A couple of days ago Reese interviewed Michelle Obama on the Denver stop of Michelle’s ‘Becoming’ book tour. The two-some spoke about Michelle’s career, family, and being the President’s wife at the city’s Pepsi Centre. Find an article and social media posts from the conversation further down this post, as well as short video footage within a fan’s vlog (fast forward toward the end of the video to see the actual footage). And we have a few photos in our Gallery.
• Michelle Obama’s ‘Becoming’ Book Tour – Denver x5
Obama recounted Inauguration Day in January 2017, when she said she was “feeling the weight of all that we had done being flipped over” as she listened to Trump give a speech on a stage that lacked diversity.
She also told actress Reese Witherspoon, who interviewed her on stage at the event, that it was “surreal” to hear “some people literally taking my voice as their own.”
She did not refer specifically to first lady Melania Trump repeating a paragraph of an earlier Michelle Obama speech in her 2016 remarks at the Republican National Convention. But Witherspoon joked in response that a “very similar person” also stole the voice of her fictional character from “Legally Blonde,” an apparent reference to a speech President Trump made in 2017.
(The Hill)
Admittedly we’ve been slacking on our Advent Calendar due to life, but I hope we can make up for it in the next week or so with a few fantastic rare treats. Today’s update is one of my favourites of the bunch – rare additional high quality photos from the Pleasantville premiere back in 1998. Reese looks super-chic in her little black dress, and there are some great photos with her husband-of-the-time, and co-stars Marley Shelton, William H. Macy, Jeff Daniels and Joan Allen. I loved seeing the photos from the after-party where Reese is pictured with friend Selma Blair – and I think I see Betty Witherspoon in that photo too!
Thanks to our friend Sara for these photos. Enjoy these photos exclusively here at Glamour Reese!
• “Pleasantville” Premiere x17 more
Time’s Up Auctions Off Star-Studded Experiences, Memorabilia to Support Legal Defense Fund
Time’s Up has launched a fundraising auction in collaboration with eBay to benefit their legal defense fund, which connects victims of sexual abuse and harassment to legal resources. Among the stars who donated items to the auction are Ava DuVernay, Geena Davis, Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon.
Experiences include spending a day with DuVernay at her creative campus in Los Angeles, a coffee date with Davis, a meet and greet with Witherspoon at the Big Little Lies season two premiere; and a meet and greet with Washington at her Broadway show, American Son.
Other experiences in the auction include Tribeca Film Festival passes, tickets to Broadway productions, the chance to attend red carpet premieres, concerts, a Will and Grace taping, a VIP tour of the Capitol Records Building and a night out in Las Vegas at Caesar’s Palace, to name a few.
Signed memorabilia will also be featured. Among the items up for auction are an autographed photo, tour booklet and t-shirt from Ed Sheeran, an original dress designed by Zac Posen and a Stranger Things season two poster signed by the series creators.
All of the proceeds will support the Time’s Up legal fund.
Time’s Up was established in early 2018 by a group of Hollywood professionals in response to the #MeToo movement. The organization is dedicated to shifting the paradigm of workplace culture.
Its legal defense fund, administered by the National Women’s Law Center, connects those who’ve experienced sexual misconduct and retaliation in the workplace with legal and PR assistance.
(THR)
Reese Witherspoon to Produce ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ Adaptation for Fox 2000
Fox 2000 has acquired the best-selling novel “Where the Crawdads Sing” and has tapped Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine to produce a feature film adaptation.
Witherspoon’s involvement is not a great surprise. The Oscar winner has been a champion of the book, selecting it for inclusion in her Reese’s Book Club. “Where the Crawdads Sing,” Delia Owens’ debut novel, has been on the best-seller list for the past 12 weeks. Fox 2000 is also a natural home. Under the leadership of Elizabeth Gabler, the label has developed a knack for turning literary properties into movies, developing the likes of “The Fault in Our Stars” and “The Devil Wears Prada” into hit movies.
“With a jaw-dropping mystery, stunning Southern setting, and endlessly fascinating female heroine at its center, I loved this book the moment I read it and am so excited to join forces with Elizabeth and her team to bring Delia’s truly moving page-turner to the screen,” Witherspoon said in a statement.
“Where the Crawdads Sing” is set in a small town in the South and focuses on a young woman named Kya who raises herself in the marshes after she is abandoned by her family. After her former boyfriend is found dead, Kya becomes the prime suspect in his murder. The book has been described as a mixture of a crime thriller and a coming-of-age tale. Witherspoon and her partner Lauren Levy Neustadter will produce the pic for Hello Sunshine.
The storyline is in keeping with Hello Sunshine’s mandate. Witherspoon founded the company in 2016 with the goal of promoting female-driven projects. That fits in with “Where the Crawdads Sing,” which is written be a female writer and has a female protagonist. Other Hello Sunshine projects include a Hulu adaptation of Celeste Ng’s 2017 bestseller “Little Fires Everywhere” that will feature Witherspoon and Kerry Washington, and “Are You Sleeping,” an adaptation of Kathleen Barber’s novel of the same name that will be executive produced by and star Octavia Spencer.
“I knew and loved Delia’s writing so when I saw that Reese’s Book Club was recommending her new book, I started reading it right away. It is absolutely exquisite, so I immediately reached out to Reese and Lauren and said I wanted to bring it to life on film alongside them,” Gabler said in a statement. “We at Fox 2000 have an incredible synergy with Reese, Lauren, and their team at Hello Sunshine, and I am elated that we can once again be partners in the creation of yet another extraordinary film from an outstanding literary property.”
Gabler and Erin Siminoff will oversee production for Fox 2000.
Owens is new to fiction writing, but she has literary experience, having co-authored three acclaimed non-fiction books about her life as a wildlife scientist. They include “Cry of the Kalahari,” “The Eye of the Elephant,” and “Secrets of the Savanna.”
Owens is represented by CAA and Russell Galen of Scovil Galen Ghosh Literary Agency. Hello Sunshine is represented by CAA and Hansen, Jacobson. G.P. Putnam’s Sons published “Where the Crawdads Sing” in August.
(Variety)
With it being December 1st, we thought it would be fun to do something Reese-themed to mark the festive season. So how about a Reese Witherspoon Advent Calendar?! 
We will aim to upload photos in the Gallery every day leading up to Christmas, some of which will be some fabulous rare photos – so you’ll have Reese Witherspoon treats each day. (We apologise in advance if we miss a day or two!) We likely won’t post each update here on the main site – so check the Gallery daily, and we’ll post each day on our Twitter feed.
To start with, additional high quality photos from the Shine On With Reese Launch and the recent LA Dance Project Gala have been added:
Almost 2 years ago it was announced that Sing would have a sequel, and this week director Garth Jennings has posted photos of the cast recording for their roles! Sing 2 will be released on December 25th 2010. Here’s Reese in the recording booth:
This lady literally rocks @RWitherspoon pic.twitter.com/y1TGbsVNRr
— Garth Jennings (@GarthJennings) November 29, 2018
The highly anticipated music video for Ariana Grande’s new single ‘thank u, next‘ was released this evening, and features her take on Legally Blonde! As has been teased across the internet for days, the video re-created scenes from popular rom-coms Mean Girls, Bring It On, 13 Going on 30 and of course Legally Blonde – they even recreated the ‘bend & snap’ with Paulette herself, Jennifer Coolidge! Reese tweeted her support of the video as well. Watch the video for yourself:
Thank u, next 👏🏼💖 @ArianaGrande #ElleWoodsForever pic.twitter.com/A1jvyNQo0f
— Reese Witherspoon (@RWitherspoon) November 30, 2018
The December/January edition of Fast Company magazine has a snippet on Reese – it’s a short but good read. Find a scan of it in our Gallery.
A day in the life of Reese Witherspoon
How Hello Sunshine founder Reese Witherspoon capitalizes on her strengths to get things done.
Waking up
I have a 6-year-old who likes to have milk at 6 o’clock every morning, so from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m., he drinks milk, and my husband [CAA agent Jim Toth] and I drink coffee. We talk and catch up on the news—Jim likes to hear it, I like to read it. After that, I work out for an hour, then go to work.Mobilizing
Assuming I’m not on a set somewhere acting, or traveling for, say, a shoot for [her clothing company] Draper James or Elizabeth Arden [she’s a brand collaborator], I’ll go to the Hello Sunshine office or a meeting related to something we’re developing. I quit driving a year ago. My husband said, “Babe, you’re a terrible driver. Get someone to do that for you.” And it’s great because that’s the time I now spend catching up on phone calls or texts. I’ve deliberately stripped away a lot of the layers of people who silo you off as an actor. That changed when I started producing: I’m putting my money into this; this is my sweat equity, all the equity I have. If you have a problem, call me directly.Socializing
It occurs to me at about 6 o’clock that I should probably do something fun at 7:30. I have two girlfriends who are good at that, and thank God, because [otherwise] I’d have no life. I can’t get groups of people on vacation either. That’s not my thing. I’m okay with that.Winding down
I get home around 5:30 or 6 for family dinner—that’s important to me. I hear what the kids [she also has a 19-year-old daughter, Ava, and a 15-year-old son, Deacon, from her first marriage, to Ryan Phillippe] are doing and how they’re feeling. I put my 6-year-old to bed at 8, and then I read for two hours. Or I’ll watch a TV show. I love The Crown, Queer Eye, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Oh, and the latest Chris Rock special on Netflix. He does this great bit about being brutally honest with your children. I feel like I’m constantly counteracting pressure from the parents who want to make the lives of their kids golden and magical at all moments! Guess what, kids? You’re going to be disappointed and uncomfortable once in a while. I remember Ava crying in bed in third grade—she was on JV basketball and she was the only kid on the team who didn’t score. I said, “Aves, maybe you’re bad at basketball.” She thought that was mean. I said, “Mean or true? ‘Cause, guess what? Your mom’s bad at basketball, too.”A version of this article appeared in the December 2018/January 2019 issue of Fast Company magazine.
The Morning Show (2019)
