Jamie Lee Curtis Admits One of Her Movies Was a Total Dud

Jamie Lee Curtis torches a past role, blasting the spiritual sequel Fierce Creatures as a piece of s— and saying the cast only did it for the paycheck.

Jamie Lee Curtis does not do polite nostalgia. On stage at SXSW to hype her new thriller, she took a blowtorch to one title in her own filmography and, wow, she did not hold back.

What she said

Asked about past projects, Curtis zeroed in on 1997's Fierce Creatures, the so-called follow-up to one of her career touchstones, A Fish Called Wanda. Her verdict:

"A piece of sh**."

She kept going, describing the shoot itself with a wince:

"I was shooting that piece of s--, Fish Called Wanda Two. We were on the back lot. It was awful. We all did it for money."

That is from Curtis, 67, straight to the SXSW crowd. Brutally candid, and honestly, kind of refreshing.

Wanda vs. Creatures: the context

A Fish Called Wanda (1988) is one of those lightning-in-a-bottle crime comedies that still plays like gangbusters: Curtis as the scheming con artist Wanda, with John Cleese, Kevin Kline, and Michael Palin all firing off career-best work. It has a rep as a genre high point and a lasting cult favorite for a reason.

Nine years later, Fierce Creatures reunited the same core cast for a spiritual follow-up in a similar comedic vein. The plan was simple: get the band back together and chase that same spark. Instead, the ending reportedly landed with a thud, triggering a round of reshoots. Even after the fixes, the final cut never found the snap or the fanfare of its predecessor.

• 1988: A Fish Called Wanda hits, with Curtis, John Cleese, Kevin Kline, and Michael Palin in a sharp, twisty crime comedy centered on a double-crossing con artist.
• 1997: Fierce Creatures reunites the ensemble for a spiritual follow-up; post-production reshoots try to salvage a weak ending, and the movie fails to match Wanda's magic.
• 2026: Curtis is back at SXSW with Sender, a new thriller from Russell Goldman that had its world premiere in competition on March 14. Theatrical release date still to come.

What she is up to now

Curtis remains everywhere, and that includes Sender, her latest. The film premiered in competition at SXSW on March 14, 2026. No release date yet, but after a mic-drop like that on stage, people are going to be curious to see what she is saying yes to these days.