In last night’s 60 Minutes interview with Charlie Rose, Oscar-winning actress Reese Witherspoon admitted that she’d been asked to be on the show several years ago, but she declined because she was “too scared.” This time around, it was different. “This makes sense,” she told Rose about her decision to do the interview. “I have something to say now.”
What they didn’t talk about was Witherspoon’s current marriage to agent Jim Toth, her kids, or her 2013 arrest for disorderly conduct when she and Toth were driving under the influence in Atlanta. The idea of America’s Sweetheart slinging back cocktails and acting like a diva was titillating for a minute, and Witherspoon has spoken about the incident before, so 60 Minutes (and Witherspoon) left it where it belongs: in the past. But what was this big “something” that Witherspoon suddenly had to say? It had nothing to do with her personal life and it might not make the cover of every tabloid, but it's still worth hearing - especially when it comes to the powers that be in Hollywood.
Rose focused on feminism, career ups and downs, and Witherspoon’s new film Wild. It seems like that “something” that Witherspoon felt she needed to say was the fact that she started the production company Pacific Standard with partner Bruna Papandrea, and that they’re committed to finding and making films focused on complex, interesting female characters.
Fed up with reading scripts with weak roles for women, Witherspoon teamed with Papandrea, launched the company, and produced two of the year’s strongest films right out of the gate: Gone Girl and Wild. They optioned both books before publication and evidently pushed hard to get them made. “We’re not the big powerhouse,” Papandrea told Rose last night. They may not be running major studio, but they’re probably also not exactly struggling to get films greenlit. Even when her career was supposedly floundering, there weren’t many people in Hollywood who would say no to Reese Witherspoon.
Wild and Gone Girl are both great films that actually do have interesting, complicated roles for women, and Witherspoon is following in the footsteps of many major stars before her by launching her own production company and taking matters into her own hands. She might not have revealed her deepest, darkest secrets on 60 Minutes last night, but if she’s speaking out and taking an active role in getting films with strong female leads into theaters, that “something” that she had to say is more revelatory than any tabloid story.
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