Linda Cardellini has made a career out of getting away with murder on screen — and her latest turn as one of horror’s most iconic killers has roots that go back more than two decades, to a courtroom and a very ill-advised perm.
In Peacock’s new Crystal Lake, Cardellini takes over the role of Pamela Voorhees from Betsy Palmer. Her Pamela is a humble camp lunch lady whose grief turns lethal. But horror fans may not realize that Cardellini was already playing a killer long before she picked up a machete.
In Legally Blonde (2001), she plays Chutney Windham, the wealthy, condescending stepdaughter of fitness queen Brooke Windham, who’s on trial for her husband’s murder. On the stand, Chutney testifies she was in the shower after getting her hair permed that morning and never heard the gunshot. That’s when Elle Woods strikes: you aren’t supposed to wet a fresh perm for 24 hours, so her story can’t be true. Chutney finally admits her frustration at having a stepmother her own age, and inadvertently confesses she shot her father after mistaking him for Brooke. A murder case, cracked by hair-care rules.
The perm left a mark on Cardellini herself, too. She’s said the Legally Blonde hairstyle gave her a bald spot.
