Jamie Lee Curtis' graphic novel shows how 'We're blowing it with Mother Nature' - NPR

Jamie Lee Curtis' new graphic novel warns us not to mess with 'Mother Nature' : NPR

Jamie Lee Curtis' graphic novel shows how 'We're blowing it with Mother Nature'
This project was motivated by the climate crisis: "We are heading into a very, very dangerous place," Curtis says. The story explores the environmental decisions one generation makes for the next.

JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:

Oscar-winning actor Jamie Lee Curtis is on strike against the Hollywood studios as a member of the union SAG-AFTRA, but she has a separate career as an author. And today a graphic novel she co-wrote goes on sale. NPR's Mandalit del Barco reports.

MANDALIT DEL BARCO, BYLINE: Jamie Lee Curtis has written a number of bestselling books for children about feeling silly and being patient and liking yourself. But her new book, "Mother Nature," is more in line with the horror movies she's known for.

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JAMIE LEE CURTIS: (As character, screaming).

DEL BARCO: The scream queen co-wrote an eco-horror screenplay, which New Yorker illustrator Karl Stevens adapted into a graphic novel.

KARL STEVENS: I went through a lot of cadmium red.

DEL BARCO: Because there's a lot of blood. There will be blood in this book.

STEVENS: Yeah.

DEL BARCO: During the recent Comic-Con in San Diego, fans got to see a video with some of the novel's images set to music. The story is set in New Mexico, where an energy corporation is fracking water under land leased from a Native American woman. Her daughter, Nova, tries to sabotage the water project and is struck by lightning. Curtis says Nova then becomes the spirit of Mother Nature, who takes revenge for being destroyed.

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CURTIS: I had an idea of every gruesome way that Mother Nature could kill people - you know, black ice, storms, tornadoes, burning them up with extreme heat, hailstones to the head. What a way to go.

DEL BARCO: It isn't nice to mess with Mother Nature. And in one key scene, an earthquake shakes loose the head of an oil drill, killing Nova's father, who worked for the energy company. Curtis says the climate crisis motivated her to write such a story.

CURTIS: The inspiration is terror. The inspiration is fear that we are heading into a very, very dangerous place.

DEL BARCO: Curtis says over the years, she's been involved with the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group. But she first imagined this story, "Mother Nature," when she was just 19, influenced by 1970s disaster movies "The Towering Inferno" and "The Poseidon Adventure."

CURTIS: I was aware of the raping of the land. I was aware of the drilling and the blasting and the stealing of these natural resources. And I just had this idea in my head. I said, I'm going to write a movie about how we're blowing it with Mother Nature. I just knew it. And it stuck with me so that when - in 2018, when I made the "Halloween" movie and got reinvigorated to the process of making movies, decided to write a screenplay, ended up working with Russell.

DEL BARCO: That would be Russell Goldman, the son of a friend who was her assistant on the "Halloween" films.

CURTIS: That was his great contribution to the screenplay - making it all about women.

RUSSELL GOLDMAN: Women are cool.

CURTIS: Women are cool.

GOLDMAN: Yes.

CURTIS: You heard it here on NPR.

GOLDMAN: You heard it here first on NPR.

CURTIS: Women are cool.

DEL BARCO: Goldman says "Mother Nature" centers on mothers and daughters.

GOLDMAN: It's a story about the decisions that one generation is making in leaving a planet behind for the next.

DEL BARCO: The story's main mother and daughter are Navajo. Goldman researched the culture, and he collaborated on a script with several Native American consultants, including author and filmmaker Brian Lee Young. He says he helped incorporate elements of traditional Dine folklore depicting retaliating natural forces.

BRIAN LEE YOUNG: This is the first time that I've seen the Navajo culture portrayed in a respectful way and also referencing that we have the power to reverse the dangers that climate change enacts on all our communities. I hope everyone gets to read it. It's a lot of fun, especially as a horror fan.

DEL BARCO: At Comic-Con, Curtis told her fans they just might make "Mother Nature" into a movie someday.

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CURTIS: That would be fun. Maybe I'll direct it. Maybe I'll co-direct.

GOLDMAN: Woo (ph).

CURTIS: Maybe I'll be in it.

GOLDMAN: Yeah.

CURTIS: Maybe I'll do all of it. You know what? I'm 65 years old this November, and...

(APPLAUSE)

CURTIS: I have no time to waste.

GOLDMAN: Yeah.

CURTIS: None.

DEL BARCO: Mandalit del Barco, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF SINY'S "ORANGE")

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