Reese Witherspoon: Down Home

Everyone associated with pretty and talented Reese Witherspoon calls her a "lady", a "consummate professional who comes to the set prepared" and someone who "takes her work very seriously." We're sure all this is true but when we met with her in L.A., she looked like a college coed on the weekend or a young mom ready to drive a car pool of kids to soccer. In her soft pink cashmere sweater, jeans and old tennies she was very laid-back, warm and candid. Her new film Sweet Home Alabama was the first movie to pick up shooting in New York after 9-11 and Reese was the first guest on Saturday Night Live after the attack on America. You just can't keep this determined young actress, wife and mom down!

TeenHollywood: What was it like working in New York right after 9-11?

Reese: I (hosted) the first Saturday Night Live after 9/11 with Rudy Guiliani and all the firemen. It was really interesting trying to do comedy. And I was nervous. I was scared. Lorne Michaels called and said, 'Reese, we really need to do this.' I saw somebody on a talk show burst into tears and I just thought, that's not really our place (as entertainers) to make comments about it. We're here to entertain people, to make people laugh. We're going to be reverent. I thought it was very tasteful and was impressed with how they handled it, but It was the most tense comedic situation I've ever been in.

TeenHollywood: You also had started production on this film in New York at the same time?

Reese: Yes. I think this movie is great too because you get to see what it's like being a New Yorker and this woman has a New York sensibility but she also has a Hometown America sensibility. It's about what it's like to be an American. That we are a caring people and we care about our neighbors. There's a whole bunch of people that aren't living in New York and Los Angeles and they need to be represented too. It's a nice movie. It's easy to watch and easy to laugh.

TeenHollywood: How do you juggle career and family?

Reese: You have to really learn to laugh at yourself. It has really helped develop my sense of humor being a mother because when your child is prostrate on the floor of the grocery store screaming for a cookie, there's nothing you can do except laugh. Otherwise, you'll cry. It's a lot of balancing. It's like any other working mom. You do a lot of scheduling. I have a lot of help. My husband (Ryan Phillippe) takes off whenever I'm working. Ryan's 'Mr. Mom' then I take off when he's working.

TeenHollywood: Have you ever had to choose between two great guys like your character in the film does?

Reese: No, unfortunately, I never had that problem. That's the kind of problem that only women in the movies have. It certainly is very cinematic, isn't it?

TeenHollywood: Did you go directly from your role in The Importance of Being Earnest to Sweet Home Alabama?

Reese: I had about five months off. I was shooting this movie and for some reason, the entire dialogue on "Earnest" had to be replaced so while I was in the middle of doing this accent, shooting at Lincoln Center, I had to go in and loop "Earnest" for 24 hours one day with an English accent, without preparation. I apologize for my miserable English accent. I swear it was good on the day I did it in England. I worked really hard on it so it was a little disappointing to have to go in and hurry and do it in a day but that's life.

TeenHollywood: Do you keep any of your Oscar outfits and costumes from movies?

Reese: The Oscar dress went back to Mr. Valentino. I'm lucky that I have friends that are very stylish. If it were up to me, I'd be wearing t-shirts and jeans. That's all I wear every day. These same sneakers (she lifts a leg to show the shoe) every day because I don't have a lot of time to shop for fancy clothes. I get to get it all out for me in the movies.

TeenHollywood: There's a sad but wonderful scene in a dog cemetery in the film. What was going through your head while doing that scene?

Reese: She's dealing with a lot of guilt and a lot of shame in her life. She's trying to figure out why it's there and how to get rid of it.

You get unconditional love when you go back home. It's represented in a family pet or your friends. The kindness that you're treated with. It's hard to reject that for very long. That's what I liked about this movie. I think all young people sort of go through a process of rejecting their parents or their upbringing. I think you have to. It's healthy in order to accept who you are. That's what I identified with in this piece.

TeenHollywood: You are from the South originally. Did you ever have a drawl or accent?

Reese: Oh yeah. I still say "y'all" all the time. I had to lose it when I started working in the business and then I had to get it back for all the movies where I had to play a southern person.

TeenHollywood: Was shooting this film in Georgia like getting back to your roots?

Reese: Oh, absolutely. I grew up in a small community that's very closely knit. Everybody was very involved in each other's lives. That was what was familiar about this and nice because it represents that southern sensibility of closeness and genuinely caring about other people. It also got to explore the fun of southern eccentricities without poking fun at Southern people.

TeenHollywood: There is a Civil War re-enactment scene in the film. Had you been around that before?

Reese: When I was on the set, it was during a real (re-enactment). We went out and shot and they had all these re-enactors there and all their camps and tents. Josh (Lucas) and Patrick Dempsey) and Andy (Tennant) were like (gawking). I was like what do you mean? I had to do that like every month of school because I lived in Nashville we would go out to Franklin and reconstruct the Battle of Franklin. We went every year. We had to sit in the sun all day. This was totally normal for me.

TeenHollywood: Did your leading men Josh and Pat have different styles of working with you?

Reese: They're wonderful actors so I was very lucky to work with them. They both did a great job. What I like about the movie is that neither one of them is a bad guy. Neither one of them is nullified. It's not a man-bashing movie.

TeenHollywood: What, in life, is your anti-drug or natural high?

Reese: Just optimism, positivity. That there's always something good that's going to happen in your day. There's always a good part of every person that you meet. I grew up in a community that didn't have a lot of drugs and I never saw drugs as a kid at all. It was never interesting to me. I don't have any inclination to do drugs. I'm just a normal person. I take vitamins.

TeenHollywood: What's your musical taste?

Reese: My husband buys all the music in the family. I prefer to listen to talk radio or NPR or books on tape, because I get confused.

TeenHollywood: Your husband's a big Sinatra fan?

Reese: Big Sinatra fan. We have a dog named Frank Sinatra.

TeenHollywood: Do you like working with him? (Uh, your husband, not the dog).

Reese: (Laughs). Yeah, he's a good guy. I like him and I'm going to keep him. He's kinda cute too.

TeenHollywood: Why are you so great at comedy?

Reese: Being able to laugh at yourself is important, and to find yourself ridiculous.

TeenHollywood: When will you shoot Legally Blonde 2?

Reese: We're going to start in a month. And it's coming out on July 4, 2003.

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.