Reese Witherspoon Didn’t See Herself in Scripts…So She Found New Ones

After snapping up the rights to the books Gone Girl and Wild, and turning both into hit films complete with Oscar nominations, Reese Witherspoon has become, per the Wall Street Journal, an influential literary tastemaker in Hollywood.

“I started looking to books as source material because I saw the movies that were coming down the pipeline, and the characters that women were playing were really lackluster,” Witherspoon told ELLE.com on Friday (April 15th) at the Tiffany Blue Book gala, where she sported a $10 million diamond necklace from the collection. “I love stories; I love complex, dynamic women who aren’t necessarily likable, but they actually have so many different dimensions. And I think that’s how women really are, and I think that’s how they want to see themselves represented on screen.”

Witherspoon, who just turned 40, celebrated with a star-studded party where she sang “Sweet Home Alabama” accompanied by Keith Urban on guitar, and Taylor Swift also performed.

“I’m in a really great place,” she says of the milestone. “I’m thrilled to be doing what I do, which is tell stories in this world, and starting a new business, which is a great challenge for me, but it’s also incredibly exciting,” she said, referring to her production company with partner Bruna Papandrea. “I’m working with great women whom I love and respect; Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern, Shailene Woodley, Zoë Kravitz.” That project is Big Little Lies, a series Witherspoon is also producing for HBO, based on Liane Moriarty’s novel of the same name. “I’m having great time! I mean, I have to say, this 40 thing is not so bad!”

(Elle.com)