If you missed Reese Witherspoon’s hilarious and heartwarming “Legally Blonde” reunion in honor of the cult-classic movie’s almost-20-year-anniversary, there’s no need to stomp your little last season Prada shoes — we’ve got the play by play right here.
Hosted by “Saturday Night Live” star Chloe Fineman, the reunion streamed Tuesday afternoon on Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine YouTube channel, featuring original cast members Selma Blair (Vivian Kensington), Jessica Cauffiel (Margot), Jennifer Coolidge (Paulette Bonafonté), Matthew Davis (Warner Huntington III), Ali Larter (Brooke Taylor Windham), Holland Taylor (Professor Stromwell), Alanna Ubach (Serena McGuire), Luke Wilson (Emmett Richmond), and Witherspoon (Elle Woods).
From Holland Taylor’s breakdown of the iconic scene where she tells Elle Woods “If you’re going to let one stupid prick ruin your life, then you’re not the girl I thought you were” to Jennifer Coolidge’s hilarious encounter with Witherspoon at craft services, here are all of the funniest moments that you might have missed.
Matthew Davis a.k.a. Warner Was Super Intimidated by Reese Witherspoon The Entire Time
“I learned so much from working with you and it was such a joy and I was so out of my league,” said Davis, who played Warner Huntington III. “I literally was just off the back of a turnip truck out of Salt Lake City, Utah. I literally couldn’t get out of Utah fast enough when I stumbled my way into this movie, ‘Legally Blonde.’ I was crapping my pants every step of the way. I remember the first scene we shot together, I sat down and all of a sudden Elle Woods was there, and Elle Woods was so big and so full of life and I realized that all my choices were wrong.”
The One Facial Expression That Got Selma Blair the Part of Vivian Kensington
“My audition was basically like, [director Robert Luketic] said, OK make your face. You see Elle Woods and now you really see Elle Woods,” she said as all of the scenes rolled of Vivian doing her characteristically defeated look. “That was it. That was my whole audition.”
Jennifer Coolidge Says Reese Witherspoon Stayed in Character, Even at Craft Services
“It never occurred to me that when we’re not shooting that some people actually stay in character,” Coolidge told Witherspoon.
“I was at craft services, and you were there too, and you came up behind me and I was stuffing my face with donuts,” she said. “I go, ‘Oh my God, Reese, I can’t stop eating the donuts. I can’t stop.’ And you looked at me, and you go, ‘Then just don’t. Don’t eat them.’ And you just turned around and left. And I’m like, ‘Oh my God, she’s her character at the craft services table.’”
Ali Larter Almost Played a Sorority Girl Instead of Brooke Taylor Windham
When I first read this script I was actually coming in as one of the sorority girls,” Larter said. “I wanted to go in for Brooke Windham because I love that this woman, you think she’s a gold digger, but then you realize that this woman built an empire and she’s just fallen in love with this man.”
During her audition, she knew she had to do an over-the-top performance to convince Luketic to give her the part.
“I just remember it was so true to me, it was so dire to her — everything was on the line for this. I just reached over and I grabbed my ass as hard as I could and I went for it. And he was like, alright, you got it, girl. You committed.”
She added: “This is what this movie really meant to me, is that anyone could really be who they wanted to be.”
Holland Taylor Breaks Down Her Iconic ‘One Stupid Prick’ Scene
“It’s really a moment when an older person sees a younger person who could be really knocked off their pins,” Taylor said of the famous line. “It really doesn’t take much, because I think we’ve all had that experience — hopefully, we all have — where some senior person really cuts right through and gives you a little shove.”
She added that the scene was “a very sweet moment to play,” and that she never would have imagined that “20 years later, it’s still a big thing for young women.”
Jessica Cauffiel Gave Alanna Ubach a Leg Up for the Part of Serena
Cauffiel, who played one of Elle’s sorority sisters, Margot, was asked to read with actresses that were being auditioned to play the part of Serena when she had a surprise encounter with Alanna Ubach in the bathroom.
“Right before the reading I went into the bathroom and there was a cute little petite spitfire putting on lip gloss,” she said. “She looks at me — ‘Hey! Hey, hey. I don’t like this lip gloss. Do you have red lipstick?’ she said, imitating Ubach.
“And I was like what? Like we were in a bar, she asked me for lipstick, took my lipstick, put my lipstick on. And she said, ‘Are you in this movie? Are you the actress?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I’m playing Margot.’ And she goes, ‘I need to make rent. I don’t have any money.’”
So Cauffiel decided to help her, and the pair planned the whole audition with choreographed, simultaneous moves before they went back in for the reading.
“I threw the whole audition to get her the job. And she’s been my best friend ever since,” Cauffiel said.