Jamie Lee Curtis Admits at 2023 Oscars She 'Did Not Understand' Everything Everywhere at First

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Jamie Lee Curtis admits that it took some time before she understood the meaning behind Everything Everywhere All at Once.

While walking the red carpet for the Oscars 2023, the 64-year-old actress and first-time Academy Award nominee said that the story for universe-hopping dramedy took time to unravel. Curtis plays IRS auditor Deirdre Beaubeirdra in the hit film, which stars Michelle Yeoh as Evelyn Wang, a Chinese immigrant swept up in a wild adventure and dropped into other universes on a mission to save her world.

"Well, she's a villain but she's a misunderstood villain. I think all villains are misunderstood people — hurt people hurt people," Curtis told Lilly Singh during the ABC pre-show of the role, for which she's been nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the 95th Academy Awards. "And so I think Deirdre is just another forgotten person who's been betrayed and hurt by her own story and she hurts people."

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On untangling the character, the Halloween star explained her the initial hitch with the script — and what flipped it.

"Well I didn't understand it at all, I understood her and that was my job — they were asking me to be her. And so because I understood that, I said yes," Curtis said. "I didn't understand the movie until two things — I saw the sequence at the laundromat being filmed where the husband and the wife reunified and the mother and the daughter reunified, and I went, 'Oh, this a movie about love.' And then I saw it at South [SXSW] the first time on the screen and I thought, 'What a masterpiece, this is a movie that's going to change cinema.' "

Curtis' performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once has garnered her critical acclaim and several accolade nods this season, including a recent win at the SAG Awards 2023 for outstanding performance by a female actor in a supporting role (one of four categories Everything Everywhere swept, including outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture and outstanding performance by a female actor in a leading role for Yeoh).

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After expressing shock from her table about her name being called, Curtis kissed her costar Yeoh on the lips and made her way to the stage, where she got emotional and said, "Come on!" as she got a standing ovation.

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"I love actors. I love acting. I love the job we get to do. I love being a part of a crew. I love being part of a cast. I love what we do with each other. It's such a beautiful job. And I know that so many people in our industry who are actors who don't get to do this job and you look at nights like this and think, 'Is that ever going to be possible for me?' And I know you look at me and think 'Well, nepo baby, that's why she's there' — and I totally get it. But the truth of the matter is I'm 64 years old and this is just amazing!"

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Eric Ray Davidson Jamie Lee Curtis

Echoing similar sentiments, when previously asked by PEOPLE what her Oscar nod for Everything Everywhere meant to her, Curtis previously said, "I'm still processing all of it. I'm 64 years old!"

The Oscars air live on ABC on Sunday, March 12, at 8 p.m. ET. This year's ceremony is emceed by Jimmy Kimmel (who also hosted in 2017 and 2018) and will be held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood and televised live on ABC.