Reese Witherspoon Reveals the Classic Film That Shaped Her
Reese Witherspoon credits a 1961 classic for inspiring her approach to female-led stories, highlighting its powerful depiction of women and timeless melodrama.
Most Aussies know Reese Witherspoon for her knack for flipping the blonde stereotype on its head, whether she’s nailing the role of a sharp-witted law student in Legally Blonde, belting out tunes as June Cash in Walk the Line, or giving Matthew Broderick a run for his money in Election. But these days, she’s just as well-known for her work behind the scenes, steering the ship as a producer and championing stories that put women front and centre.
Witherspoon started producing back in the early 2000s, well before she picked up her Oscar for Best Actress. It wasn’t until the runaway hits of Wild, Gone Girl, and Big Little Lies that punters really took notice of her business smarts. Now, she’s got her hands in heaps of projects, most of them focused on strong female leads and often directed by women. In an industry where big-budget, women-driven films are still a bit of a rarity, she’s managed to carve out a space for these stories, whether it’s the tangled relationships in Big Little Lies, the dark twists of Gone Girl, or the Southern intrigue of Where the Crawdads Sing. Melodrama is her bread and butter, but she’s always looking back to the classics for inspiration.
Finding Inspiration in Old-School Melodrama
During the promo trail for Wild in 2015, Witherspoon was asked to name her all-time favourite film. She didn’t hesitate, picking a title from a time when Hollywood was all about complex female characters, even if women weren’t calling the shots behind the camera.
“I saw Splendor in the Grass on TV, and I just thought it was so beautiful… I thought Natalie Wood was amazing, and Warren Beatty, his first movie; it was just beautiful.”
Directed by Elia Kazan, who’d already bagged an Oscar for On the Waterfront, Splendor in the Grass hit screens in 1961. The film dives into the lives of Kansas teens in the 1920s, caught up in a mess of desire and small-town expectations. Natalie Wood and Warren Beatty play the star-crossed lovers, pushed to breaking point by their families and community. The story doesn’t shy away from tough topics—there’s heartbreak, mental health struggles, and a fair bit of tragedy. It’s a full-on melodrama, but thanks to Kazan’s direction and the cast’s performances, it never tips into taking the mickey out of itself.
Controversy and Lasting Impact
When it first came out, critics were a bit divided. Some praised the film for its honest look at sex and repression, while others were a bit scandalised by how far it went. It didn’t take long for other films to push the envelope even further—by the end of the ‘60s, titles like The Graduate, Blow Up, and Easy Rider had changed the game. Looking back, the fuss over Splendor in the Grass seems almost quaint, but the emotional punch still lands, even now.
Witherspoon reckons the film’s real strength is in the way Kazan draws out top-notch performances from his cast. The drama might not shock audiences like it did in the ‘60s, but the raw emotion and depth of the characters have stood the test of time. For Witherspoon, it’s proof that a well-told story about women can leave a lasting mark, no matter when it was made.