Nicole and Jamie Lee sister dressing

Nicole Kidman and Jamie Lee Curtis are co-starring in Scarpetta, Prime Video’s series adaptation of Patricia Cornwell’s popular “Kay Scarpetta” mystery novels. Kidman stars as forensic pathologist Dr. Kay Scarpetta, and Curtis plays her older sister, Dorothy.

On paper, I was not sold on this sister casting at ALL, but in the trailer, I see little bits of chemistry that makes me think they can sell it.

It’s the way that Dorothy is not taking any sh-t off Kay, her little sister. JLC is giving great older sister energy. I’m curious about Scarpetta, in general, though, because Cornwell’s books became popular in a time when we were much less critical of how police, policing, and law enforcement were presented in media. Will they update this for the 2020s? The series was developed by Liz Sarnoff, who is also the showrunner, and she has written for Lost, Deadwood, and Barry, so there is reason to hope Sarnoff will pull something more complicated and interesting out of Cornwell’s books (which I found boring and repetitive back in the day).

The series also co-stars Bobby Cannavale and Simon Baker, a dish for every taste. There is also a split timeline in the series, with a younger cast playing the characters 20 years in the past, and Bobby’s actual son, Jake Cannavale, is playing the younger version of Bobby’s character. I know, I know, nepotism has run amok in creative industry and it is depressing for what it represents—the narrowing of access and blatant gatekeeping—but

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, set in the Godzilla/King Kong universe, did something similar, casting Kurt Russell and Wyatt Russell as the same character across decades, and I don’t hate that. It makes the double performance sort of eerie when you catch all the ways father and son echo each other. Keen to see how that plays for the Cannavales.

Anyway, here are Nicole Kidman and Jamie Lee Curtis in New York last night, going to an event at the 92^nd Street Y (Nicole also stopped by The Tonight Show). Love Nicole’s animal print coat, which matched Jamie Lee Curtis’s blouse. Theme dressing as sisters! You know what, this is actually making me anticipate Nicole and Sandra Bullock doing press for Practical Magic 2.