Reese Witherspoon Says She "Didn't Have Control" Over Shooting 'Fear' Sex Scene With Mark Wahlberg in 1996
"It wasn't a particularly great experience."
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While Reese Witherspoon may now have no issue voicing her opinions on set, she’ll be the first to admit that it wasn't always that way. In fact, in a new interview with Harper’s Bazaar (published Wednesday), the actress opened up about how filming a sex scene with Mark Wahlberg in their 1996 psychological thriller Fear actually made her quite uncomfortable — but she didn’t feel like she had any “control” over the situation at the time.
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“I didn't have control over it,” the actress recalled, noting that she’d even requested a stunt double to complete the more intimate scenes. “It wasn't explicit in the script that that's what was going to happen, so that was something that I think the director thought of on his own and then asked me on set if I would do it, and I said no.”
She added, “It wasn’t a particularly great experience.”
Related: Reese Witherspoon Says "It's a Vulnerable Time" Amid Her Divorce From Jim Toth
Although Witherspoon clarified that she “certainly [wasn’t] traumatized” by the incident, she explained that “it was formative. It made me understand where my place was in the pecking order of filmmaking. 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.”
It’s this very idea, Reese added, that also influenced the kind of content she prefers to create through her incredibly successful production company, Hello Sunshine. “I think the human capacity to handle as much heartbreak and tragedy that’s happened in the world is really diminished,” she shared. “We’re just not meant to feel this overwhelmed by sadness and devastation.”
The actress continued, “I think of opportunities to make movies and television shows that are joyful, optimistic, funny — just funny. I think about what I want to see on a Friday night, and while I can appreciate a true-crime show or a podcast, I really need some levity. I think the world is looking for a little brightness.”
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