Reese Witherspoon’s Horrible Experience Filming With Mark Wahlberg
Reese Witherspoon runs the Hollywood powerhouse Hello Sunshine, but her path to success has not been without its gloomy days. In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, the producer and actress recounted a negative experience filming a sex scene for the 1996 romance thriller Fear. “I didn’t have control over it,” she said, explaining she was denied a stunt double for below-the-waist shots.
The scene in question saw Reese Witherspoon have a romantic moment with her co-star, Mark Wahlberg, while riding a roller coaster. The simulated sexual act is represented in part with tight shots of Witherspoon strictly below the waist.
Reese Witherspoon says she was forced to shoot a sex scene with Mark Wahlberg in 1996’s Fear after she asked for a stunt double.
Reese Witherspoon explained that the moment was not penned in the script, written by Last of the Mohicans scribe Christopher Crowe. It was an addition by director James Foley, who has since notably directed several episodes of Netflix’s House of Cards.
Witherspoon at first refused to do the scene, but eventually lost out. “It wasn’t a particularly great experience,” she said. “I’m certainly not traumatized or anything by it, but it was formative. It made me understand where my place was in the pecking order of filmmaking.”
That did not slow Reese Witherspoon down; on the contrary, the experience was fuel for the young actress’s ambition to empower herself and the women around her to produce movies and TV shows that bring female voices to the screen.
“It wasn’t a particularly great experience. I’m certainly not traumatized or anything by it, but it was formative. It made me understand where my place was in the pecking order of filmmaking.”
Reese Witherspoon
“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,” she shared.
Reese Witherspoon has certainly achieved that goal. Hello Sunshine is behind several hit projects, all of which put women at the center of the story. Apple shows like The Morning Show, starring Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston as frenemy national news anchors, and the Jennifer Garner-led series The Last Thing He Told Me have emerged as big hits.
Witherspoon also helped produce HBO’s Big Little Lies, Netflix’s Your Place or Mine, and Hulu’s Little Fires Everywhere, all of which she also stars in. Hello Sunshine continues to rack up prestigious awards and nominations as it brings high quality, female focused stories to the big and small screens.
Reese Witherspoon also heads a massive and hugely influential book club. Her influence is ever-expanding, and the women around her are here for it. Her collaborators like Jennifer Aniston and Laura Dern praise the actress and producer for her high energy, positivity, and productivity.
One of the most powerful traits Reese Witherspoon possesses is her willingness to go to bat for her people. Her collaborators are loyal because they know Witherspoon will fight for them, their visions, and their safety.
“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.”
Reese Witherspoon
For Witherspoon, all her success and the fight for a more inclusive Hollywood is driven by the example she seeks to set for her daughter. Beyond that, Reese Witherspoon sees the need for positivity in the world.
She asserted that she sets out to make the things she wants to see on a Friday night, sometimes unplugging from the heartbreak and hardship of reality and having a rejuvenating laugh. Her recent return to the rom-com form that shaped her early career is one sign of that positive focus.
Reese Witherspoon has had tough experiences growing up in Hollywood. The incident on Fear, as she recognizes, is one anecdote of thousands that represents the experiences women have in the workplace. Even so, Witherspoon is still bringing the sunshine, one project at a time.
