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WE'RE HANGIN' WITH....LEGALLY BLONDE'S REESE
WITHERSPOON Hot-looking and versatile 25-year-old actress Reese Witherspoon has
delighted us with both comedy and dramatic performances in Pleasantville,
Twilight, Cruel Intentions and the witty Election for which
she won the Best Actress Award from the National Society of Film Critics
as well as a Golden Globe nomination. In her new comedy Legally Blonde,
she plays a bright woman who is stereotyped by her appearance. AGW:: Where did you get your unusual first name? That's my mother's maiden name. AGW:: Was it fun to do a squeaky-clean sort of old-fashioned film? Yeah. Also I liked doing a comedy that would appeal to such a broad audience. I felt sort of a responsibility to start speaking to my young, female fans because they are so easily influenced and I thought this is such a great message for young women about believing in yourself and following your dreams and not being subservient to a relationship or the judgements of others. AGW:: Have you ever had that experience of being mistaken for less that what you are (like her character in the film)? Yeah, certainly. I went to Stanford University when I was 19 and I had already done several films and so I think there was a prejudice against me being an actress. I think a lot of people think I got in there because I was an actor when I had applied just the same as everyone else under my real name that nobody recognizes me under. So I've felt that kind of prejudice. AGW:: How do you deal with that prejudice when it happens? I think this movie has a great message in that sense. This character
is so myopic. She's so driven and she almost seems completely unaware
that people are thinking such terrible things about her until that moment
with her boyfriend when she says "I'm not good enough for you, am
I?" I think it's really important to keep a focus and not concentrate
on the bad things. A lot of the positive aspects of this character have
really worn off on me. AGW:: You're part of the image machine being a public personality and an actress. How easy is it to deal with that? I'm a determined person. I'm the kind of person that says okay, this is what I'm doing and I'm gonna follow through. I've found that having strong convictions and values in your life is what gets you through his hectic Hollywood lifestyle. You have to be sort of true to yourself and sort of keep the right things in mind in order to survive. AGW:: What about making good choices for your life? Is it tough to say "no"? It's actually easier to say "no" than to say "yes" to something because I know, when I go into something, I'm going to put my heart and soul into it and that takes a lot of effort. You have to really love something to say, okay I'm going to love this project and this character. I'm very particular about the roles I choose because I want to be in movies that I would like to see. AGW:: How do you deal with users in Hollywood? There's a certain point in your career where you feel like the gates of your friendship are closing because whoever's on the inside is gonna be there for life and whoever's on the outside, it's gonna be harder to get in. I think that's the nature of the business. I try to be as open as I can and I value the friendships that I have and I so depend on them. You have to be very discerning and a good judge of character to see what people want from you. AGW:: We understand that your husband Ryan Phillipe likes to dress down. Do you still enjoy the girlie side of getting dressed up to go out? (Laughing) One day we went to a premiere and he was so dressed down and I just came from the press junket so I was all in hair and make-up and everything and somebody came up to me at the end for an autograph and the security guard asked my husband to step back. 'Sir, if you want one of her autographs, you're gonna need to step back and stop crowding Ms. Witherspoon'. And I go, this is my husband. That was so funny. AGW:: How does having a daughter change your life? For me, having a child is like having a second childhood. We go to all her music classes and sing louder than all the kids and have such a good time. It brings back those child-like feelings. You have that energy and those emotions. In "The Importance of Being Ernest", I just played sort of a girl-woman and it was so helpful to be a mom because you have that conviction of being a child and you do know everything but, at the same time you know very little. I see my daughter just throw herself into things and be so self-assured. As a family with a child, it's all about what restaurants don't mind having eggs all over the floor and the sugar packages thrown at the other customers. Ryan and I have always been the sort of people who like to eat at Denny's anyway so it hasn't been that different for us. We love it. We have strong family structures from our childhoods and we have a great time raising this little perfect person. AGW:: How do you get into a character?
AGW:: Is there a message about being an independent woman in this film? Well, certainly, in the beginning, she's not independent at all. Her whole life, her whole self-worth is derived from her boyfriend's opinions of her. I saw, growing up, so many girls involved in these relationships that were like little pseudo-marriages. And they put so much of their self-worth into what these men think about them. I think it's a really valuable message to young women that it's great if you can have a good, healthy relationship but don't throw away your dreams on a relationship that is detrimental to your future. You have to seek out your potential and relationships aren't the end-all , be-all at age 22. (Laughs) I say that and I was married at 23 but I feel I've had a healthy relationship so that's different. AGW:: Do you and Ryan run script lines to each other? (With upper-crust accent) Dawling, will you run lines with me in the foyer? No, we try to keep that part separate because there's so much of that in our lives that we really try and focus on how's Ava responding to "Madeline" today and that sort of thing. AGW:: What was it like to be the American in an all-British cast (in "Importance of Being Ernest")? It was incredibly intimidating because I was the only one who had to study to learn this posh English accent and I had to walk on the set on the first day and say all of my lines in front of Judy Dench and Rupert Everett. I think the first take I was whispering. Maybe they won't hear me. They were so incredibly giving and I had this idea of them whispering on the side "Oh, she's just got that awful American accent" but they were great. Every time I couldn't figure out a word, they'd come over and help me. The women in "Ernest" are just so incredibly determined and self-assured and I found it very modern. AGW:: With doing "Ernest", is moving on to more adult-aimed films going to be new for you? Certainly, and I try and go as far away from the last role I played as possible. You can't go much further than being an English rose in an Oscar Wilde piece from Elle Woods (her character in "Blonde"). And, I'd never done a period drama before. AGW:: Does it help to literally get into the clothes of a character in another era? Oh, yes. With all that restrictive corseting and the bustles and petticoats. You could only move a certain way and hold your hands a certain way. We were always joking because you always clasped your hands in front of you and there's no other way to hold them because of the way your body is held rigid. Just like high heels put me into this "Blonde" character, the corset puts you into the past. AGW:: How do you make classics more accessible to wider audiences? I think there's always going to be a built-in audience who wants to see
classic literature on the screen but also it helps to put young actors
in things. That opens it up because we do have a certain audience and
also, I think it's great that they considered an American actor for the
piece. More audiences can say, oh, I know that person. Maybe I'll go see
that. AGW:: You have your own production company now? Yes (Type A Films). I'm getting to seek out the roles that I want to play and work on the scripts. I love being part of the creative process from the very inception of a piece. I would love to work with younger actresses and I feel like it's a great thing when you can be supported by women who've been in the business longer than you. I've benefited from the experience of different actresses who've been so incredibly supportive. I'd love to do that for someone else. AGW:: Are there any causes that you support? A year ago I did the million mile march with other mothers and I got to speak about gun control laws and that sort of thing. I think it's important when you have strong feelings about an issue that you let it be known and speak your mind.
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Next
year will showcase Reese in her first period piece as she co-stars with
Dame Judy Dench and Rupert Everett in Oliver Parker's film The Importance
of Being Earnest. Still legally blonde, Reese spoke with us about her
strong belief system, being a mom and her acting choices. 
I
always do a lot of research for a role. I think it's really important
to observe the people that you're going to try and play. For this movie
I went to the University of Southern California and was hanging out with
the sorority girls. I think it's very important not to rely on the stereotypes
you have in your head about what a character should be. I sort of fancy
myself as this anthropologist who watches the way people walk and eat
and the vernacular they use and the way they relate to each other. I try
to incorporate all that stuff in my work. It really helps to put me in
the shoes of the character. I also did my research at Neiman-Marcus. There's
a culture in California of women who go to lunch at these department stores
and meet their friends. What I emerged with is that these women are incredibly
giving in their relationships with other women and supportive. I went
to Loyola Law School and sat in on law classes. I have to be honest, it
was very tedious listening to the jargon. There was one blonde in a class
of 150 people and this is in California! 
