SheKnows: You’ve obviously worked with Jack several times. Do you ever write with a specific actor in mind?
James L. Brooks: I have. In As Good as it Gets there was no way the movie could be made with out Jack Nickolson. I think that was true and I knew it from the beginning. In Starting Over I was hoping Jack would do that movie and it didn’t happen. Tea Leoni is someone I approached early on for Spanglish. Reese [Witherspoon] on this movie. I think that’s pretty much it, where I started with an idea for somebody.
SheKnows: Working with Reese Witherspoon, I know you said that you thought of her for this role. When an actress like that says yes let’s do it, that’s got to infuse you with excitement for the project.
James L. Brooks: It’s not quite like that, actually [laughs]. It’s like I feel myself a slave to the project. I feel that I feel an enormous responsibility to the actors. I think one of the most devastating things that could happen to me, and there are a lot of devastating things that can happen to you when making a movie, is that if an actor was unhappy with having been in a movie. I feel that responsibility very much. But my job is to serve it. This is not about me. It’s out there and we’re all together out there. So I don’t think about it quite that way. If you do feel that stuff, it falls to the side of the work very quickly. You’re a human being trying to get it right.
– From an interview on sheknows.com
Reese Witherspoon has shown off her pet donkeys on US TV and told how her kids help clean up after them.
She said: ‘This year we got donkeys. They’re really cute. That’s Honky and that’s Tonky.
‘They’re actually miniature donkeys. They’re called donks. They’re docile and sweet.
‘We have a friend who had one and we thought it was really cute.’
Witherspoon told Ellen DeGeneres: ‘I have two pigs, three goats and 20 chickens. And of course I have three dogs.
‘And I have one horse. It’s hanging out with the donkey. It’s sweet.
‘And it’s so good for the kids to learn about animals and kindness and compassion. I make them clean the stalls.’
Watching Reese Witherspoon work the red carpet at the premiere of her new film, “How Do You Know,” like a cheery little munchkin, 5 feet nothing and shrinking, you can’t help but think:
This girl is so not a member of Team USA Softball.
But that’s exactly what the actress plays, and believably, in the film from Academy Award-winning writer-director James L. Brooks (“Terms of Endearment,” “As Good as it Gets”). The old-fashioned romantic-comedy (in theaters Friday) hinges on Witherspoon’s Lisa, a hyper-driven USA Softball stalwart who, at 31, is forced to re-examine her life — and her relationship with a happy-go-lucky Washington Nationals relief pitcher played by Owen Wilson — when she’s cut from the team.
“Coming in, my softball skills were slim to none,” Witherspoon said. “Now, they’re better. Definitely not good, but better.”
For that, Witherspoon gives credit to some of the sports biggest names. The Oscar-winner (for “Walk the Line”) didn’t take the role lightly, enlisting gamers like Jennie Finch and Natasha Watley and legendary UCLA women’s softball coach Sue Enquist to help her climb into her character’s skin. Cleats, too.
Reese was on the Ellen DeGeneres Show yesterday to promote How Do You Know! Watch the video below:
Reese Witherspoon slides into home … headfirst
Sue Enquist led UCLA to 10 national titles during her legendary 27-year softball coaching career, but it is her recent tutelage of Oscar-winning actor Reese Witherspoon that has earned her a spot on the red carpet. Enquist, 53, trained Witherspoon for her role as a former softball star in the film “How Do You Know,” which opens in theaters Friday. Abigail Lorge caught up with Enquist, an espnW advisory panel member, to chat about coaching an A-lister.
Abigail Lorge: How did your involvement with this movie come about?
Sue Enquist: I’ve been involved from the inception. Jim [James L. Brooks, the film’s writer and director] was doing the research for the movie about six years ago, and he went to a number of different sports to gather a patchwork of stories about getting cut from a team not on your own terms. And then, about two years ago, he made the decision that this character was going to be a former pro softball player.
AL: When were you first introduced to Reese? And when you met her, did you think she could look the part, given how petite she is?
SE: I was introduced to her in the fall of 2009, when Jim wanted me to teach her what it feels like to train at the highest level and, more importantly, to give her an idea of what it means to be a champion athlete in and around other champions in a team environment. As Reese says, “Acting’s an individual sport, and I learned how to be a team player.” And so in the fall of 2009 I went to the studio to meet her for the first time because the studio wanted, and Reese wanted, to make sure there was a connection there.
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Reese Witherspoon claims to have discovered at least one segment of the female population that is not inclined to talk about feelings.
Those would be female athletes.
In James Brooks’ romantic comedy How Do You Know, Witherspoon plays Elise, an Olympic veteran softball player who’s finally “past it” at age 31 and cut from the team. In her adrift state, she has to sort out her feelings about the two men in her life — philandering Major League pitcher Matty (Owen Wilson) and nice guy businessman Frank (Paul Rudd) facing federal fraud charges on behalf of his less-than-ethical father (Jack Nicholson).
“I’ve done a lot of comedies where a woman talks a lot about her romantic dynamics and is always kind of talking about men, and, like, ‘What should I do?’ ” she says.
Then she started meeting actual softball champs, including Sue Enquist, who has coached UCLA to 11 national championships. “Jim had done a lot of legwork meeting all these female athletes (as he was writing the script),”
Witherspoon says. “And really, they talked about very little other than the game. They never talked about their relationships. I was always trying to get more out of them, and it was really hard.”
In cinemas now!
In cinemas today, remember!
– Movies > How Do You Know? > TV Spot #4 Screencaptures