Interview: Reese Witherspoon Talks Penelope, Female Roles and Vince Vaughn’s Connecticut Waffle

Reese Witherspoon is a producer and co-star of the new film Penelope, starring Christina Ricci as a girl cursed with a pig nose who goes on a journey of self-acceptance. She recently talked with reporters about a wide variety of things - including using her Oscar as a door-knocker.

What galvanized you to do this project?
RW: I read the script, my producing partner Jennifer Simpson, brought me the script about 4 years ago. It’s a script that other people had read, and ideas were tossed around….thought it was great, perfect for our company. It was a wonderful fantastic cinematic movie, but at the center of it had a really great female character, who was strong and ambitious, but definitely had a journey to go through to get to the place that she would find herself…

Did you ever think about playing that character yourself?
RW: Yeah, I actually did, I thought about it. I got busy with other commitments and the movie had to go forward, so then we decided to cast it. But, I knew I wanted to be in it in some capacity. It was kind of fun for me to get to play a smaller character than get to be a broad, you know?

What did you have to do to develop that character?
RW: I kind of found somebody who I found was sort of like her. I kind of just mimicked her. It was fun! I got to run around the city, the streets of London on that Vespa, and get to wear that funny hair and just be ballsy and funny.

What are your “broad” qualities?
RW: Oh, fast-talking, sharp-shooting, that kind of tough girl. I like to think I’m really tough on the outside with a carmel sweet center. Most people who know me will agree.

Is your character of Amy supposed to be supernatural, a guardian angel?
RW: It’s definitely a magical movie. There’s definitely twists and turns that you don’t expect. There’s something to the fact that we put wings on her and her bike and stuff.

How do you like supporting roles?
RW: Yeah, I mean I carried the weight in other ways like how are we going to get our distribution? But yeah, its fun! It’s sort of very freeing to play a supporting character. Those are the parts I came up playing so it was kind of nice to return to that. And I love those kinds of characters like Barbara Stanwyck where you just don’t know if she’s going to kiss you or stab you in the neck. I love those kinds of characters.

How’d you get the distribution?
RW: We did the film festival in Toronto. And sold the film, it’s been an interesting journey of finding the exact right partner. And I feel like we finally found that right situation and we really believe in this movie. We wanted it to come out the right way and not compromise it.

How tough was it actually trying to get a deal?
RW: Not too bad, not too bad. No. Because people loved the film at the Toronto Film Festival so we got a really great response. That helps…everybody who sees it just loves it.

There were mishaps on the Vespa, right?
RW: Um, yeah, because I’m height-challenged my feet wouldn’t touch the ground on the Vespa. And they tried to lower it as much as they possibly could…and my feet still couldn’t touch the ground. So we had to put in on a rig…and Christina’s pretty short too and she had to sit on the back. So we had to rig it up and do it old-movie style.

What about the choice of setting in nondescript anywhere in the world?
RW: I think because it was such a magical fairy tale we wanted it to be timeless. Like our costumes were very timeless. We wanted it to seem like a creative imaginary world too - to add to the fantasy element of it

Was it hard to figure out how to pull off emotional and then physical change in Penelope, without losing the message?
RW: Yeah and we were very particular with the editing and the script… about her not having a miraculous change, because her acceptance comes before her physical change comes, so really she has to accept herself first as who she is and what’s great about herself before her body physically changes. She looks so darn cute with the nose! For a second, we said maybe we shouldn’t get rid of the nose…maybe everybody else should change! It was a lot of deliberation at that moment.

How about casting Christina Ricci?
RW: She was my first choice. I was so excited because…well, it’s great when you have this hot script in your hand and you’ve got this great character…and you’re like…”the choices!” So Christina was my first choice and we were lucky when we sent her the script, and which we sat down for lunch. I thought “she’s not going to want to do this.” She has to wear a pig-face. I think some people like around her were thinking she didn’t want to do it. And she just came in and she 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?” She’s just fearless. That’s what I’ve always loved about Christina. She has a real intelligence to her work. She always plays a very intelligent woman, but also very sharp, very witty. She’s always just been great. I mean we grew up auditioning together. We’ve known each other for years sitting in the waiting room waiting to be cast, so it’s great to finally have that collaboration with her after so many years.

What do you in common as actresses and how do you differ?
RW: Losing a lot of parts to other actresses and being very grumpy and miserable about it. I think we have a similar sensibility. She’s younger than I am. In The Opposite of Sex, she’s got this great kind of force of nature about her, and you do want to wrap your arms around her and love her. That’s why I’m so excited about this film, because I do think it’s an opportunity for audiences to really embrace her. She’s great. She’s got great taste, too.

How about casting James McAvoy?
RW: (laughs) We were just lucky to get James. The casting director suggested him. And at the time, I had no idea who he was. But Christina had seen some of his work and she was a big champion of his. I watched his stuff and thought “yeah, he’s great!” And then of course, he’s become this big movie star now. I tease him and I say, “I got you when you were cheap!” It’s not going to happen again, I’ll never get him again. Yeah, he’s so great. I’m so happy for him to be having all this success. He’s just really versatile. You can believe him as a doctor and as a super-spy.

What would you like teen girls will take away from Penelope?
RW: I guess that there’s all sorts of different definitions of beauty. Beyond what’s the physical aspects of beauty, it’s about finding what makes you unique is what is defining in your life and that it’s very important to really know yourself.

What do you like about producing?
RW: Well it’s sort of a natural progression I think. 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 really realize you’re looking at. Whether it be lighting, shot composition, or casting, you realize how important every element is. So, it’s kind of been a natural progression for me. I did a lot of development and script work so that’s been really helpful for me with the production company, learning about what makes a script work or not work. But this actual experience with physical production was exciting because we’d run up against problems, like we needed to do 30 close ups in one day and we had 5 hours of daylight and then the sun went down. And how are we going to do it? I was like “oh I remember this movie that we did it on the dolly and we kept sliding down the line and kept getting close ups.” That’s exciting for me. It was educational, too. You get to learn a lot about editing, music, and things I don’t normally get to touch. They don’t let the actors into those rooms.

Who do you play in Four Christmases?
RW: I play Kate Kincaid who’s this woman who is in a relationship with a man who - we both sort of mutually agree that we want to see our families. Every Christmas we travel and we have a very particular theology about relationships and life, that we’re never going to get married or have children. We like our life, you know. Over 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.

How did you handle Vince Vaughn’s penchant for improvisation?
RW: It’s actually been 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!” But, the good news is that we had been working on it for five months in a room and I’d been used to his personality and how fast he is. His mind literally works so fast. I said to him one day “people can’t talk as fast as you think.” You can’t keep up with him. But, I feel like I’ve been in training - Vince Vaughn training.

Did you ever get him with a great line?
RW: I’ve got him a couple of times! I have to say it’s like a mental benchmark for me. I’m like yes, I got him! But probably only twice. He gets me six times and I get him twice.

Is Four Christmases family-friendly or R rated?
RW: Yeah, have you met him? Sometimes I have to go home and call my brother and say like “what’s the Connecticut Waffle?” Sorry! I don’t know. I still don’t know what it is. I’m sorry if I’ve offended anybody.

Any problem managing the height differences?
RW: It really is like the top of my head hits his armpit. No, I drag my apple-box around. I have an apple-box, Reese’s apple-box. And I have a platform. I just carry it with me and stand on it.

Where do you keep your Oscar?
RW: Well, I’ve considered making it into a door-knocker or a necklace, but neither of those is actually very practical. No, I just keep it in my living room.

As far as improvisation, Catherine O’Hara’s got those skills, too. How’d you get her?
RW: 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 someone very wicked, but also still like her. She had to be pretty evil in some moments in this movie, but find her character’s redemption in that - that’s what she’s really great about. And she plays a fantastic autoharp. It’s really annoying! When I was learning the auto-harp for Walk The Line, they kept dragging up Catherine O’Hara, “Catherine O’Hara in A Mighty Wind, she could really play the autoharp!” Its like, “goddamn that woman!” So when I met her, she played and I said, “oh forget it, I can’t keep up!”

As an Oscar winner, do you look at scripts through a different eye?
RW: I think you just have to go forward like you always have. I’ve never kind of let anything stop me from… I don’t know, you just kind of are who you are in life, who you grew up being. I still feel like I can barely afford an apartment sometimes. The other day I called up my accountant and asked “can I afford to buy that car” and (sarcastically) he’s like “yeah, you can.” But yeah, so I’m always kind of choosing things based on who I am. Where I’m at in life is a big part of it too. The process of what I’ve gone through recently is a part of decision making. It’s interesting how things come your way too - they’re usually right for you - and how you gravitate towards things you’re trying to work out in your own life.

How important is the family-friendly aspect?
RW: It’s always important. Sometimes I get frustrated that there’s not a lot of great female characters out there that young women can look at and go, “I want to be like that, that’s awesome!” Sometimes I go to the movies and I get frustrated. I’m 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 and I feel like it would be nice to see more of them. I’m happy to be a part of something where I feel like there’s a great female character here that Christina plays and it could be inspiring to some people.

Will you potentially be taking a kick-ass female character lead yourself?
RW: Yes, possibly I’d like to do that. I also like to see other women do that. I love seeing Angelina Jolie in movies like Mr. and Mrs. Smith and I can’t wait to see her in Wanted. I think that’s kind of…movies where women have great strength and character. It’s always interesting.

What career advice that you ever received?
RW: “Never miss an opportunity, but just be quiet.” That’s always a good piece of career advice just in life. Actually I was told “Never miss an opportunity to just shut up” by my granddad. The other interesting thing about our business is it’s so ever-evolving. “Always be nice to everybody. Take a look at the people who answer the phones because they could be your boss in four years,” and it’s true. It happens all the time.

What about the Elle Woods TV show?
RW: No, that doesn’t have anything to do with me. I just played the character. They’ve got to spin that stuff to make a buck.

What is the state of the Children’s Defense Fund Project in New Orleans?
RW: I’m actually going back next month. I’m a part of a very exciting project that I can’t talk about. But, it’s going to be very exciting for the Children’s Defense Fund. I’m looking forward to doing some work for them in the months to come.

Where are your ambitions now for the future?
RW: Well, a kick-ass female role, definitely shooting somebody in the neck…or the knee…nowhere permanent. I don’t know. I have a lot of ambition. I really would like to do another period film, that kind of stuff. There are a lot of filmmakers I would like to work with like Ridley Scott. Other actors I think are really interesting - I really like Marion Cotillard. I thought that La Vie En Rose was so good. Now I’m interested more in design and production design and getting more involved in that kind of thing.

Directing?
RW: I think I’m inching towards it, I have to say. Be afraid, be very afraid. I’m tackling that next. But it’s very inspiring to see people like Sarah Polley, who I was auditioning with and on the cover of Vanity Fair with, and seeing her adapt and direct Julie Christie towards an Oscar [nomination].

Would you direct yourself in a film?
RW: I don’t know. I think it’s hard to have that perspective, but who knows…maybe?

Talk about the parallels between Penelope and celebrity lifestyle.
RW: We definitely have that aspect of the movie. We have a little representation of the paparazzi there with Peter Dinklage’s character and the choices he makes, which were definitely fantastic and fairytale-like. It’s interesting. All sorts of different things make you famous nowadays.

What about your involvement with legislation on paparazzi?
RW: Still working on it, but they’re making progress. It’s an uphill battle. We have to be very mindful of our rights as Americans and all that kind of stuff. But, definitely the thing about kids is that you don’t want your children exposed to so much of that. It’s becoming bizarre too. It’s a little…it’s bizarre…a little aggressive and strange.

Did you see Walk Hard?
RW: No I didn’t…was it funny?