Jamie Lee Curtis Was “Like Professor X” In Personally Casting 2 Of Her Scarpetta Co-Stars

Jamie Lee Curtis was one of the first to join Prime Video’s Scarpetta, and also had a hand in casting two of its central stars.

Led by Nicole Kidman, the series adapts Patricia Cornwell’s novel character of Kay Scarpetta, a brilliant forensic pathologist who, nearly 30 years after leaving the job, accepts the position of Chief Medical Examiner in her hometown in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Shortly after arriving, she begins investigating a series of murders involving women left near train tracks, which may have ties to the case that made her career.

Curtis stars in the Scarpetta cast as the titular character’s sister, Dorothy, while also serving as an executive producer on the crime thriller series alongside Kidman. The ensemble roster for the show also includes two-time Emmy winner Bobby Cannavale as former detective Pete Marino, Oscar winner Ariana DeBose as Dorothy’s daughter Lucy, The Mentalist‘s Simon Baker as Kay’s husband and FBI profiler Benton Wesley, and Rabbit Trap‘s Rosy McEwen as a younger Kay, among many others.

In honor of the show’s premiere, ScreenRant‘s Liam Crowley interviewed Bobby Cannavale and Ariana DeBose to discuss Scarpetta. When asked about a story stating that Curtis recruited them for the show, both actors confirmed the Oscar winner was a big player behind their castings, with DeBose saying it’s “very [much] Jamie Lee’s style” to personally have a hand in building a project’s roster:

Ariana DeBose: I think she texted me, and then it was like, “Do you want to play my daughter in a TV show?” And I said, yes. And then I picked up the phone, called her, and was like, “What are you talking about? ” I mean, yes, but what are you talking about? And she told me what it was, and I was like, “Okay, my ‘yes’ stands.” But she’s very direct, that Jamie Lee Curtis. And again, how do you say no to Jamie Lee? How do you say no?

Cannavale concurred with DeBose and humorously compared Curtis to X-Men leader Professor X in her ability to put teams together. He also recalled similarly getting a text from the Halloween vet offering him the chance to join Scarpetta‘s cast as her husband, being keen to “take the chance” with the part after being told she wanted to reach out to him herself.

Cannavale & DeBose Had A Real Joy Watching The Actors Of Their Characters’ Younger Selves

ScreenRant: As a father, as a parent, I’d love for you to talk about the pride you feel working with your son on the series, especially in such close proximity where you’re playing the same character.

Bobby Cannavale: Well, it’s exciting. I think any parent will tell you, any amount of time they can get with their child is more than welcome. And it’s funny to call him my child, because he’s 30. But I see him a lot, and he’s been steadily chipping away at his career. Jake did a wonderful job called The Offer some years back, and he acquitted himself nicely on that. He and I worked together one other time when he was in high school. He came onto Nurse Jackie and played my son, and he was phenomenal on that. So, little by little, he’s been working. He worked on Broadway, he acted, and he’s been doing things here and there, and he’s earned his moment here. It’s a real bonus that he gets to play me because, as you mentioned, people have always told us we look alike physically, and he knows he sounds like me and makes the same faces I make. And it’s a little disconcerting sometimes, but the bummer is that we don’t actually get to work together, because he’s playing younger me, but I’m very, very, very happy, and very proud to be able to share the screen with him.

ScreenRant: It’s a real joy getting to have the main quartet, both younger and present-day versions. It reminded me a lot, especially with the mystery thriller aspect of True Detective, especially that first season with McConaughey and Harrelson. Ariana, you can answer this one specifically. What luxuries do you feel when you get to have someone younger playing the same character as you? Do you feel like you learn more about who the character is, despite the fact that those scenes aren’t ones that you necessarily acted in?

Ariana DeBose: Oh yeah, definitely. I think it’s really nice, because my little — she’s so great, but she can just be free and do what she feels. I think they showed her a little bit of what I was doing, so if she wanted, she could play with that. But for me, I was like, “Oh, I can watch her and pick up little nuances, as well.” So it was a fun two-way street, but I’ve really enjoyed watching her grow the character, and then there’s a nice handoff for me. I just take her naturalisms and do what I do.

ScreenRant: There’s no shortage of Scarpetta books. I know this first season effectively adapts a couple of different elements from past Patricia books. Do each of you have ideas for where you want to take Pete and Lucy moving forward if there are to be more seasons?

Ariana DeBose: I mean, Lucy could fly a helicopter and I would not be mad.

Bobby Cannavale: You get to do a lot of things like that. I need to drive cool trucks.

Ariana DeBose: In the books —

Bobby Cannavale: She does it all, right? She’s like MacGyver.

Ariana DeBose: She does everything. There’s a part of me that’s like, “Dear Amazon, Blumhouse, and Liz, where’s my helicopter?”

Bobby Cannavale: I just think that the Pete-[Dr.] Kay relationship is so interesting, and it’s rooted in some really dark, secretive stuff. And I just think the more they uncover that, little by little, the more titillating it is, and the more it makes you lean forward. And so, I hope they keep going with that, and they slow the roll with that so that we —

Ariana DeBose: We love a slow burn.

Bobby Cannavale: We just got to keep on wondering.

Ariana DeBose: Will they? Won’t they?

Bobby Cannavale: Will they? Won’t they? Are they? Are they not? What happened? What happened is always a question that I find compelling, in any narrative, really. What happened that makes those two acts so weird with each other? And I think Liz has her finger on it, really in a nice way.

Scarpetta premieres on Prime Video on March 11!