Jamie Lee Curtis didn’t hold back her feelings about her experience on the set of “New Girl,” expressing a strong distaste for the series’ shooting style.
Speaking at NBCUniversal’s Summer Backlot Experience in Los Angeles, Curtis revealed, “I did a single-camera [comedy], which I hated.”
While the acclaimed actress praised the popular comedy as “a great show” and “very funny,” her frustration with the production process was evident.
The Oscar-winning star, now 67, likened her stint on the Fox sitcom to working on a film set, saying it lacked the energy of a live audience.
“There’s a camera crew, and nobody laughs,” she lamented, describing the experience as “silent, and it’s awful. For me, awful.”
Curtis added, “Single-camera comedies, for me, not fun.”
Curtis played Zooey Deschanel’s onscreen mother, Joan, in five episodes of the Fox series.
Jess’s (Deschanel) dad, meanwhile, was played by the late Rob Reiner.
Speaking to Collider in 2012, Deschanel, 46, gushed over the two A-listers being cast as her parents.
“So, we talked about a bunch of people, and these were just beyond my wildest dreams,” she said. “They’re people that I think would be just so perfect. I can’t wait to start shooting with them.”
“New Girl,” which also starred Jake Johnson, Max Greenfield and Lamorne Morris, aired from 2011 to 2018, and grew in popularity after it landed on Netflix.
While Curtis had a negative experience on “New Girl,” she had praise for her ’80s ABC sitcom “Anything But Love,” which she starred in opposite Richard Lewis.
“It was my favorite job I’ve ever had,” Curtis said at the NBCUniversal panel. “And I’m 68 years old, and every single year, all I’ve ever said to my agents is ‘I want to do a sitcom, all I want to do is a sitcom.’”
She continued, “I love the whole part of it, every aspect of it, the dance with the cameras, the idea that you actually get to rehearse something and work it and learn a joke and play it.”
Curtis said she even “begged” her agents to do another sitcom — and her wish came true with NBC’s new series “Newlyweds,” which she co-created, executive produces and appears in as a guest star.
“I like to refer to myself as the HBIC. Head bitch in charge,” she said with a laugh. “I’m 68 years old. I’ve wanted to be a boss my whole life.”
“I’ve been doing it not as a boss for a long, long time. And now I’m a boss, and I love it.”