Reese Witherspoon, Tom Hardy and Chris Pine talk ‘This Means War’ and their real-life competition (Q&A)

Reese Witherspoon, Chris Pine and Tom Hardy star in the action comedy “This Means War” and sat down with OnTheRedCarpet.com to discuss and joke about their real life rivalry.

Witherspoon, 35, stars in the film with Pine and Hardy. The actors play two CIA agents who are best friends fighting over the same woman, played by Witherspoon. The agents wage an epic battle against one another while Witherspoon’s character tries to determine which man is a better match for her.

While their characters competed on the big screen, they joked that it carried on in their real lives too.

“Oh yeah,” Pine responded when asked if the rivalry was real. “[There were] a lot of games of Go Fish off set, just you know, Old Maid, Scrabble, Words with Friends…Cribbage, Mahjong.”

Pine and Hardy were also open about transitioning from their more action-inspired roles in “Star Trek” and “The Dark Knight” to a more light-hearted comedy.

“I enjoyed it very much,” Pine said. “I liked the fact that we had a great script that Simon Kinberg had worked on and gave us, but really the fun of it was getting to know people and kind of working off one another, taking our cue off of Chelsea Handler…She is fun to watch.

“Yeah, it’s really nice to do something where I’m not taking myself too seriously and just have light banter,” Hardy added. “I really can’t help but to default switch to being really serious about stuff. I have a lot of fun laughing, which I do normally on other films anyway, but on this I think a lot more in this aspect, with that hysterical laughter. It’s almost a little bit out of my comfort zone, but I really enjoyed it.”

The film was released on February 17 and also features comedian Chelsea Handler, actress Angela Bassett and Abigail Spencer.

Check out what else the starring trio had to say about their film and romance in general, as well as their Oscar picks and favorites.

Your character has to deal with these two guys…

REESE WITHERSPOON: I know, tough life. Tough life.

[There’s] all these things, where all these women out there are going to be going, “poor Reese.”

REESE WITHERSPOON: It’s just the perfect Valentine’s movie, you get to go see these two guys in the movie. There’s something in this movie for everybody. There’s romance, there’s action, there’s comedy…

CHRIS PINE: Chelsea Handler. She’s her own brand of comedy.

So, there’s a bit of a friendly competition between you two – because your characters, are in this competition, they have to kind of one up each other. Did you feel that on the set – like you weren’t going to let the other guy win?

CHRIS PINE: Yeah, a lot of games of Go Fish off set, just you know, Old Maid?, Scrabble, Words with Friends…

TOM HARDY: Cribbage. That’s an old school game.

CHRIS PINE: Cribbage, Mahjong.

REESE WITHERSPOON: Three Card Monty.

CHRIS PINE: Three Card Monty?

REESE WITHERSPOON: Sorry, they play it in Reno.

TOM HARDY: That’s a jail right? That’s a jail right? It’s for men – there’s not a female prison in Reno?

REESE WITHERSPOON: I wasn’t in prison! It’s a game, you can play it anywhere.

But there was a lot of boys will be boys in this movie – fighting over you. Is that all you saw on the script and thought ‘this is going to be fun,’ or…[did it] give you a little room?

REESE WITHERSPOON: I think that was the great thing about it was that we liked the script but there was a lot of room to improvise. So everybody kind of brought their own flavor of comedy to it, and it’s nice to see people’s personalities kind of emerge in the movie.

CHRIS PINE: I enjoyed it very much. I liked the fact that we had a great script that Simon Kinberg had worked on and gave us, but really the fun of it was getting to know people and kind of working off one another, taking our cue off of Chelsea Handler… She is fun to watch.

TOM HARDY: Yeah it’s really nice to do something where I’m not taking myself too seriously and just have light banter. I really can’t help but to default switch to being really serious about stuff. I have a lot of fun laughing, which I do normally on other films anyway, but on this I think a lot more in this aspect, with hysterical laughter. It’s almost a little bit out of my comfort zone, but I really enjoyed it.

Oscar season – Was there a movie, a performance, a something that you went, “Wow, that’s the best thing I saw?

CHRIS PINE: I love The Artist.

REESE WITHERSPOON: I love The Artist and The Beginners.

TOM HARDY: I think Shame was actually and I think Michael Fassbender got overlooked as well. I was really glad to see Gardy Oldman, and Nolte and Chastain up there.