Jamie Lee Curtisincluding the numerous contacts with fictitious death in the hands of Michael Myers made her the eternal queen of Hollywood Halloweenreveals in a new interview with Weekly Entertainment that facing real-life mortality inspired the next phase of his career in the industry.

Amid a broader conversation about her work as producer of an upcoming documentary about 90s fitness icon Susan Powter (and she potential future in the Halloween film series), the 65-year-old tells EW that working on the Powter project made her think about her position in an industry that often sidelines women of a certain age.

“I should have played her in a movie,” Curtis says, adding that she once wanted to play Powter in a scripted project during the height of the wellness icon’s fame, in the mid-1990s. I thought about it then. I didn’t think about it today because I didn’t know where Susan Powter was when she was in her ascendancy, I absolutely would have been the person you would have hired. I was cute in a leotard, I had short hair, I would have cut it shorter, I’m cheeky and bold, maybe a little annoying, maybe a little loud.”

When asked if she pitched her idea of ​​playing Powter in a movie in the ’90s, Curtis said she wouldn’t have had the confidence to champion such a project on her own behalf at the time .

“I only came into my own as a producer when I realized I was going to die soon. When I turned 60, it was a real turning point where I realized all the things I “I had in my head, my heart, my mind, the soul, the spirit and the life force were going to die with me if I didn’t bring them into the universe,” she says, explaining that she felt forced to lay the foundations of her own production company, Comet Pictures, after the epiphany. . “It was my moment of truth, and that’s when I went Jason Blum and said, “I want a production company.” It worked out pretty well for all of us.”

The upcoming documentary from filmmaker Zeberiah Newman, which Curtis personally funded, investigates how Powter lost his fortune and ended up working as a delivery driver for Uber Eats in 2024. While the documentary will take a deep dive into fame of the fitness icon – which included his own short film – live talk show between 1994 and 1995, as well as his iconic “Stop the Insanity!” infomercial – it also serves as a societal mirror for the public.

“This was never an article about the exploitation of Susan Powter, but an indictment of the way we discard human beings as they age in this country. It’s an exploration of the incredible cruelty we inflict on the elderly and the lack of resources, and the lack of dignity offered to these human beings who lived before us, who served us and who gave us the lives we all live today ‘today,’ says Curtis. “It’s an indictment of all the families who have isolated the elderly in this forgotten and horrible way. It’s an indictment of the way we treat the elderly in our professional lives.”

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Earlier this month, PEOPLE reported on Powter’s current living conditions, with the star revealing that she lost her amassed fortune due to bad deals, lawsuits, and relying on a team that pushed her toward a better future. “Mortifying” experience with TV fame.

“They started producing the ‘me’ from me,” Powter, 66, said. “And it happened when the money came here (raising hand high). Then it was like, ‘Oh, Suze, don’t say that. No, no. It’s a little too much. Oh , you’re shocking. But it’s the same shock that brought me there.”