Reese Witherspoon partook in Variety‘s Actors on Actors series with Regina King, who Witherspoon previously worked with in Legally Blonde 2. The actresses spent most of the time discussing their individual careers and recent successes, including Witherspoon’s growing success as a producer and King’s impressive role in HBO’s Watchmen.
Their conversation also delved into more serious topics, as King opened up about how she felt Watchmen‘s approach to race and Witherspoon spoke about how Little Fires Everywhere approached the subject of sexuality.
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Witherspoon explained that she took moments from her own childhood and adolescence to make the show more authentic.
She explained that the show offered her an opportunity to "look at a time that was actually 30 years ago and think: 'I was a teenager then. What did my mum say about sexuality, race, class? What were the things that I was told that maybe were true or not true? How was I insensitive?'"
The actress continued, acknowledging her own ignorance about sexuality when she was younger.
"No one spoke to me about sexuality when I was a teenager," she said. "I didn’t understand what homosexuality was. My grandparents didn’t explain it; my parents didn’t explain it. I had to learn from somebody I met on an audition in Los Angeles."
Witherspoon's own experience--or lack thereof--when it came to learning about homosexuality inspired conversations in the show.
She told King, "We incorporated some of the conversation I had with my grandmother afterward. She said: 'Homosexuality is very rare, Reese. That’s not a thing that happens very often.' And we put it in the script."
Witherspoon's character in the show, Elena Richardson, said the line. Witherspoon explained the decision: "Elena says it because that’s what was said to me in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1994."
