Jennifer Love Hewitt has mixed feelings about playing Julie James again.
In an interview with ET, Hewitt confirmed that a third I know what you did last summer The film is “in the making,” and she revealed that she is “honestly very scared” to play the iconic role again. This fear, Hewitt told ET, is mainly due to the fact that “26 years have passed.”
The first film was released in 1997 and told the story of a group of teenagers who were involved in a hit-and-run accident and ended up being terrorized by someone who knew what they had done. The sequel, I still remember what you did last summerdebuted the following year.
Despite these fears, Hewitt said that if the third film goes ahead, she would be willing to bring Julie James “back at 26 years of fear, knowledge and madness – which I now put into one word – and have some fun.”
In February 2023 it was announced that a third film was in developmentwith Hewitt and her co-star, Freddie Prinze Jr.who will return as Julie James and Ray Bronson respectively. Then, more than a year later, further details about the project came to light, including the planned release date: July 18, 2025.
“It’s really crazy to even think about it,” Hewitt told ET. “If it actually works out, I don’t even know how I’m going to feel other than extremely overwhelmed and grateful, but it’s crazy to think about it… It’s nice to know that people are excited about the possibility. I think it would be really fun if it works out.”
When asked what she would like to bring to the character more than two decades later, Hewitt quipped, “I think the main thing I want to do is tone up my mother’s arms a little bit. That would be nice.”
“I think there’s power in being older. There’s power in going away and having three kids,” said the actress, who has children Autumn (10), Atticus (8) and Aidan (2) with her husband Brian Hallisay. “You feel like you can do anything now. The vulnerability that Julie James was in the first two episodes is definitely not there in this one. I’m looking forward to just showing her all grown up.”
The adult version of Julie James, Hewitt teased, “has to go crazy.”
“I don’t know who she’s fighting, but whoever it is, they’re not going to stand a chance. Me and a stunt double can do it,” she said. “That’s all I can say.”
Looking back on the original film, Hewitt said it was “a revelation” for him to get the role.
“I auditioned for other movies, I acted in other things, but I definitely told my mom and my agent, ‘I can’t play the lead in a movie until I’m at least 18 or older because I want to be able to work 24/7. I want to be there. I want to do it,'” she recalled, before revealing that she initially auditioned for Sarah Michelle Gellars role of Helen Shivers.
“I went to audition for Sarah’s role in the movie and I was like, ‘That’s not me,'” Hewitt said. “They said, ‘Okay, so what do you want to do?’ I said, ‘I want to audition for Julie James. That’s what I want to do.’ They said, ‘Okay. So, get out. In 10 minutes you have to come back in and audition for Julie James.’ I just knew I was more her. When they said I made it, I almost freaked out.”
Hewitt called the film’s success “wild” before explaining why the production of the second film was even better than the first.
“The first one I was terrified,” she said. “I thought, ‘Am I going to ruin the whole movie?’ I couldn’t sleep. [when] We shot the first film because I was literally up until the middle of the night and someone was chasing me and then they said, “OK, it’s over. Go home.” How are you supposed to sleep during that process?”
“But the second part was just fun. It was funny,” Hewitt continued. “I had to toughen her up. She had been through so much and wasn’t quite as vulnerable as she was in the first part. It was just silly and fun, and we got to go to Mexico and Jack Black was there. It was just the best.”
Nowadays, Hewitt is busy with many projects. She has written a book, Inheriting Magicand is currently starring in ABC’s 9-1-1The season 7 finale will air on May 30th.
“You can expect it to leave you emotionally confused in all the right ways. It’s going to be intense,” said the actress behind Maddie Buckley. “What I can say about this finale that’s different from any other finale, at least for Maddie, is that I can finish it quite well… I think it’s a light finale, but it’s good.”
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