Reese Witherspoon Celebrates Sweet Home Alabama Turning 20: 'Completely Changed My Life'

Shafiq Najib
·2 min read
6
Editorial use only. No book cover usage. Mandatory Credit: Photo by Touchstone/Kobal/Shutterstock (5882317p) Reese Witherspoon Sweet Home Alabama - 2002 Director: Andy Tennant Touchstone USA Scene Still Comedy Fashion victime
Editorial use only. No book cover usage. Mandatory Credit: Photo by Touchstone/Kobal/Shutterstock (5882317p) Reese Witherspoon Sweet Home Alabama - 2002 Director: Andy Tennant Touchstone USA Scene Still Comedy Fashion victime

Touchstone/Kobal/Shutterstock

Reese Witherspoon took fans on a trip down memory lane.

On Saturday, the actress celebrated the 20th anniversary of the release of the hit romantic comedy Sweet Home Alabama.

Sharing a short clip featuring the compilation of the famous scenes from the beloved movie, Witherspoon, 46, wrote in the Instagram caption, "20 years ago Sweet Home Alabama came out and completely changed my life."

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" 💫✨🌟Incredible memories of shooting this movie with these amazing actors—Josh, Patrick, Dakota, Melanie, Jean, Ethan, Mary Kay, Fred, and Candace, of course!" she continued. "So many great scenes and my favorite line... 'So I can kiss you anytime I want.' 💖🎬🥰 Do you remember seeing it for the first time?"

Sweet Home Alabama was released in September 2002 and took its title from the Lynyrd Skynyrd song of the same name.

In its opening weekend, the film grossed over $35 million and earned over $130 million domestically during its theater run. It made another $53 million at the worldwide box office, with a budget of $30 million.

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The film follows the story of Witherspoon's character Melanie, a big-shot designer living in New York who must go back home to convince her ex to sign the divorce papers so she can get married again.

While promoting her book, Whiskey in a Teacup in 2018, Witherspoon explained how the plot in the film mirrored her own life story.

"When I read the script I was like, 'Do these people know my life story?'" Witherspoon said at a press conference in New York, Page Six reported. "Because no matter how much you love where you're from, when you get a little bit older, you get nostalgic for it. When I was 18, I was like, 'I am out of here! I am never coming back!'"

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Though the actress grew up in Nashville, Tenn., and not Alabama, Witherspoon still felt like her old self while shooting the movie in Georgia. According to Page Six, she said it brought back memories of feeling like home is where the heart is.

"When I was going through Sweet Home Alabama, I was like, 'This is exactly how so many young people feel,' " she said at the time. "You want to leave home, and then you realize that there's so many important things about the closeness of family or people who knew you before. And I feel really like that movie really encapsulated those ideas. And it was a lot of fun. It was so much fun. I had a great time doing it."