Oscar-night nudge from Nicole Kidman helped Jamie Lee Curtis land the Scarpetta series on Prime Video

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Jamie Lee Curtis revealed on Saturday at SXSW that a chance, emotional encounter with Nicole Kidman at the Academy Awards helped nudge her from behind-the-scenes producer into a starring role opposite Kidman in Prime Video’s new series Scarpetta.

Curtis told Newsweek’s H. Alan Scott during a panel in Austin that the meeting occurred just before an Oscars ceremony when she was due to present the In Memoriam tribute to Betty White. Seated at a small table in the Dolby Theatre with her publicist Heidi, Curtis said she was startled when Kidman quietly stood behind her chair. Curtis became visibly moved as she recounted Kidman’s first words: “I see you. I see who you are. I see what you do. I see how you do it. And I really like it, and I want you to continue doing it.” Curtis choked up describing the moment, still astonished that the acclaimed actor had sought her out mid-ceremony.

The anecdote also included a small correction to an earlier retelling: Curtis had previously said the encounter happened at the 2021 Oscars during a Tonight Show interview, but the Betty White In Memoriam segment actually took place at the 2022 ceremony. The discrepancy appears to be a misremembered detail in the memory she shared publicly.

Curtis said she originally signed on to Scarpetta as a producer and had no intention of taking an acting slot. “I wanna be a producer,” she told the SXSW audience, adding she preferred writing checks, reviewing dailies and team-building to enduring the grueling hours of an hourlong drama. That resolve changed after Kidman expressed interest in the project. Curtis recalled Kidman looking at her “with those eyes” and asking, “You’re in it?” Curtis replied, “Yes, queen! Yes, of course I’m in it! Why else would I produce it?” The pair then scrambled to find a suitable part for Curtis.

Scarpetta, based on Patricia Cornwell’s bestselling novels that began with 1990’s Postmortem, stars Kidman as medical examiner Kay Scarpetta and Curtis as her sister Dorothy. In a separate interview with Entertainment Weekly, Curtis described Dorothy as a “man-eater” whose appetite for life stems from trauma: both sisters lost their father to murder, a loss that sends Kay into a life studying death and Dorothy into a brazen embrace of the world. “Dorothy has just taken the opposite path… She is going to devour the world, because she already knows that death is coming for her,” Curtis said.

The SXSW revelations give fresh insight into the off-screen relationship that helped shape Scarpetta’s casting and performance dynamic. Curtis’s account underscores how a brief, personal exchange between two high-profile actors at an awards ceremony translated into a creative partnership on screen.

Scarpetta is currently streaming on Prime Video. The SXSW panel appearance and Curtis’s candid storytelling add to the promotional run for the series while highlighting the personal histories and chemistry behind the show’s central characters.