Jamie Lee Curtis Christmas with the Kranks

JAMIE LEES FINAL HURRAH?

Jamie Lee Curtis/Christmas with the Kranks Interview by Paul Fischer in LosAngeles.

Jamie Lee Curtis was in a playful mood, but that didnt stop her fromannouncing that Christmas with the Kranks might well be her last movie."Yep, done, done, done." But then the still beautiful star baulks at theword retirement. "But I do think that there is a point. It is that weirdworld of you either saying I am looking for wonderful projects to do or yougo: you know what I would really like is to raise my kids and my son andthat the consistent focus of my life will be family." Curtis said that shedoesnt have a desperate need to work, certainly not for financial reasons."I have made some good financial choices, raised by very conservative peopleand have saved every penny I have ever made. So Ive done very well formyself am self-made and my books are incredibly successful, all of which Ihave taken very good care of," Curtis confesses.

At 46, Curtis looks perennially youthful and sexy, qualities she takesadvantage of in the family comedy Christmas with the Kranks, a film about asuburban comedy that decides to skip Christmas and instead embark on aCaribbean cruise, much to the utter chagrin of her equally suburbanneighbours. One key scene has Curtis parading around a shopping mall in anoverly tight bikini, which accentuates the actresss breasts. "I havereally big breasts and they have only gotten bigger," she says laughingly,crediting her large-breasted Hungarian grandmother for then consistentlylarge cleavage. "My grandmother is from Budapest, where they have theuniboob, just one giant breast with a line down the middle. So the bathingsuit talk was how are we going to get away with this, since it is a familyfilm, conceived by people, like Chris Columbus who is a family guy, veryreligious, with know strong moral values. How do we put me into a bikinibathing suit and not have it be R rated because I am endowed," as shethanks her late mother Janet Leigh. "God bless you for many things but youknow one that I had very little to do with," Curtis adds smilingly.

Of course Christmas with the Kranks is very much a Hollywood family film,and large breasts or not, the actress sees the film as thematicallyimportant this holiday season, wanting families who see the film, "to takeaway what is intended, which is that community and family is important andthat being together as a group of people is what the holidays are supposedto be about, a time of families coming together. The rest of it can be leftaside and really no matter what if your family is with you, you are lucky."

Curtis, who began her career first screaming her heart out in Halloween, andthen appearing naked in several films, says that starring in the likes ofChristmas with the Kranks and the previous Freaky Friday, have to do withbeing a concerned parent. "I made adult choices when I made them. I try notto regret them, but certainly there are things that I will have to navigatein a difficult way with my kids to have them see and I am sorry that I amgoing to put them in that position. After all in my mothers generation, themost risqué thing my mother ever did was wear a bra in Psycho."Asked what the hardest thing is she will ever have to explain to herchildren, the actress simply says that she is not going to explain to them."It is just that they will see me naked in a movie, which has got to bedifficult. I am not a nudist; and dont walk around naked in front of theirfriends, so in that sense I find it to be something that I have had toaccept that that is something my kids are going to have to navigate."

As she is reluctant to talk about the naked phase of her career, when itcomes to Halloween, which many consider a horror classic, looking back, theoutspoken actress is not quite so kind. "You know what? Halloween wasnt aclassic, but 18 days of young filmmakers making the movie. End of storynothing else. It was just what it was, cheap, nothing. Then it becamesomething that people think of as being bigger then life, but if you reallylook at them, theyre not, but just a movie."

While we may see less of the formidable Ms Curtis on the screen, she is notgoing to give up her writing of kids books any time soon. "I just releasedmy sixth book to a great success called It Is Hard To Be Five, Learning Howto Work My Control Panel, which is a wonderful book about self control." Theactress/author says there are many more in the pipeline, "Eight, nine, ten,twelve, fifteenth. I have them kind of lined up like airplanes on a runway."

Writer or movie star, we havent seen the last of the outspoken Jamie LeeCurtis.

CHRISTMAS WITH THE KRANKS OPENS IN DECEMBER