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Reese Witherspoon made her feature
debut in "Man in the Moon." Starring opposite Sam Waterston,
she earned wide critical acclaim as a 1950s tomboy who falls in
love for the first time. She followed this performance with a sparkling
performance in "Jack the Bear" as a 12-year-old hippy,
circa 1970, opposite Danny DeVito and Gary Sinise. Next, Director
Diane Keaton invited Witherspoon to play the lead role in the telefilm,
"Wildflower, " with Patricia Arquette and Beau Bridges.
She starred as a 1940s teenager whose sympathy and encouragement
changes the life of an epileptic child.
Following her performance in the NBC Movie, "Desperate Choices:
To Save My Child, " Witherspoon starred as Nonnie Parker in
the Walt Disney motion-picture "A Far Off Place." In this
film, she embarks on a voyage of self discovery, journeying across
Africa's Kalahari Desert. To prepare for the role, she had to perfect
the Bushman language by studying with a Matabele tribe.She also
starred in the CBS mini-series, "Return to Lonesome Dove"
as the salty Ferris Dunnegan with Jon Voight and Barbara Hershey.Afetr
the great hit of the movie Fear (1996), Reese started to work in
a lot of box-office hits, such as Pleasantville (1998) and Cruel
Intentions (1999). Her most courageous part is yet to come: she
will play Evelyn, the girlfriend of a crazed yuppie, in the horror
American Psycho (2000), based on the polemic novel by Bret Easton
Ellis.Reese Witherspoon is married to actor Ryan Phillippe and she
recently had a baby.
[on the break-up scene she had to do with Ryan Phillippe in
Cruel Intentions (1999)]: "I literally beat him up when
we had to do the breakup scene.We'd gotten so tired and we'd done
the scene so many times. He was off camera giving me my lines and
he started to ad lib - which is a bad thing when you're doing this
kind of scene, and talking like, 'I never loved you! You're not
attractive!' Terrible things. I got upset. I just hauled off and
socked him in the face. And everybody in the crew was like 'Gasp!
Can you believe she did that?' And I'm screaming my lines and I
just yelled 'Get out!' And then he ran off and threw up in a stairwell.
And I'm, like, sobbing, saying, 'I can't believe he said those things
to me!'And the director came in and said 'Oh God, I can't believe
it, that was so great! Can you do it again?'"
[on being an actress]: "The joy we get as actors is
out of transforming ourselves into something that's not necessarily
anything true to ourselves. And it's a power - not being yourself,
and being in the role; it's just like another prop." - Femme
Fatales, February 1998
[on having a baby]: "Obviously, this isn't the time
in my life that I would have chosen to do this, but I feel like
life gives you these challenges for a reason. I feel so happy and
glad to be in the place that I am. I really feel blessed. This is
something I need to face and take control of. " - ET Online,
April 9, 1999
[talking about her character in Election (1999)]: "I
think that's a good point. You don't realize how lonely my character
is until the third act; we had some really sad scenes where nobody
would sign her yearbook. In one of the scenes Paul Metzler says,
"Tracy, have a great summer, " and she's genuinely moved
and then she looks in her yearbook, and it says the same thing.
It's a theme in the movie. It's similar for actors."
[talking about how she choose the films she will be in]:
"I have a weird process, but the main thing is like this: I
hear her voice in my head. There are a lot of wonderful scripts
my agents can't believe I pass on, but I do because I can't hear
the voice. It doesn't appeal to me then. I'm really careful. Unless
I hear the voice, I can't do it."
[talking about Ryan Phillippe]: "I'm lucky to find
a person to share my life, and the best friend I'll ever have."
[talking about motherhood and her baby]: "I feel good,
I'm proud of Election and very proud of this [her child]. It couldn't
be a better time. It's always the right time when it happens. You
make it the right time."
[talking about Pleasantville (1998)]: "We were thrilled
for just the three nominations we got , but obviously it's a little
sad. I went through so many press junkets with people saying they
loved it. And Joan Allen was robbed but she can't get nominated
every year. She's an inspiration for every young actress. She has
that calm and reserve about herself and makes you think she appreciates
the normal things of everyday. Then she transforms into this character
that's so different."
[about her life]: "Many people worry so much about
managing their careers, but rarely spend half that much energy managing
their LIVES. I want to make my life, not just my job, the best it
can be. The rest will work itself out." - Animalhouse.com,
April 30, 1999
[on life in general]: "I'm definitely happy with the
way my career has gone, the success; but I even feel glad that I've
experienced some failure in my life. That gives you perspective
and humility about this business; it's good to realize that you're
always just one movie away from not being in Vogue anymore."
- Los Angeles Daily News, May 10, 1999.
[talking about Ryan Phillippe]: "We corresponded through
letters and phone conversations and really got to know each other
on a more intellectual level. And I think that really built a really
long-lasting bond so that when we finally did see each other, I
think it was love at first sight. Or love at second sight. "-TV
Guide Online, March 18, 1999
"On the Internet, it says that I'm married. Some Psycho Santa
has decided to tell the entire world that I'm married to him. I've
never been married in my whole life." -- Reese Witherspoon
to Dale Brasel in Detour Magazine, February 1998
[talking about her film Election (1999)]: "There was
a girl in junior high. She was so perfect. She had all the boyfriends
and was the smartest girl in school. And she was rude to me! This
is my little revenge. I'm doing her in Election."
[talking about her upcoming film American Psycho (2000)]:
"I had read the book and had a long discussion with Mary Harron
(I) who's the director and screenwriter. To me it's a dark satire
about male response to the sexual liberation of women in the early
'80s. Women didn't need men, and that was a new thing to these men,
who wore designer suits and had wonderful apartments. I think the
story is about this man who responds to his inadequacies with the
only control he can take, which is to put women in these horribly
compromising positions. Mary has this wonderful black tone about
it. I thought,
"She'll pull this off." In addition to Christian Bale,
it has Jared Leto, Willem Dafoe, Samantha Mathisand Chloë Sevigny."
[talking about the movie business]: "The battles that
we face in this business aren't financial, but they are moral. And
I certainly think that the longer you can keep your values, and
your morality intact, and keep your head on your shoulders about
what is important at the end of the day, you can get the most out
of this business and really emerge with something wonderful."
[on Ryan Phillippe]: "It isn't always easy seeing your
boyfriend like you know in a bathtub with some girl or kissing some
other girl. Well I guess its part of the job."- E! News Daily,
February 1999
[talking about the movie business]: "The
battles that we face in this business aren't financial, but they
are moral. And I certainly think that the longer you can keep your
values, and your morality intact, and keep your head on your shoulders
about what is important at the end of the day, you can get the most
out of this business and really emerge with something wonderful."
"I grew up in Tennessee. We didn't know what Louis Vuitton
was. I had to order all my prom outfits out of catalogs".
"People want to try and move you into a place where you can
be easily identifiable by every woman in America - to be this very
likeable woman in a romatic comedy. And it's really hard for me.
I just don't see myself as the girl that everybody likes. I never
have been and I don't know how to be that person."
"As far as being in the spotlight and under public scrutiny,
a lot of that's about how much you put yourself out there. It's
not like we go to every premiere and every celebrity function and
every charity auction. We really just try to maintain our privacy
and never let our public persona get out of hand."
"I'm not perfect! I'm human. I make mistakes. But I try to
be as conscious as I can about things I should be. If I'm going
to do something commercial and mainstream and made for the masses,
I just believe you can make those kinds of films with quality -
and good ideas and good intentions. There's a lot of negativity
out there."
"While making Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde (2003),
I had like 50 outfit changes. It was great! I'm real into the whole
"girlie" thing, it was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed
it".
"Attending an all-girls school has its advantages, there are
no inhibitions. You can walk to school with your zit cream on and
your hair in rollers and nobody cares."
"It's nice to come home to what's real." - E! Revealed
with Jules Anser
[On husband Ryan Phillippe] "I don't think
I can imagine a better guy than the one I've ended up with".
"There's something timeless and important about making people
laugh, about being the right spot in their day." - as quoted
in the Dec 7, 2004 issue of Woman's World
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