Jamie Lee Curtis credits her mother for not letting her audition for 'The Exorcist'

Los Angeles: Oscar-winning actress Jamie Lee Curtis is thankful to her late mother, Janet Leigh, for not letting her audition for the 1973 film ‘The Exorcist’.

Curtis said she was nearly 12 years old when a producer, Ray Stark, called the late actress and told her he was producing a film. But when he proposed the idea of making Curtis audition for the role, Leigh simply said, ‘No’.

Directed by William Friedkin, ‘The Exorcist’ was based on William Peter Blatty’s 1971 novel. It revolved around the young possessed Regan MacNeil.

“He called my mom and said, ‘Hey, I’m producing the movie of the book ‘The Exorcist’. Will you let Jamie audition for it?’ And at the time, I was probably 12 and like, cute and kind of sassy and I had some personality and I’m sure he saw me at a party and was like, ‘Oh, she’d be funny’. And my mother said, ‘No’.”

“My mom really wanted me to have a childhood, which I understand you didn’t get. You didn’t get that option,” the ‘A Fish Called Wanda’ star said on ‘The Drew Barrymore Show’.

Actress Linda Blair eventually landed the role in the film, which she later went on to reprise in the sequel titled ‘Exorcist II: The Heretic’. Filmmaker John Boorman directed the film.

Curtis made her acting debut in the 1978 horror film ‘Halloween’. The film was directed by Laurie Strode.