Break out the red, white and blonde because Reese Witherspoon and Regina King have reunited (virtually) to discuss all things Hollywood nearly two decades after their highly anticipated
Legally Blonde sequel first hit theatres. But while the actresses definitely addressed getting to work with each other for the first time in the chat, they were also all about discussing how Hollywood has evolved over the years.“I feel like I met you when I was 23 years old,”
Witherspoon opened the chat for an episode of
Variety’s Actors on Actors. “I know — we have grown children. We met each other on
Legally Blonde. Remember when you got Sally Field to play that part? We were just fanning out,” King responded. “And you got to do that again on
Big Little Lies with Meryl Streep. How do you do it, girl?”Witherspoon revealed that for her it’s all about making an offer they can’t refuse, but she also admitted that she had wanted to work with King ever since she saw her in the 1996 film
Jerry Maguire. “You had a spirit inside of you and I was like, 'That woman is truth; she is intelligence; she is beauty; she is soul and she is honest.' And I was like, 'I have to work with her.' And I feel so lucky that I got to but we gotta do it again 'cause it's been too long.”Since their time on
Legally Blonde both women have seen some serious success on- and off-screen. They’ve both taken home an Oscar while continuing to carve the path for women in Hollywood, Witherspoon as a producer and King as a director. "The thing I love about you is the stacking of achievements isn't just for your own gain and benefit," Witherspoon said. "That you are determined to make a lot of change in our business by committing to hire more women, more people of colour—to put them in the driver's seat, you know? I think there's such an alignment between a lot of women of our generation about [how] we do not want to leave this business the way we found it."During the chat Witherspoon, who has had a slate of recent high-profile projects like
Big Little Lies,
Little Fires Everywhere, and
The Morning Show, revealed that it took her a long time to gain respect as a producer—despite the success of movies like
Gone Girl and
Wild. “[We] weren't making any money. I could barely keep the company open. Even
Big Little Lies," she said. "It wasn't like this economic boom until I started doing more audience engagement through book clubs, and getting on Instagram, and promoting women's stories that maybe wouldn't make it to film and television but, you know, that it felt possible and that people, said, 'Oh yeah, that is something.'"The actress admitted that it’s the audience that has changed everything, and following that viewer appetite has led to more diverse stories about women on-screen. "It's amazing to see those opportunities open up for women. Honestly, I didn't think I'd see it in my lifetime."King also opened up about appearing on the recent game-changing miniseries
Watchmen, the HBO drama that takes a deep dive into the legacy of racial trauma. The series debuted before the protests over police brutality and systemic racism sparked worldwide conversations about the need for change. (The conversation between the actresses was recorded beforehand as well.)“One of the things about
Watchmen that blew me open when I read the pilot was all of these historical things that actually happened that are within the story. Then the pilot airs, and how many people had never heard of Bass Reeves? And when I see so many people not knowing, of all races, of all ages,” King said.“We have this revisionist history in our country that some people just refuse to acknowledge is revisionist history. It’s mind-blowing when you talk to Damon Lindelof — he’s the creator of the show. A lot of this story came from his discovery of the Tulsa massacre from reading
The Case for Reparations. And he was just blown away that he didn’t even know,” she added.“He probably would not like intellect to be the only feather in his cap, but he is an intellect. And he was embarrassed that he didn’t know. And through our mini-conversations, I was like, ‘You shouldn’t be embarrassed, but what you’ve done with your discovery is quite powerful and part of what is the point of the human beings’ plight on Earth.’ If he did know about the Tulsa massacre a long time ago, and learned about it in school, he probably wouldn’t have written about it today. But having that discovery today, and it blowing him back, he was able to give a lot of people history lessons.”[video_embed id='1974045']BEFORE YOU GO: Chris Cuomo accidentally bares it all on his wife’s Instagram live[/video_embed]
