom appeared in one of horror's most iconic scenes in 1960's Psycho. Curtis was a relative unknown when she appeared in John Carpenter's Halloween, which became a landmark in the slasher genre and led to countless imitations and rip-offs. Despite the success and acclaim of Halloween, Curtis got little work off of it, with Carpenter then writing a role specifically for her in The Fog to give his friend a job.
Jamie Lee Curtis soon became horror royalty, starring in a slew of slasher or thriller movies. Prom Night is one of the better known Halloween-style slashers from that era, and she also appeared in New Year's Eve horror Terror Train and Hitchcockian thriller Road Games. Curtis has since stated she knew that if she continued to appear in horror movies, the «Scream Queen» label would never go away. She turned down a role in Psycho 2, and only agreed to return as Laurie for 1981's Halloween 2 as a favor to Carpenter and producer Debra Hill. It was also, in her mind, a goodbye to the genre.
Related: Halloween Ends Killing Laurie Strode Would Be A Huge Mistake
Director John Landis later cast her in 1983 comedy Trading Places, where a pompous businessman named Winthorpe (Dan Aykroyd) has his life destroyed by his two millionaire bosses. These evil brothers place a bet to see if a person's background really influences how they do in life, so they fire Winthorpe and replace him with Eddie Murphy's street hustler Valentine. Jamie Lee Curtis — who was wasted in Halloween Kills — played Trading Places' Ophelia, a sex worker hired as part
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