Reese Witherspoon & Selma Blair’s Perfect Legally Blonde Reunion

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Whoever said Elle Woods and Vivian Kensington weren’t still best friends was seriously disturbed.

Nearly 25 years after the popular movie Legally Blonde came out, Reese Witherspoon and Selma Blair – who played rivals-turned-friends in the film – recently had a heartwarming reunion.

Selma, 53, shared a sweet Instagram post on May 7th, expressing her love for someone she calls ‘Sunshine.’ She said reconnecting with this person made her whole week better.

She added, “Oceans of love to you @reesewitherspoon. Elle and Vivian 2026. Cute.”

Reese, age 50, shared similar feelings in the comments, writing “Elle and Vivian forever” with a heart emoji.

Reese Witherspoon and Selma Blair, who first appeared together in the 1999 film Cruel Intentions, looked happy to be reunited. Photos from their get-together show them smiling and posing for selfies, and holding coffee cups together.

Fans went wild when the two reunited, and even Reese Witherspoon’s daughter, Ava Phillippe, joined the excitement, commenting, “Total babes, then & now.”

Reese Witherspoon and Selma Blair recently reunited, and fans are excited about the upcoming Legally Blonde prequel, Elle. The series stars Lexi Minetree as a young Elle Woods navigating high school in Seattle after moving from Los Angeles with her family.

Prime Video recently shared a sneak peek of the upcoming series, executive produced by Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine. However, viewers will need to wait until July 1st to see Elle’s story unfold, showing what her life was like before she started at Harvard Law School.

The debut of Elle is particularly special because it’s happening shortly before the 25th anniversary of Legally Blonde, which first came out on July 13, 2001.

And what? Like it was hard for Reese to notice that significance?

The actress explained she was feeling emotional because the movie Legally Blonde was released 25 years ago in July. She also shared that in January, she and her Legally Blonde co-stars – Chandler Kinney, Gabrielle Policano, Jacob Moskovitz, and Zac Looker – had a special moment together. She added that this year marks the 25th anniversary of the film.

The debut of Elle is particularly special because it’s happening right before the 25th anniversary of Legally Blonde, which first came out on July 13, 2001.

And what? Like it was hard for Reese to notice that significance?

The actress shared that she’s feeling emotional because the movie Legally Blonde was released 25 years ago in July. She also mentioned that in January, she and her Legally Blonde co-stars – Chandler Kinney, Gabrielle Policano, Jacob Moskovitz, and Zac Looker – celebrated this milestone. She added that this year marks the 25th anniversary of the film.

Get a mood boost by discovering fun facts about Legally Blonde while we wait for the anniversary and the new Elle movie this summer!

The idea for Legally Blonde came to author Amanda Brown during a law school lecture. She told Stanford Magazine in 2001, six years after leaving law school to become a writer, that she wanted to playfully poke fun at the law school experience. Many details in the 2001 movie were based on her own life.

Although Brown originally envisioned Elle Woods attending Stanford, the university didn’t want to be linked to the film, so it was changed to Harvard. However, her personal quirks, like a love for pink stationery and fuzzy pens, made it into the story, as did a real-life incident where a classmate passionately argued for changing “semester” to “ovester.”

The famous toilet paper scene also happened to co-screenwriter Karen McCullah. While at James Madison University, her sorority was denied their request for Charmin toilet paper and forced to use generic. She told the college’s Montpelier Magazine that, determined to avoid discomfort, she offered her sisters extra points for sneaking replacement rolls from the administration building.

As someone who loves a good deep dive, I always find it fascinating to learn how actors truly become their characters! When I heard Reese Witherspoon landed the role of Elle Woods just a year after pausing her own studies, I wasn’t surprised she went all-in on research. She actually sat in on classes at Loyola Law School and spent time with sorority sisters at USC – she described it as like doing an anthropological study, really observing their lives, from what they ate to how they interacted. And it wasn’t just Reese! Matthew Davis, who played Warner, based his character – that preppy, ambitious type – on George W. Bush, even reading his biography to get a feel for his mannerisms. It’s that level of dedication that really brings a character to life, don’t you think?

Reese Witherspoon started filming just a few months after her daughter, Ava Phillippe, was born in September 1999 to her and then-husband Ryan Phillippe. She told Cinema.com about the challenges of balancing new motherhood with her work. Witherspoon recalled nights where Ava would wake up sick, requiring her to soothe her all night before heading to set at 7 a.m. for makeup. This was particularly difficult because she was playing a cheerful, energetic character who always had to appear happy. She jokingly admitted she worried she wouldn’t be able to handle it all!

Interestingly, Christina Applegate was almost cast in the role! The script reached her right as she was finishing her ten-year run on Married… with Children. She ultimately turned it down, explaining to ETonline in 2015 that she worried it would be too similar to her role as Kelly Bundy. Looking back, she jokingly called it a “stupid move.”

Oh my gosh, you will NOT believe how they got Luke Wilson to play Emmett! Apparently, the writers – Kirsten Smith, specifically – were absolutely obsessed with him from the start. They were practically bombarding the casting director with faxes saying, ‘Luke Wilson! Luke Wilson!’ It’s hilarious! They even did a table read with another actor playing the part, but afterward, they were all, ‘No, it has to be Luke Wilson!’ And Luke was like, ‘Actually, yeah, that is a good idea!’ I mean, we all knew it would be perfect, and they were right! They’d been trying to get him in the movie the whole time, and finally, it worked out!

I was so excited when I learned Ali Larter didn’t just try out for a small role as one of Elle’s sorority sisters – she went for Brooke Windham! I remember reading about how she really wanted that part of the fitness guru accused of murder. Apparently, when she was auditioning for director Robert Luketic and reading Brooke’s outrageous jailhouse confession about liposuction – that unforgettable line, “It’s not like normal women can have this ass!” – she really went for it. She told the cast during their 2020 reunion that she actually grabbed her own backside during the audition to show Luketic how committed she was to making the character believable and fun. And it worked! He immediately said she had the part. It’s such a memorable story and really shows her dedication!

Alanna Ubach went to great lengths to land the role of Serena, Elle’s sorority sister. Jessica Cauffiel, who had already been cast as Margot, remembers first meeting Ubach in the bathroom during the chemistry read. Ubach approached her and asked if she was also in the movie. She’d already borrowed Cauffiel’s red lipstick and then made a bold request: she asked for help getting the job because she needed money for rent. Cauffiel was so amused by Ubach’s audacity that she agreed to help.

Telling the casting directors she needed to make a phone call, Cauffiel went back to the bathroom to rehearse lines with Ubach. They even planned out matching movements to demonstrate their chemistry. Cauffiel deliberately sabotaged her own audition to help Ubach get the part, and the two have been close friends ever since.

On set, Ubach’s clever idea really shone, especially during the manicure scene she shared with Cauffiel. At a cast reunion, she recalled thinking it would be funny if their characters visited the nail salon so often that she’d naturally pick up the Vietnamese language. She spent an hour perfecting a line – “She’ll never get him back with those cuticles” – and then asked director Luketic if she could improvise. Ubach joked that he responded with, “You’re so weird, but go ahead and try it – let’s see if it works!”

Director Robert Luketic was surprisingly open to all sorts of creative ideas. According to actress Kelly Cauffiel, he gave the team a lot of freedom. She even pitched a somewhat risky idea for a scene in the bridal salon – having Margot fall off a pedestal. “I asked Robert if I could fall,” Cauffiel remembered, “and he immediately said, ‘Get a mattress! Get her a mattress!'”

Matthew Davis remembers being both thrilled and terrified to land his first big movie role as Warner in Legally Blonde. He felt completely unprepared, joking that he’d just arrived in Hollywood from Salt Lake City, Utah. He also admitted to having crushes on his costars. He was incredibly nervous throughout the entire filming process.

His first scene involved breaking up with Reese Witherspoon’s character, Elle Woods, and he instantly felt he’d made all the wrong acting choices when he saw how vibrant and full of life she was.

Even twenty years later, people still criticize his character’s callous breakup with Elle during a dinner date, especially since he immediately proposed to his new girlfriend, Vivian Kensington (Selma Blair), shortly after.

Despite going on to appear in shows like Damages, The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, and Legacies, he was often recognized as “that jerk from Legally Blonde.” During a reunion, Reese Witherspoon quickly defended him, insisting he was a genuinely nice person and simply playing a character.

Filming Elle’s law school application video felt surprisingly difficult, maybe even harder than getting into Harvard Law – though that’s probably an exaggeration! According to Reese Witherspoon, it was incredibly hot in Pasadena the day they shot the pool scene. In that scene, Elle demonstrates her impressive memory by recalling details from the soap opera Days of Our Lives, specifically how a character named Hope was manipulated. The director, Cauffiel, joked about how challenging it was to get Margot to float so naturally on her raft, wondering if someone had been secretly pushing her along with a pole.

It was incredibly hot while Reese Witherspoon filmed Elle Woods’ first day of law school. Although the scene was shot at UCLA, it was meant to look like Harvard, and her outfit – a button-down shirt, tie, and belted sweater – felt more suited for a cooler Boston autumn. Witherspoon admitted she was sweating a lot! The costume designer, Sophie de Rakoff, had to remind her that it was crucial for Elle to look exactly the part, insisting she wear the sweater and button up her collar. Witherspoon happily complied.

Considering her Oscar win and incredible performance, it’s not surprising the actress was allowed to keep all sixty of her costumes from the movie. She revealed on Instagram that each outfit is carefully stored in acid-free tissue and a dedicated storage unit, and she personally makes sure they’re well-maintained.

The movie almost included a full musical number featuring the “bend-and-snap.” The cast spent a month rehearsing a more elaborate song-and-dance version of the nail salon scene where Elle explains the move, which she claims works 83% of the time. Reese Witherspoon felt it didn’t fit because it would have been the only musical sequence in the film.

The now-iconic move itself was actually created at a bar in Beverly Hills. Screenwriters Karen McCullah and Kirsten Smith were brainstorming ideas for a subplot that could take place in the nail salon and were struggling with different concepts. Then, Smith demonstrated the move – a spontaneous idea she acted out right there at the bar – and they realized it was perfect. They made up the name on the spot, and Smith jokingly suggested the bar should put up a historical marker!

The film’s original ending was quite different. It showed Elle winning her case and sharing a kiss with Emmett on the courthouse steps, then jumped ahead a year to reveal Elle and Vivian had become friends, started a “Blond Legal Defense Club,” and were handing out flyers on campus. However, test audiences didn’t respond well to the romantic ending, feeling the story wasn’t about Elle finding a boyfriend, which the filmmakers took as a positive sign.

Filming Elle’s inspiring graduation speech also presented some challenges. Reese Witherspoon filmed her part at Dulwich College in London while working on The Importance of Being Earnest, while the other actors filmed their scenes in California. Because Witherspoon had changed her hair for the Oscar Wilde adaptation and Luke Wilson had shaved his head for The Royal Tenenbaums, both actors had to wear wigs for the scene.

Reese Witherspoon left Stanford University after her first year to become an actress. During a 2020 cast reunion, she playfully said, “This is where I went to college! I didn’t finish, but I did finish Legally Blonde.” While fans often quote her famous lines – especially “What? Like it’s hard?” – Witherspoon is most moved by stories of people whose careers were inspired by the film. She explained, “We had no idea how much Legally Blonde would inspire young people around the world.” She’s particularly touched when people tell her they went to law school because of Elle Woods, calling it “really amazing.” Witherspoon shared with TopMob News at the 2024 Screen Actors Guild Awards that hearing quotes from the movie always makes her happy: “When anybody starts talking to me about Legally Blonde, it really touches my heart, so please know that.”

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2026-05-08 22:21