Reese Witherspoon on Acting: ‘My Performances Have Been Based on My Friends, and I’ve Never Told Them’

From Tracy Flick to Elle Woods to Madeline Martha Mackenzie, few actors have as many household names in their body of work as Reese Witherspoon. How has her acting process helped her create so many iconic roles? “It’s almost like being an anthropologist,” she says. “You are studying contemporary behavior and how people interact and then applying it to character.”

Take “Legally Blonde,” her instant-classic comedy about a sorority sister–turned–Harvard lawyer. “There’s a reason that it has stood the test of time,” Witherspoon says of the 2001 film. Remembering how she constructed Elle Woods, she says she spent time at a real-world sorority house to watch how the members behaved. She also went to a fancy Beverly Hills department store to watch customers try on shoes. All that analysis then went back into the performance.

In the Envelope: The Actor’s Podcast · Reese Witherspoon

Witherspoon’s techniques for each role vary wildly, thanks to an early start as a teen actor and a lack of formal training. As she puts it, “It’s hard for me to describe [my process], because I’ve kind of taped it together with duct tape!” After being bit by the acting bug early on in Tennessee, she began taking adult acting classes, appearing in commercials, and performing odd jobs in film production. She dropped out of school to pursue a screen career and broke out in “The Man in the Moon,” following it up with “Cruel Intentions” and “Election.” Eventually, she became a movie star; her performance as June Carter Cash in “Walk the Line” earned her a SAG Award, a BAFTA, and an Oscar.

“The way I prepare for everything is deeply personal for me,” she says, “so sometimes I have a hard time explaining to directors what I do. But it’s a deep, deep understanding of where the character comes from, what their upbringing was, who loved them, who didn’t love them. How do they walk through the world? Do they diminish themselves? Do they take up space? And so much of it comes from knowing people and watching people.

Continue reading this entry »

Reese is on the cover of the new December/January issue of In Style US! She is interviewed by US broadcaster Gayle King, and they talk about Reese’s work as a producer, humility and ambition, her daughter and family, Legally Blonde and The Morning Show. It’s accompanied by a beautiful (but slightly photoshopped) new photoshoot. The behind the scenes video of the photoshoot interview is really good too – Reese talks about some of her past characters, what she thinks about some of her past red carpet outfits, the difference between acting and producing, the badass women that inspire her, the movie that made her want to be an actress (Broadcast News & Overboard), and what she thought when walking up to receive her Oscar. Read the interview and watch the behind the scenes video below, and find high quality photos in our Gallery. The magazine hits news-stands on Friday so be sure to pick up a copy!

Reese Witherspoon Isn’t Afraid to Say She’s the Best

With her recent nine-figure money moves and a full slate of upcoming projects, the Morning Show star is like the Lebron James of Hollywood — and she’ll be the first to tell you.

They share a mutual pal in Oprah Winfrey, but “we don’t have a great meet-cute story,” jokes Gayle King about her initial introduction to Reese Witherspoon. Over the years, they have gotten to know each other through corporate gatherings, private dinners, and, of course, regular interviews. (In 2019, King was even the subject as Witherspoon and her Morning Show co-star Jennifer Aniston were the ones asking the questions for a CBS Mornings segment.) When it was revealed this past summer that Witherspoon had sold her female-focused production company, Hello Sunshine, for around $900 million, King was among the first to salute her. “That was a big friggin’ deal,” said King during this talk for InStyle. “When I read it in the paper, I stood up and gave you a round of applause.”

Gayle King: What’s it like to be a badass? Own it, Reese!

Continue reading this entry »

Golden Globe-winning actress Reese Witherspoon sat down to talk to HFPA journalist Margaret Gardiner about her decades in Hollywood, from her start in films like Cruel Intentions, Election, and Legally Blonde, to turning points in her career like Wild and Walk the Line, to her recent forays in television with The Morning Show and Big Little Lies, to her outside work like her use of fashion and her ongoing monthly book club that highlights and celebrates great and noteworthy works, and more.

Advertising and marketing company AdWeek have honoured Reese in their 2020 Hot List and she is on the cover of their October 26th 2020 magazine cover to mark this! The magazine used additional photos from the Emmy magazine photoshoot that was published earlier in the year, and features a new interview in which Reese talked about growing her business and working to be taken seriously as a producer. Read the article below, and find the scans in our Gallery. Congratulations to Reese on being recognised for her fantastic work again!

The 2020 Hot List: Honoring the Year’s Best in TV, Publishing, Digital and Brands
When the pandemic forced us all to begin sheltering in place in March, we leaned on TV, publishing and digital brands more than ever before to connect us with the outside world. So it’s no surprise that Adweek’s annual Hot List, which always honors the best in those three categories, is full of people and brands who were at their best when so many things seemed at their worst.

Take Adweek’s Media Visionary Reese Witherspoon, who has turned Hollywood on its head by creating a successful media company, Hello Sunshine, focused on female-centric stories—for a variety of platforms.

Our TV Creator of the Year, Jon Favreau, helped get Disney+ off to a hot start with The Mandalorian, while TV Executive of the Year, TLC president Howard Lee, showed that linear networks still have plenty of fight in them.

Digital Creator of the Year Sarah Cooper turned her popular President Trump lip-syncs on TikTok and Twitter into a Netflix comedy special, and Digital Executive of the Year, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, is helping lead the charge against lies and hate speech on social media.

Continue reading this entry »

To coincide with receiving the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award and being named on the 2019 Women in Entertainment Power 100 from The Hollywood Reporter, Reese is featured on the cover of the December 11th issue of the magazine. Inside is a fantastic and in depth new interview, and a new photoshoot. Reese talks about how her career has developed, and there are some great quotes from co-stars and executives that have worked with her along the way. We’ll have scans for you as soon as we can!

How Reese Witherspoon Took Charge of Her Career and Changed Hollywood

Tired of dreadful scripts and degrading magazine spreads, the Oscar-winning actress, producer, entrepreneur and activist built an empire on her own taste and work ethic. Now she plots projects all over Hollywood and responds to critics of her paychecks: “Does it bother people when Kobe Bryant or LeBron James make their contract?”

“You ready for your eyes to roll back in your head?”

The warning comes an hour or so into lunch at L.A.’s members-only San Vicente Bungalows, once Reese Witherspoon has fished her phone from the depths of her designer purse and slid it across the table. There, on her screen, is an illustration that ran four years ago in Time magazine, accompanying a trend piece headlined “Hollywood’s New Domestic Divas.”

The Oscar-winning actress, who at the time had just launched her retail company, Draper James, is in the center, outfitted preposterously with a vacuum, an apron and an evening gown. She’s flanked by Gwyneth Paltrow, holding a strawberry shortcake her Goop devotees wouldn’t dare touch, and Jessica Alba, wielding an iron, despite her Honest company’s focus on diapers and baby wipes. Blake Lively and Lauren Conrad are pictured as well; with a mixing bowl (Lively had a lifestyle site) and cleaning supplies (Conrad’s Little Market sells everything but). They, too, are in formal-wear.

The passage of four years has not dulled Witherspoon’s outrage. She wondered: Where was George Clooney and his tequila? Or Mark Wahlberg and his burger joints? “What? Men are entrepreneurs but how dare we be anything more than actresses?” she asks, as a pair of attentive waiters clear the remains of her club sandwich. “We, as women, are expected to stay in our lane — that was the inference, and I had sleepless nights over it. I remember calling one of these other women going, ‘What are we doing about this?’ ”

Continue reading this entry »

We’re starting back at the beginning as we work on the TV Appearances section of the Gallery, and today have screencaptures and/or stills from Reese’s first appearances on US talk shows! Reese appeared on Leno and Conan in 1998, and during the latter show she talked about Pleasantville, Twilight/Paul Newman and Cruel Intentions. In 1999 she appeared on Letterman during which she talked about The Man In The Moon and her pregnancy, and then on Conan a couple of months later she was more heavily pregnant and talked about food cravings and Election. All were great interviews – Reese was so endearing in them and I loved hearing her talk about her movies!

Screencaptures and/or stills are in our Gallery, and the videos that are available online are posted below for you:

• The Tonight Show with Jay Leno – October 16th 1998 (Stills) x5

• Late Night with Conan O’Brien – October 30th 1998 (Screencaptures) x325

• Late Show with David Letterman – March 2nd 1999 (Screencaptures) x230

• The Tonight Show with Jay Leno – April 12th 1999 (Stills) x6

• Late Night with Conan O’Brien – May 6th 1999 (Screencaptures) x272

snapsbyreese           @ReeseW
ReeseWitherspoon         ReeseWitherspoon

The Morning Show (2019)
Seasons 1 & 2 available now on AppleTV+
Season 3 coming in 2023
Role: Bradley Jackson
Genre: Apple TV+ Series - Drama
News / Info / Photos / Official Site

Your Place Or Mine (2023)
On Netflix now
Role: Debbie
Genre: Romantic comedy
News / Info / Photos / Official Site

Legally Blonde 3 (202?)
In production
Role: Elle Woods
Genre: Comedy
News / Info / Photos / Official Site

View All Affiliates

Glamour Reese Witherspoon is an unofficial fansite dedicated to supporting and promoting the career of Reese Witherspoon. We have no contact with Ms Witherspoon or her family or management. No copyright infringement is intended through the use of content within this website ...

Disclaimer     Privacy Policy     DMCA