Human beings tend to have a natural tendency to categorize the people around us, and sometimes the tendency to group leads to stereotypes. And sometimes our brain tends to automatically categorize them into a preexisting mental schema based on media portrayals. One such instance was when Jamie Lee Curtis, the winner of Best Supporting Actress at the 2023 Academy Awards thought Ana de Armas was an inexperienced actress in the industry.
The Blue Steel actress made headlines earlier when she took a dig at Tom Cruise while she was on The Late Late Show. However, long before she mocked the Top Gun: Maverick actor, she misunderstood Ana de Armas as an inexperienced actress in Hollywood when they met on the set of Knives Out.
Jamie Lee Curtis Judged Ana de Armas Due to Her Cuban Heritage
As part of Ana de Armas’ cover story for Elle, Jamie Lee Curtis told the periodical publisher that she did not watch the actress’ previous films and how she profiled the actress, that she had just arrived in Hollywood. She assumed that the Blade Runner 2049 actress was an “inexperienced, unsophisticated young woman.”
“I assumed — and I say this with real embarrassment — because she had come from Cuba, that she had just arrived. I made an assumption that she was an inexperienced, unsophisticated young woman. That first day, I was like, ‘Oh, what are your dreams?’”
When Ana de Armas agreed to work in the 2019 film with Jamie Lee Curtis, the actress had a decade’s worth of experience because she has been working since 2006 in Cuban and Spanish productions. Moreover, the Overdrive actress had already appeared in a number of Hollywood films such as War Dogs and Blade Runner 2049.
Jamie Lee Curtis was Impressed with Ana de Armas
In the same cover story, Jamie Lee Curtis stated that de Armas’ performance was so impressive in Knives Out, that the veteran actress offered to introduce de Armas to Steven Spielberg to offer her a role in West Side Story.
Curtis continued that de Armas was not as fancy as the advertisements portray her, and she is a curious person who likes to talk and ask a lot of questions.
“She is not as fancy as maybe the advertisements would have you believe. She leans in, interested; talking to her is kind of give-and-take. She’s curious and asks a lot of questions.”
In addition to speaking well about the Knock Knock actress, she stated how they frequently contacted each other. Curtis explained that de Armas gave her a sneak peek at her transformation into Marilyn Monroe for Andrew Dominik’s Blonde which told the story of Marilyn Monroe’s rise to fame. The Halloween actress was shocked as de Armas looked like a reflection of Marilyn Monroe.
“I dropped to the floor. I couldn’t believe it. Ana was completely gone. She was Marilyn.”
Ana de Armas is a prolific actor who tends to prefer to work in a wide genre of films. The actress could be seen in a number of roles that are typically avoided by actors or actresses of different ethnicity; not her because Ana de Armas loves to break stereotypes and it was evident in Blonde.
Knives Out can be streamed on Netflix.
Source: Elle Magazine
