Dylan Murray
Jamie Lee Curtis has opened up about the one thing she has the crew do on a film set to help combat her 'uneven position'.
Typically, on the sets of films and TV shows, there's a divide between the cast and the crew, as the cast can sometimes big-league the crew due to their star power and notoriety.
For Curtis, this divide is frustrating and something she believes should be done away with entirely.
The former Halloween star spoke about this Hollywood phenomenon and how she tries to break it down when she spoke with her Borderlands co-star Kevin Hart ahead of their film’s release in theaters this month.
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“There’s something really uneven about our position on a set, on a movie, in this arena,” Curtis told Hart on the latter’s Gold Minds podcast, “You guys know our names, we don’t know yours. There’s something inequitable to me about that.”
Curtis continued, noting that since building a rapport on some level with both her cast and her crew is deeply important to her, she asks the film crews that she works with to wear name tags while on set.
“On a movie set, if we were all working together, we would all be wearing name tags,” Curtis explained.
“So that tomorrow when we came in, I would be able to then say ‘good morning [Sabine]’ without even [...] thought because I’ve learned her name.
“I just want it to be equitable because it’s an important thing. It’s art – there isn’t hierarchy in art. It’s supposed to be a group of people.”
Curtis’ desire to have a more respectful working environment for both actors and crew members is something that many find to be quite honorable. The interview gained traction online and led many to tip their hats to the tenured actor for her stance on the cast/crew divide.
“As someone who works on sets, yes please!” one commenter on Reddit said, “It is awkward working with talent if there isn't a moment for them to introduce themselves to you, which is more often than not.”
Others noted that it would not only help cast members learn the names of the people they’re working with, but also extras and members of the crew who are not good at remembering names.
“As a background actor it would actually be super helpful,” another commenter explained. “If, when someone says, ‘You need to talk to Sierra in costumes’, I could tell who they meant via a name tag.”