“Murder, She Wrote” Movie Director Reveals Why Jamie Lee Curtis Is the Perfect Fit for Angela Lansbury&x27;s Role (Exclusive) Desiree Anello, Nigel SmithFri, July 3, 2026 at 4:00 PM UTC 0 Jamie Lee Curtis; Angela LansburyCredit: Steve Jennings/Getty; CBS via Getty The director of the upcoming Murder, She Wrote film, Jason Moore, exclusively tells PEOPLE why he thinks Jamie Lee Curtis is the perfect person to take over Angela Lansbury&x27;s role “You can take a wonderful character, you can put somebody wonderful like Jamie Lee Curtis in it, and if you have a great murder mystery, I believe we&x...
“Murder, She Wrote” Movie Director Reveals Why Jamie Lee Curtis Is the Perfect Fit for Angela Lansbury's Role (Exclusive)
Desiree Anello, Nigel SmithFri, July 3, 2026 at 4:00 PM UTC
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Jamie Lee Curtis; Angela LansburyCredit: Steve Jennings/Getty; CBS via Getty -
The director of the upcoming Murder, She Wrote film, Jason Moore, exclusively tells PEOPLE why he thinks Jamie Lee Curtis is the perfect person to take over Angela Lansbury's role
“You can take a wonderful character, you can put somebody wonderful like Jamie Lee Curtis in it, and if you have a great murder mystery, I believe we'll have a great movie,” he says
Lansbury portrayed Jessica Fletcher, a sharp-witted mystery writer and amateur detective, in the iconic show from 1984 to 1996
Director Jason Moore is promising that his upcoming Murder, She Wrote movie reboot is in great hands with Jamie Lee Curtis.
Angela Lansbury's iconic mystery series, in which she played amateur detective Jessica Fletcher, ran for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996. Moore, who also directed Pitch Perfect and Shotgun Wedding, tells PEOPLE that the Freaky Friday actress, 67, is the perfect person to step into the shoes of the beloved character for many reasons.
“The point of Murder, She Wrote is every mystery was different,” Moore explains. “You can take a wonderful character, you can put somebody wonderful like Jamie Lee Curtis in it, and if you have a great murder mystery, I believe we'll have a great movie.”
Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She WroteCredit: Ron Tom/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
Even though the long-awaited return to Cabot Cove was pushed back from Dec. 22, 2027 release date to Feb. 4, 2028, Moore says that he's already gotten to see some of Curtis' “magic” in person.
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“She's just always curious, always forward, always caring, always very loving,” he emphasizes. “She's got a wry sense of humor. She's the kind of person who will ask, not just the maître d', but the busboy every question. She stops people to talk to them. She's kind of like a nosy, curious person, which works well for a detective, it turns out.”
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Jessica Fletcher, the character that Lansbury made famous more than 40 years ago, is a sharp-witted mystery writer and amateur detective who devotes herself to getting to the bottom of every crime she encounters.
“There've been a lot of detectives who've been played by multiple people over the years,” Moore says. “But I think one of the key things about Jessica Fletcher is that people would tell her things, they would confess things and tell her clues. And Jamie Lee Curtis is the kind of person, I swear to God, every time I sit down, I'm telling her some secret about my life.”
Jamie Lee CurtisCredit: Jesse Grant/Getty
The director says that he immediately knew that her natural curiosity made her the best person to “get to the truth of a murder.”
“I don't want to say there's no boundaries, because of course there are, but she makes you feel like she's an open book, and to a great extent, she is,” he concludes. “There's things she always wants to keep private. Who doesn't? But that just describes it.”
Curtis confirmed the project herself in July 2025, telling Entertainment Tonight of the reboot: “Oh it's... happening."
“We're a minute away. But very excited. Very excited," the Oscar winner added. “But I'm tamping down my enthusiasm until we start shooting. I have a couple other things to hustle and then I'll get to enjoy that work.”
on People
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Source: Entertainment
Published: July 3, 2026 at 07:45PM on Source: RED MAG
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