Of all the things, none had anticipated a Jamie Lee Curtis guest performance in the 2022 Emmy-winning series, The Bear starring Jeremy Allen White.
Curtis, who recently won an Oscar for best supporting actress, appeared as the fierce Donna Berzatto in the episode, titled, Fishes, in June 2023.
Now, a year after The Bear episode surprised fans with its plot, Jamie Lee Curtis is opening up about how her guest-starring role was kept hush-hush. She elaborated on the serious efforts that went behind the episode by the crew and herself, to keep it a secret from everyone, even their families.
Jamie Lee Curtis discloses the game plan for The Bear secret role
Scream queen, Jamie Lee Curtis, 65, brags about her secret-keeping ability while explaining how the riveting episode from The Bear was kept under wraps until the very day it aired on June 22, 2023. Marking the role of Donna Berzatto as one of a “lifetime,” the True Lies star emphasized that everything attached to the episode – from call sheets, and hotel billings, to names on buses and vans – was all concealed.
Moreover, Curtis revealed to The Hollywood Reporter, “There was no word ‘Bear’ anywhere near me. I stayed at a hotel, the hotel didn’t know who was paying for my room. It was a secret until the day it dropped.” Later, she highlighted that while mass promotion is her forte, tight-lipped plots are a “power” she seeks to uphold whenever needed.
In The Fishes, a two-episode flashback takes the viewers five years into the past to a Christmas dinner at the Berzatto home. Curtis plays Donna, the mother of Jeremy Allen White’s Carmy, Jon Bernthal’s Mikey, and Abby Elliott’s Natalie. The episode also features guest performances by Sarah Paulson, John Mulaney, Matty Matheson, Gillian Jacobs, and Bob Odenkirk. The Bear was created by Christopher Storer, who won three Emmys for his project.
Jamie Lee Curtis says Donna Berzatto was unforgettable
A personality like Berzatto is certainly one for the ages, but Jamie Lee Curtis also shared how the character, although stressful to shoot with all the secret-keeping, has stuck on to her even after a year. She recalled sitting on the plane back to LA and thinking how “intense” filming the episode was since she was kept solitary in a hotel.
Back then, Curtis was living life in a loop for four days where she claimed she “showed up”, went to work, got back to her hotel room, slept, and then repeated the structure all over.
Regardless, it was all worth it for the Everything Everywhere All At Once actress as she raved about the show’s script, storytelling, and the cast altogether. “It’s the beauty of the collaborative art form,” Curtis said.
Besides that, an opportunity to really break free, or in her words, “let it rip” is what Donna Berzatto’s role brought in for the esteemed actress, who has also authored several children’s books since the 1990s.
All two seasons of The Bear are available to stream on Hulu and Disney+. Season 3 will hit streaming platforms on June 27, 2024.
'There Was No Word': Jamie Lee Curtis Reveals How Her Role In The Bear Was Kept Under Wraps