The streaming wars have been in full effect for years now, and those with an Amazon Prime subscription have recently been treated to a new TV series: the book to screen adaptation Scarpetta. The series stars Nicole Kidman as Dr. Kay Scarpetta, and also features a stellar ensemble cast that includes Jamie Lee Curtis and Ariana DeBose. And years after DeBose's BAFTAs rap went viral, she spoke to CinemaBlend about Curtis defending her back in the day.
While some folks are figuring out how to watch Scarpetta, I had the privilege of speaking with the cast and team ahead of its release. As you can see in the video above, I couldn't help asking DeBose about playing Curtis' daughter, especially after the Halloween icon defended her iconic BAFTAs rap. The Oscar-winning actress told me:
You know, it was quite unexpected. One does not expect to, you know, get a text or a phone call that's like, 'Hey, would you like to play my kid?' Which is very Jamie style. That's pretty much exactly how it happened. See that's just what she does, she goes direct to the source and just like says the thing.
Sounds pretty iconic to me. On top of her versatile talents as an actress, Jamie Lee Curtis is also known for her boisterous and charismatic personality. So it stands to reason that the same person who dropped F-bombs defending DeBose would also call her up and personally ask her to join the cast of Scarpetta. After all, the Curtis is both an actress and producer on the new TV series.
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For those who don't remember, Ariana DeBose went viral for a rap she did at the 2023 BAFTAs, where she shouted out all the female actress nominees in song. I've been pretty obsessed with it since then, but folks were dunking on the West Side Story actress online. That led JLC to speak out and defend her, which was seemingly the start of the two actress' relationship. As DeBose went on:
But you know to the world, you're welcome for that Jamie Lee Curtis meme, everyone just back off and you let that woman shine her light that was about me and you are all are welcome. And in that way, I just fell in love like with Jamie immediately. Because she is very that girl. She is just like, 'Yo, you don't have to be so mean. Like, we're all here to celebrate the art form. We should celebrate each other. Like, take a chill pill and shine your light.'
I'm with Jamie. DeBose's rap was one of the most iconic moment from that Awards Season, and I've personally kept quoting it to this day. So it's really awesome seeing them onscreen together in Scarpetta playing Dorothy and Lucy. As a reminder, you can see JLC's viral comments defending the Hamilton OG below:
Critics have been mixed on Scarpetta, which is now streaming over on Amazon. Having seen the first few episodes in advance, I can say that Jamie Lee Curtis and Ariana DeBose are both doing strong work playing the title character's sister and niece respectively. And I personally love the way Awards Season connected these two Oscar-winners together years before bringing Patricia Cornwell's characters to life on the small screen.
Scarpetta is currently streaming in its entirety over on Amazon Prime Video as part of the 2026 TV schedule. We'll just have to see how long it runs, and how many of the novels are ultimately adapted for TV. One thing is clear: Jamie Lee really is all of us.
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