Reese Witherspoon at the "Penelope" premiere held at the Directors Guild of America in West Hollywood, Calif. on February 20, 2008.

Witherspoon recently spoke to MediaBlvd Magazine about why she chose to play a supporting role in Penelope.                     

MediaBlvd Magazine> What was it about this film that made you want to produce it?

Reese Witherspoon> My producing partner, Jennifer Simpson, brought me the script about four years ago. She had been working with my company when she found the script, and she loved it. It was a script that other people had read. There were a lot of ideas about how to make it.  People tossed around making it as an animated movie. When she brought it to me, I just thought it was great. It was perfect for our company because, at the center, it was a wonderful, fantastic, cinematic movie. It also had a really great female character who was strong and ambitious, but definitely had a journey to go through to get to the place where she would find herself.   

MediaBlvd> Was the family friendly aspect of Penelope one of the reasons why it was so important to you?

Reese> It’s always important. Sometimes, I get frustrated that there are not a lot of really great female characters out there that young women can look at and say, “I want to be like that. That’s awesome.” I go to movies and I get frustrated.  I’m just like, “Shoot him! Just shoot him! Why does the guy get to shoot him? Why can’t the girl shoot him?” I miss those characters in film. It would be nice to see more of them. I’m happy to be part of something where I feel like there is a great female character, which Christina plays, who could be inspiring to people.         

MediaBlvd> How did you come to the decision to cast Christina as Penelope?

Reese> She was my first choice. I was so excited. It’s great when you have this hot script in your hand, and you’ve got this great character. We got lucky, when we sent Christina the script. She and I sat down for lunch, and I thought, “She is not going to want to do this.” There was this weird pig face. And then, she just came in and was like, “No, I’m excited! I want to do this. I want to wear this pig face. I think it’s great. It’s awesome!” I was like, “Are you sure?” And, she was just fearless. That is what I have always loved about Christina. She has a real intelligence to her work. She always plays a very intelligent woman. She’s very sharp, very witty and she’s always just been great. We grew up auditioning together. We had known each other for years, from sitting and waiting to get cast, or not cast, in movies. We made a friendship. It was great to finally have that collaboration we had talked about for so many years.                                                                           

MediaBlvd> What do you guys have in common as actresses, and how do you differ?

Reese> Losing a lot of parts to other actresses, and being really grumpy and miserable about it, is what we have in common. I think we have a similar sensibility. She is younger than I am. In The Opposite of Sex, she had this great force of nature about her. You want to wrap your arms around her and love her. That’s why I’m so excited about this film. I think it’s an opportunity for audiences to really embrace her. She’s great. 

MediaBlvd> Did you ever think about playing Penelope yourself?

Reese> Yeah, I actually did. I thought about it, but I got busy with other commitments and the movie had to go forward, so we decided to cast it. But, I always knew I wanted to be in it, in some capacity. It was fun for me to get to play a smaller character, and get to be a broad.

MediaBlvd> Was it appealing to do a supporting role, for a change? Is it nice to not have to be the star and carry the weight of an entire movie on your shoulders?

Reese> I carried the weight in other ways, like how are we going to get distribution, and that kind of thing. It’s fun and very freeing to play a supporting character. Those are the kind of parts I came up playing, so it was nice to return to that. I love those characters.

MediaBlvd> What did you have to do to develop your character? Was she a biker chic with fun hair to begin with, or did you bring that to her? 

Reese> I found somebody I thought was kind of like her and I just mimicked her. It was fun. I got to run around the streets of London on a Vespa. I got to wear the funny hair, and just be ballsy and funny.

MediaBlvd> Were there any mishaps on the Vespa while you were actually filming on it?

Reese> Yeah, but it’s because I’m height challenged. My feet wouldn’t touch the ground on the Vespa. They tried to lower the Vespa, as low as they possibly could, and my feet still couldn’t touch the ground while I was on it. We had to put it on a rig. Christina is pretty short, too, and she had to sit on the back. So, we had to rig it up and do it good, old movie style.

MediaBlvd> Why did you decide to shoot this in London?

Reese> Because it is such a magical fairy tale, we wanted it to be timeless. I think our costumes are very timeless. We wanted it to seem like a creative imaginary world that added to the fantasy element.

MediaBlvd> Was it hard to figure out exactly how to pull of Penelope’s acceptance of herself?

Reese> We were very particular with the ending in the script, as far as her not having a miraculous change. Her acceptance comes before her physical change comes, so she really has to accept herself first, for both who she is and what is great about herself, before her body physically changes. She looks so darn cute with the nose. We were like, “Maybe we shouldn’t get rid of the nose. Maybe everybody else should change.” There was a lot of deliberation about that moment.        

MediaBlvd> What was it about James McAvoy that led you to cast him? 

Reese> We were just lucky to get James. The casting director suggested him and, at the time, I didn’t know who he was. Christina had seen some of his work, and she was a big champion of his. So was Jennifer Simpson, my producing partner. I watched some of his stuff and thought he was great. And, he has become this big movie star now. I tease him and say, “I got you when you were cheap.” I’ll never get him again.  He’s so great, and I’m so happy for him to be having all this success. He’s really versatile. You can believe him as a doctor, but also as a super spy. He’s just wonderful.

MediaBlvd> What did you think when you got Catherine O’Hara to be involved in this movie?

Reese> We were just really lucky to have her. She was really attracted to the material. The thing is that she plays so many different colors of a part that you can have her play something very wicked, but also still like her. She had to be pretty evil, in some moments, in this movie. You find your characters redemption in that, and that’s what she is really great at.

MediaBlvd> When you were looking for distribution for the film, did you do the rounds at the studios?

Reese> We did the film festival in Toronto and sold the film. It’s been an interesting journey of finding the exact right partner. I feel like we finally found the right situation. We really believe in this movie. We wanted it to come out the right way, and we didn’t want to compromise a lot.              

MediaBlvd> How tough was it to get a deal for a movie like this?

Reese> Not too bad. People loved the film at the Toronto Film Festival, and we got a great response, so that helps. Everybody who sees it just loves it and wants to bring their kids to it.

MediaBlvd> What do you hope that teen girls, who are having an especially tough time with their image, take away from this movie?

Reese> That there are all sorts of definitions of beauty. Beyond what is the physical aspect of beauty, it’s about finding what makes you unique. That is what can be really defining in your life. It’s important to really know yourself.

MediaBlvd> What kind of character do you play in the upcoming comedy Four Christmases (out in November 2008)?

Reese> I play Kate Kincaid, who is a woman that is in a relationship with a man (played by Vince Vaughn), and we both mutually agree that we don’t want to see our families. Every Christmas, we travel and have a very particular theology about relationships and life. We are never going to get married and never have children, but we like our life. Through a course of events, we have to go home. Both of our parents are divorced, so we have to go to four Christmases in one day. 

MediaBlvd> No matter what the script is, does Vince Vaughn always bring improvisation to it?  What was it like working with him?

Reese> It’s actually great. He’s a wonderful collaborator. He’s inspiring, and he’s so open.  I was scared to death, the first day. I was like, “Oh, no! He’s going to say a million things, and I’m not going to know what to say back.” The good news is that we had been working on it for five months in a room. I had gotten used to his personality and how fast his mind words. His mind  works so fast. I told him, “People can’t talk as fast as you think.” You can’t keep up with him. I feel like I’ve been in Vince Vaughn training.                      

MediaBlvd> Where do you keep your Best Actress Oscar?

Reese> Well, I’ve considered making it into a doorknocker or a necklace, but neither one of those options was very practical. I just keep it in my living room.          

MediaBlvd> As an Oscar winner, do you look at scripts through a different eye, or is it just a nice thing on the resume and you go forward like you always have?

Reese> You just have to go forward like you always have. I’ve never let anything stop me. You are who you are in life. You are just who you grew up being. I still feel like I can barely afford an apartment, sometimes. I call my accountant and go, “Can I afford to buy that car?,” and he’s like, “Yeah, you can.” In the sense of choosing material, I feel like I’m always choosing things based on where I’m at in life. The process of what I’ve gone through recently is always a part of the decision making. It’s interesting how things come your way that are right for you. You gravitate towards things that you are trying to work out in your own life. 

MediaBlvd> Would you like to play a really kick-ass female character yourself?

Reese> Yes, possibly, I would like to do that. And, I would like to see other women do it. I love to see Angelina Jolie in movies like Mr. and Mrs. Smith. I can’t wait to see her in Wanted. Those movies, where women have great strength and character, are always interesting. 

MediaBlvd> What is the best career advice you ever received, and who gave it to you?

Reese> The best career advice was, “Never miss an opportunity to just be quiet.” That is always a good piece of advice, just in life. It was actually put, “Never miss an opportunity to just shut up.” That was from my grandad. Also, the interesting thing about our business is that it’s so ever-evolving. You should always be nice to everybody, particularly the people that answer the phones, because they are going to be your boss, in four years. It’s true. It happens all the time.

MediaBlvd> Your company name, Type A, implies a lot of ambition, on your part. Where are your ambitions now? What are the things that you still want to do?

Reese> A kick ass female role. I definitely want to shoot somebody in the neck, in a movie. I don’t know. I have a lot of ambitions. I really am interested in doing another period film. There are a lot of filmmakers I would love to work with, like Ridley Scott. There are actors I think are really interesting. I really like Marion Cotillard. La Vie en Rose was so good. I am endlessly inspired. But, now I’m interested more in production design. I’m getting more involved in that sort of thing.

MediaBlvd> What is it that you love about producing?

Reese> It’s a natural progression. I’ve been on sets for 15 years now. Just being a part of the filmmaking process, you absorb so much that you don’t even realize it. Whether it is lighting, or shot composition, or casting, you realize how important every element is. I did a lot of development and script work. With the production company, I’ve been learning about what makes a script work or not work. The actual experience of being in physical production was exciting. We would run up against problems. We needed to do 30 close-ups in one day, and we had 5 hours of daylight. The sun went down and we thought, “How are we going to do it?” I was like “Oh, I remember on this movie that we put it on the dolly and we just went sliding down the line, getting close ups.” That was exciting for me, and it was educational, too. I got to learn a lot about editing and music, which are things I don’t normally get to touch. They don’t let the actors in those rooms.

MediaBlvd> Do you have any interest in directing?

Reese> Possibly. I think I’m inching towards it, I have to say. Be afraid, be very afraid. I’m not doing that next, but it’s very inspiring to see people like Sarah Polley, who I was auditioning with, adapt the Alice Munro short story, and direct Julie Christie to hopefully win an Oscar. That’s really inspiring.