"Shutting Up Is Free": Jamie Lee Curtis Is Facing Backlash For Her Recent Comments About Ana de Armas

Many remember actor Ana de Armas from her stellar performance as Marta in 2019's Knives Out. But prior to appearing in that film, she had already been in others like Blade Runner 2049, War Dogs, and Knock Knock, as well as numerous Spanish-language productions dating back to 2006.

But despite her over 15 years of experience, Knives Out costar Jamie Lee Curtis recently told Elle as part of Ana de Armas's cover story that she assumed de Armas was an “inexperienced, unsophisticated young woman” prior to meeting her.

“I assumed — and I say this with real embarrassment — because she had come from Cuba, that she had just arrived,” Curtis said. “I made an assumption that she was an inexperienced, unsophisticated young woman. That first day, I was like, ‘Oh, what are your dreams?'”

Curtis goes on to say that she was impressed by de Armas and offered to introduce her to Steven Spielberg to play Maria in West Side Story. She also offered to introduce her to Curtis’s godchildren, Maggie and Jake Gyllenhaal, and was surprised to hear de Armas already knew Jake.

Given de Armas has appeared in Estée Lauder campaigns, Curtis added, “She is not as fancy as maybe the advertisements would have you believe. She leans in, interested; talking to her is kind of give-and-take. She’s curious and asks a lot of questions.”

Ana will be appearing as Marilyn Monroe in Netflix's upcoming film Blonde, and given that Jamie's father, Tony Curtis, starred opposite Marilyn in Some Like It Hot, de Armas didn't pass up the opportunity to show Curtis photos of her as Marilyn. "She showed me a picture of her as Marilyn,” Curtis said. “My father was in Some Like It Hot, and I have a lot of photos of my father and Marilyn. It was a couple of still pictures and one video of her moving through space with no audio. But it was so shocking because she was Marilyn.”

Curtis is now facing backlash for her initial assumptions about de Armas, especially from Latinos who have to deal with these same assumptions on a daily basis.

Ultimately, most believe that this wasn't exactly something Curtis should have even shared.

Jamie has not responded to the backlash, but we will update you if she does. You can read Elle's full Ana de Armas cover story here.