Reese Witherspoon said in a new interview with Harper’s Bazaar that filming a sex scene at age 19 for the 1996 thriller “Fear” wasn’t “a particularly great experience.” Directed by James Foley, “Fear” stars Witherspoon as a teenager who falls in love with a sinister young man played by Mark Wahlberg. One of the liveliest scenes in the movie centers around Witherspoon’s character having an orgasm on a roller coaster while being thrilled by Mark Wahlberg’s character.
“I had no control over it,” Witherspoon said of filming the sex scene, adding that she requested that a stunt double be used for the below-the-waist shots. “It wasn’t explicit in the script that that was what was going to happen, so that’s something I think the director thought of on his own and then asked me on set if I I would, and I said no. It wasn’t a particularly great experience.
More Variety
“I’m definitely not traumatized or anything by it, but it was formative,” Witherspoon added. “It made me realize where my place was in the movie pecking order. I think it was another one of those stories that made me want to be an agent of change and someone who can can -be in a better leadership position to tell stories from a female point of view rather than a male one.
Prioritizing the female gaze has become a calling card of Witherspoon’s production company, Hello Sunshine, which has backed high-profile female-centric projects such as ‘Gone Girl’, ‘Wild’, ‘Big Little Lies”, “Where the Crawdads Sing”. and recent Emmy nominee “Daisy Jones & the Six.”
Elsewhere in her interview with Harper, Witherspoon recalled losing desired lead roles in Baz Luhrmann’s “Clueless” and “Romeo + Juliet.”
“Oh my God, I wanted to do ‘Romeo + Juliet’ so badly,” Witherspoon said. “Of course, Claire Danes was amazing, but it was devastating for me not to have her after screen tests and to really come close.”
Next up for Witherspoon is a return to “The Morning Show,” his Apple TV+ drama series which launches a third season in September.
The best of variety
Subscribe to the Variety newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Click here to read the full article.