James Cameron‘s spy movie True Lies is such a classic that it has spawned a CBS series decades after Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis saved the world on the big screen — but Ginger Gonzaga somehow missed it before starring in the show.
Covering her eyes for a moment, the former She-Hulk: Attorney at Law scene stealer admitted to ABC Audio Wednesday, “Oh, gosh, it’s always embarrassing. I hadn’t seen it. I tell everyone the only movies I had ever seen were Sister Acts 1 and 2 and Mrs. Doubtfire.”
She added with a laugh, “And then, I don’t know, I’ve seen maybe five movies since. I don’t know how I’m an actor.”
The star plays Helen Tasker, the role Everything Everywhere Oscar nominee Curtis played in the film: A bored woman who discovers her seemingly boring salesman husband is actually as super spy.
Ginger explained not seeing the 1994 movie was a blessing in disguise. “Watching Howie [co-star Steve Howie] be like, ‘Oh my gosh, I have to fill Arnold’s shoes,’ I was like, ‘I don’t know. I’m just playing this character, Helen.’ So I maintained not watching it prior to doing the pilot, so I could just do my Ginger version of a character named Helen. And I think that really took the pressure off of me.”
She added, “I love Jamie so much, and I know if I had watched it, I would have been judging every single move that I did, you know, like, ‘Oh, that’s too much like her’ or ‘No, you’re copying Jamie,’ so I want to let Jamie be Jamie. And I got out of that pressure by having been sheltered as a child, really,” she laughed.
True Lies airs at 10 p.m. ET on CBS.
Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.