Legally Blonde (2001)

The heart, soul and hair-color of Legally Blonde all rest on its guileless lead heroine: Elle Woods. Casting Elle was a breeze, because the filmmakers were convinced from the beginning that there was only one choice: Reese Witherspoon, perhaps Hollywood's most complex and comedic young actress today. "Reese has all the beauty, intelligence, comedic brilliance and, of course, the natural blonde-ness to get to the heart and pathos of this character," says Marc Platt.

Adds Robert Luketic: "She is just incredibly talented, and it was very impressive how she threw herself into the role. She hung out in Beverly Hills watching girls eat lobster salad and having spa days, and she just nailed it in a way that captures the uncanny ability of this character to charm."

Like everyone who came in contact with the character, Witherspoon quickly developed a soft spot for Elle Woods and her buoyant battle to be taken seriously. "What I love about this story is that it really questions your perceptions," says the actress. "It's so easy to jump to conclusions about people in life, and I was really interested in exploring the difference between how a person looks externally and who they really are inside."

Elle Woods also represented something else to Witherspoon: empowerment. "I think this is really an empowering movie," she says. "Everybody has a moment in their life when they stop believing in themselves, but Elle proves with her own special spirit that anyone can overcome their fears and succeed on their own terms, whatever those might be. Some people might succeed because they know about Plato and Socrates and other people succeed because they know about Porsches and Clinique. The point is to use what you have and believe in yourself."

Witherspoon had a blast playing the perpetually perky Elle, but she also learned something interesting. "Actually, maintaining that sort of bubbly energy all the time is hard work. Elle never takes a break from staying up!"

For Witherspoon, this unstoppable optimism became an essential part of the larger-than- life character she was creating. "We decided to create Elle as a person who has a real, unbreakable innocence," she explains. "She basically believes people are good and the world is good, and that never changes throughout the movie. I really like that and I wanted to impart it in a big, colorful way."

Also colorful is Elle's of-the-moment designer wardrobe, which Witherspoon got a major kick out of. "Of course, no normal person would wear these clothes in public, but it all makes sense in the context of Elle's character. It's always about flaunting who you are."

---