Reese Witherspoon reportedly requested for a stunt double to film with after her sex scene with Mark Wahlberg “wasn’t great”.
Aged just 19 at the time, Witherspoon’s character made love to Wahlberg’s in 1996’s Fear. The film plot follows Mark, who plays a charming high schooler who is secretly a murderer, who works his magic on a teenage girl, played by Witherspoon, into being fondled.
Rewatching the film, the scene is an uncomfortable watch for many viewers due to its lack of delicacy, and it seems this sentiment was also echoed by the actors themselves. Reese, who went on star in huge shows and films including Legally Blonde and Friends, had asked producers for a stunt double to fill in, only for it to be denied.
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Speaking to Harper’s Bazaar in an interview that was released last year, Reese recalled the tense exchange: “I didn’t have control over it. It wasn’t explicit in the script that that’s what was going to happen, so that was something that I think the director thought of on his own and then asked me on set if I would do it, and I said no.”
(Image: Greg Gorman/Universal/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock)
When she was asked about what she made of the entire time of filming, she lamented: “It wasn’t a particularly great experience.” The film came right before Reese’s big break into the Hollywood scene, and she realised that she was going to need to do challenging scenes as these in order to make it work in her favour.
“I’m certainly not traumatised or anything by it, but it was formative,” she added. “It made me understand where my place was in the pecking order of filmmaking.”
(Image: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock)
She looked back on the experience as a way to see the world through fresh eyes.
“I think it’s another one of those stories that made me want to be an agent for change and someone who maybe can be in a better leadership position to tell stories from a female perspective instead of from a male gaze,” Witherspoon finished. Since then, she has gone on to set up her own production company – Hello Sunshine, which has already produced hit projects including Where the Crawdads Sing and Wild.
(Image: Getty Images)
However, this is also not the first time that Reese has spoken out as a result of the abuse she suffered in the industry. As part of the #MeToo movement, Witherspoon bravely revealed in 2017 that she was abused in her teenage years by a director – feeling disgust and anger “that silence was a condition of my employment”.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
