STACK NZ Sep #77

NEWS EXTRAS

Angel Olsen’s new album My Woman does invoke a feminist lens – but it’s not her precise mission. HEAVENLY CREATURE

HORROR ROYALTY Jamie Lee Curtis, one of the stars of theTV horror spoof Scream Queens , couldn't be happier playing things for laughs. J amie Lee Curtis remains one of Hollywood’s most

it's happened to me three times.” Surprisingly enough, the other two occasions were not horror films, but the action thriller True Lies (“hilarious movie”) and John Cheese’s classic comedy A Fish Called Wanda . But much as she loves comedy, she confesses she struggles to keep her own laughter in check when playing these sorts of roles, particularly when her co-star improvises. “If it's funny, I will laugh,” Curtis admits. “I cannot hold it. I think Kevin

memorable scream queens, thanks to roles in films such as Halloween , The Fog and Prom Night . So it could almost be taken as a given that she would be cast in a TV show called Scream Queens , which is from the creative team behind American Horror Story and boasts a hot young cast that includes Emma Roberts, Glee star Lea Michele and tween icons like Nick Jonas and Ariane Grande. A very tongue-in-cheek splatter

S ometimes I think I’m making a statement

and there’s a lot of intention behind that statement,” the ebullient musician explains. “But then... yes, I am addressing

some feminist argument or ideas, but as a whole, I would hope that [ My Woman ] relates beyond feminism and it can

be relatable to all kinds of people – men and women, people all over the place. That to me is really important.” Musically, there's a great filodex of fascinating sounds across My Woman , from the very Neil Young guitar line in Heart Shaped Face to the sweet grace notes on an electric Rhodes piano on Those Were the Days . “I was challenging myself, with a different instrument [piano], and a different sound,"Olsen says. "How could my writing still be meaningful to me? Would my voice change, and so what if it does? Maybe it’s supposed to cater to the sound, and be a part of the sound in a bigger way.” She and her new band then learned the songs and just walked straight into the studio to record live. “To me it’s like a photograph of the way we’ve all developed and grown as musicians, after knowing each other and developing that language on stage with each other,” she says. “This record is, in a way, partly a live performance.” Zoë Radas

fest – think Means Girls meets Scream – Curtis plays the devious and devilish Dean Catherine Munsch, who seems unperturbed that a serial killer appears to be loose on the campus; in fact, it soon becomes clear that she knows more about the murderer than she is letting on. For Curtis, the main attraction of the role was that it had been created specifically for her – something that she maintains hasn’t happened often. “Honestly, people have this weird idea that actors are sitting there with stacks of scripts around them, like, you know, ‘no, I'm not gonna do that one’,” she explains. “We're all trying to get a job. And it's rare that somebody calls you up and says ‘hi, I'd like to write a TV show for you. It's going to be super-funny, super wicked, really smart, and you're going to have a great time’. It’s just not that often that that happens, and

Klein won't speak to me because I ruined with him when he did something funny that I wasn't expecting him to do. When I'm in a scene, with Emma Roberts, or the girls, or the really funny people on [ Scream Queens ], I hold a pen under the table, and I jam it into my hand." Given the cast is made up mainly of teenagers – well, at least actresses playing teenagers – she acknowledges that she probably comes across as something of a mother figure on set. However, she is full of praise for her young co-stars. “They are wickedly talented,” Curtis enthuses. “These girls have shown up because they know they have been given this precious thing which is great writing. And they know it and like, slam it.” Scream Queens: The Complete First Season is out on DVD on September 7.

EXTRAS

My Woman by Angel Olsen is out on September 2.

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