Hollywood actress Reese Witherspoon has said that working with an elephant in her upcoming movie Water For Elephants was one of the best experiences of her career.

The Legally Blonde star loved working alongside the animal as it was both dangerous and challenging, Contactmusic reported.

“It was one of the best experiences of my career. I worked with her for three months just training. I had to get into shape – I had no harness, no safety equipment, nothing.”

“It was literally just me and the elephant and I had to climb onto her. She’s 10 feet tall and over 900lbs, and it was this exercise in trust. It’s a really beautiful thing where you learn to communicate with a creature non-verbally. She’s the big star of the movie,” Witherspoon said.

The film sees the actress essaying the role of a circus performer whose horse dies, putting her act in jeopardy, until her husband buys her an elephant.

The 34-year-old actress added that the giant creature helps bring her character closer to co-star Robert Pattinson in the film.

“Robert Pattinson’s character comes in and he’s a vet and we end up being very interested in each other. It’s very romantic and beautiful,” she added.