Jamie Lee Curtis Speaks Out About Not Sucking in Her Stomach for New Role

Jamie Lee Curtis is done hiding her body, and it's never felt more liberating.

The 63-year-old actress posted a picture on Instagram dressed in character as the IRS auditor Deirdre Beaubeirdra for her new film, Everything Everywhere All at Once. She's seen like never before in the picture posted Thursday, and that was intentional for Curtis, who said she had been sucking in her stomach since she was 11.

"In the world, there is an industry -- a billion-dollar, trillion-dollar industry -- about hiding things," Curtis wrote in the caption. "Concealers. Body-shapers. Fillers. Procedures. Clothing. Hair accessories. Hair products. Everything to conceal the reality of who we are."

So, when Curtis signed up for the science-fiction film written and directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, she had one caveat.

"And my instruction to everybody was: I want there to be no concealing of anything," she continued in her caption. "I've been sucking my stomach in since I was 11, when you start being conscious of boys and bodies, and the jeans are super tight. I very specifically decided to relinquish and release every muscle I had that I used to clench to hide the reality. That was my goal. I have never felt more free creatively and physically."

Scheinert told Entertainment Weekly that after she signed on to the film, Curtis texted the directors weird outfits and hairdos as potential options for the character. Scheinert recalled how Kwan later found a photo of either an IRS auditor or a DMV employee, and when Curtis got wind of that particular photo, she told them, "That's incredible, please let me be her -- please, please, please, please." As it turned out, Scheinert said that photo was the inspiration for the character's hairdo and the outfit.

"Everyone assumes that her belly in the movie is a prosthetic, but it's actually her real belly," Kwan said. "She was grateful that she was allowed to just let it out."

Curtis has earned praise for her openness about her body image, including from Riverdale star Lili Reinhart, who took to her Instagram Story and reposted Curtis' powerful quote. Reinhart also recalled an unfortunate incident in her past.

“A director once came up to me before a take and said ‘suck in your stomach a little bit.’ Unfortunately, it’s something I think about often when I’m filming a scene," she wrote. "Glad it’s being talked about, thank you @curtisleejamie.”

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