Venice (AFP)

We can be the most legendary of horror actresses and tremble like a leaf: Jamie Lee Curtis, icon for 40 years of horror cinema, delivered his secrets in Venice where she was awarded a Golden Lion on Wednesday evening for his career.

Revealed by the first of the twelve films in the "Halloween" series, "Halloween: the night of the masks", a great horror classic made four decades ago by the master of the genre John Carpenter, Jamie Lee Curtis is at the poster of the last part, "Halloween Kills", presented out of competition in Venice.

Cropped gray hair, a discreet smile and a sporty figure, the 62-year-old actress has something to look for: she is the daughter of actors Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, who dies onscreen in one of the most chilling scenes of the history of cinema, under the shower of "Psychosis", by Alfred Hitchock.

Jamie Lee Curtis, on the other hand, is forever associated with the character of Laurie Strode, a baby-sitter from the small town of Haddonfield, who will be the only one to survive an uncontrollable white-masked killer, Michael Myers.

A role that is like second nature, explained the "scream queen" in Venice: "I think what has made me successful in this genre for all these years is that I am easily and naturally appalled".

Jamie Lee Curtis in Venice for the Mostra, September 8, 2021 Marco BERTORELLO AFP

"I'm easily scared. I hate these movies, hate them, I can't stand being scared," she said.

But "if you are looking for pictures of me as a child, I always look terrified. In all the pictures it looks like I was yelled at."

"I think it's a natural talent. This dread that you see on the screen is very real, authentic", "there is no psychological preparation", she continued at a press conference.

- "We take hits" -

A fear reinforced during the shooting by the fact that despite the buckets of hemoglobin spilled, in "Halloween", the director has little use of digital effects: "They are real people, in real places, doing ultra-scary stuff ".

If she was able to stand out in a few other roles, including "A Fish Named Wanda" (1988), or "Knives Out", the 2019 movie hit of the year, Jamie Lee Curtis admits to having also done "shit" in his career.

American director Gordon Green and actress Jamie Lee Curtis, at the Mostra on September 8, 2021 Marco BERTORELLO AFP

But Laurie Strode, whom she played six times on the screen, remains her most iconic role, which has aged with her.

After all this time, "whether you call me Laurie or Jamie, it's the same thing. And the most exciting thing when you have the same role for 43 years, (...) is that you have evolved ".

"It's the beauty of humanity, we change. We all take hits, but we move forward. We can all refer to Laurie, my character. Everyone faces their demons."

The series was relaunched in 2018, with a tiny budget ($ 10 million) and great success (over $ 250 million at the box office) by David Gordon Green.

"Halloween Kills" is the second part of what must now be a trilogy.

We find the mad killer, always so uncontrollable, while the scenario wants to refer to populism and mass movements, with its inhabitants who no longer trust the police and begin to want to take justice into their own hands.

"We see communities all over the world getting angry with the machine, with the system," said the actress, assuring that the film was in a way "premonitory".

The film will be released on October 20 in France and a third installment, "Halloween Ends" is about to be shot.

© 2021 AFP