Reese Witherspoon is one of the most beloved actresses in Hollywood at the moment. After all, she’s still considered a fashion icon for her role and wardrobe in the Legally Blonde movies. Plus, after selling her production company for $900 million, she’s one of the richest actors in the industry.
But she had to work very hard to get to this point. Witherspoon’s career started when she attended an open casting call for The Man in the Moon. While she initially auditioned for a small part in the film, she ended up landing the leading role!
However, the actress recently revealed she has regrets over some of her early roles. In a recent interview, the Legally Blonde star recalled that she didn’t want to film an intimate scene with Mark Wahlberg in the 1996 thriller Fear. She admits this is one of the worst moments in her career.
Neither Reese Witherspoon Nor Mark Wahlberg Were Meant To Star In Fear
Although it was released in 1996, the psychological thriller Fear was filmed in 1994. Originally, Empire Records star Liv Tyler was offered the lead role of Nicole but turned it down. The role was then offered to Reese Witherspoon, who was 19 at the time and had already starred in successful movies like The Man in the Moon (1991).
The Legally Blonde actress was highly attracted to the role. “I saw a lot of my girlfriends get into obsessive relationships as teenagers. The film shows people can make mistakes and they can be fatal,” she told Entertainment Weekly in 2005.
So, Witherspoon played Nicole Walker, a teenager who starts dating a man with obsessive tendencies alongside Mark Wahlberg, William Petersen, Alyssa Milano, and Amy Brenneman.
Like Witherspoon, the rapper-turned-actor wasn’t the first option for this role. Leonardo DiCaprio was the one who put in a good word for Wahlberg to director James Foley in an attempt to get him a role in this film. After spending a day with him, discussing how he could fit into the movie, Foley told Wahlberg that he really liked him but didn’t really think he was a good choice for the lead role of David McCall.
In response, Walhberg offered to audition for a minor role as one of David’s friends. He impressed Foley with his audition so much that the director threatened the studio to back out from directing the movie if Walhberg didn't get to play the lead role.
Reese Witherspoon Didn't Want To Film An Intimate Scene With Mark Wahlberg In Fear
In a recent interview with Harper’s Bazar, Reese Witherspoon revealed that the infamous Fear scene in which Nicole and David have sex while on a roller coaster was added to the script on a whim. The original scene was less explicit than what they ultimately filmed.
“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.”
Ultimately, Witherspoon was denied a body double and forced to film this scene. Looking back, the actress admitted that this was a very degrading experience. But this experience was formative for the rest of her career. "I didn't have control over it," the Legally Blonde actress said, looking back on the scene. "It wasn't a particularly great experience."
Now, more than two decades since Fear came out, the actress admitted that she's "not traumatized or anything by it, but it was formative." This was a lesson she’s never forgotten. "It made me understand where my place was in the pecking order of filmmaking," she explained.
"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 the male gaze."
And she’s very much done so. In 2016, she founded Hello Sunshine, a women-led production company that’s produced Oscar-nominated films such as Gone Girl and Wild, as well as the HBO drama series Big Little Lies, in which Witherspoon also stars.
The 1996 Thriller Fear Was A Huge Blockbuster Flop But Became a Cult Classic Later On
Much to Reese Witherspoon’s relief, Fear flopped at the box office. This psychological thriller only grossed a little over $20 million after being released only in the U.S. Luckily, there weren’t any losses, as the budget for this film was rather modest, at only $6.5 million.
Despite its unsuccessful run in theaters, Fear went on to become a cult classic. This helped cement Witherspoon and Wahlberg’s status in Hollywood. Following the release of this psychological thriller, Witherspoon went on to land leading roles in major films such as Overnight Delivery, Pleasantville, Twilight, and Legally Blonde.
Most recently, a Fear remake was announced. In 2019, Universal Pictures announced that they would be producing a new version of this beloved thriller. According to Variety, the remake a Fear reboot series written by Jessica Goldberg will be coming out way through the Peacock streaming services.
