Reese Witherspoon Q&A

by Helen Earnshaw | 2 November 2009

Reese Witherspoon may be an Oscar winning actress but it is her voice on show in the latest animation movie to hit DVD... Monsters vs Aliens.

When a meteorite from outer space hits a young woman and turns her into a giant monster, she is taken to a secret government compound where she meets a ragtag group of monsters also rounded up over the years.

- Hi Reese. How are you?

Great. It is nice to be here.

- In Monsters vs. Aliens you play the giant monster, Ginormica. In real life you are so cute and petite. What was it like for you to provide a voice for a character so tall?

It was a lot of fun. They (directors Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon) walked me through the process of her as she was growing and what it was like. They had to constantly give me the perspective because Insectosaurus is much bigger than me and the alien robots are even bigger.

So I was being told to look up or to project further. She gets her strength and really enjoys having that super power. She gets stronger and more deeply involved.

- You are one of the most photographed women in the world? Paparazzi are always chasing you. In that respect do you feel a little like Ginormica in that people are staring at her?

Yeah (laughs). Sometimes I feel like a 49 foot woman, I go places where I see people whispering and pushing their children toward me to take pictures or look cute in front of me. I know what that feels like, a little bit.

But I would not say it is a detriment. It has afforded me a lot of great things in my life and I am very lucky and blessed to have everything I do.

- Is it true you signed up to do Monsters vs. Aliens after visiting Hollywood studio DreamWorks and seeing some of the early drawings of the monsters and aliens?

Yes. I went in to meet (DreamWorks film studio co-founder) Jeffrey Katzenberg, just as a general idea, once I started seeing the DreamWorks animated movies over and over again with my children.

We had a meeting and he walked me through the process of what they do and I ended up seeing the boards for this movie and got very excited. It just seemed like a good idea that revolved around this great image of my character sitting on the roof of the gas station, which was really cool.

- So that was it? You signed up straight away?

Yes. I signed on and I guess about a year later I began doing recordings which I like to call Actor In A Box (laughs).

- That's hilarious. So you spend hours in a voice booth?

Yeah. It was great, I had never really done voiceover work before, so it was really helpful to have Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon there to walk me through everything because it is sort of stop and go.

You pick up scenes here and there and you double back and get them again. It really is a very director focused medium because they always have to inform the actors where they are at, otherwise they would be incredibly lost.

It is also ever evolving. The narrative is always changing. I think that in the beginning I was the fifth lead (laughs) and then it evolved until they told me I was one of the leads.

- Would it be true to say Monsters vs. Aliens was inspired by B horror movies. What are your favourite B movies?

My dad used to watch Roger Corman movies late at night. He is obsessed with Roger Corman. He heard that you could intern for Roger Corman if you pay $5,000.

He's waiting in the queue for his number to be called. I liked The Blob and Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes and all that stuff Godzilla.

- What films have you seen in 3D?

I saw Jaws, Spy Kids and Captain Eo in 3D basically anything that comes out for children. When I was little I remember being really near-sighted. I had those giant glasses, so I had to put the 3D glasses over them. That made it kind of more difficult.

- Was it fun being Ginormica?

There was so much action in the movie that so often I was told I was running and running. That was fun. But to keep up my energy I had to eat an entire pack of M&Ms.

- Do you have anything in common with your character?

What I really liked about this character is that she starts out as a regular girl who is living her life. She thinks she has got all the purpose in the world, she is about to marry a great guy, she is going to move and she is going to have a very quiet, nice live.

Then she gets hit by a meteor and grows to 49 feet 11 inches tall and she really doesn't want to be that way. She wants to go home and to get back to normal. But when she starts to really realise her strength and her incredible self-possession and strength of character, she realises that she doesn't ever want to go back.

And I really love that idea that someone can discover himself or herself by something happening in their life and having something really important happen so that everything that they thought before that seemed to fit into an idea of what they were going to be is totally changed forever. Then she realises who she really is. So I can definitely relate to that, for sure.

- So there is a message in the movie for the audience whether they are kids or adults - about being different?

Certainly, this is the ultimate outsider movie. The monsters are a bunch of outsiders who feel like they are always the ones who aren't invited to the party. They learn to find that as a strength instead of a weakness.

- Kids love monsters and aliens, but they are also scared of them.

Hopefully this is the kind of movie that is going to give monsters a good rep (laughs). These are some awesome monsters and they are really not scary at all. This is one of those great movies that has a lot of great messages with the monsters - they feel like they are outsiders and that no one likes them and they learn to really value themselves and to save the world.

- What did your kids think about this movie?

They were so excited to watch it. The characters are well done, they are beautifully conceived, and visualised. The movie has a great mix of comedy and action and there is also a great friendship at the centre of it this motley crew of crazy, outsider weirdoes who end up finding a kinship in each other, watching each other's back, caring for each other and helping each other through the process. So I think there is a really positive message of friendship in this movie.

- What about a sequel?

I don't know, I haven't heard anything about that.

- Did you do this movie because of pressure from your kids? They wanted to see their Mum in a film they could watch?

Yeah. I have had the pressure for years and years. I think the main thing for me was finding a female character that I thought really spoke to young women. That was really important to me; I didn't want to be somebody's girlfriend.

Not to say that those roles aren't as good but I loved the idea of this character being pro-active, driving her own story changing her own life through her own will. It is such a great message for young women. I am so excited to be doing that. Also it brings energy to the part. I go in there with such enthusiasm and excitement to be part of something like that.

- What is a favourite film in your home?

Wall-E is a great movie and my son is so in love with Wall-E. He has Wall-E bedspreads and he sleeps with a robot Wall-E. He sleeps on it like a pillow.

- Because the film was made over a few years you had to come in every few months and voice your character. Because there were gaps in recordings were you ever confused about which tone of voice you had used the last time?

There were definitely disorientating moments when I had no idea what was going on. I remember one day I came in after 10 recording sessions and I asked how the movie ended. I asked if I died. I did not know what was going to happen and they said that they had never told me what the third act was.

I thought the movie ended with the San Francisco chase, then I discovered there was a whole two other acts after that. We had worked on the first act so much to get it right.

- Would you have been upset to learn your character got killed?

Well yeah! I don't want my character to die, she's to save the world and dump the guy.

- Is it harder to do a voice over than normal acting?

It is more goofy. You have to be sillier but they don't want you to be too goofy. We had fun. There was a day when Paul Rudd who plays my fiance came in and we got to riff off each other. It was nice to have another actor to work off. Paul and I had done a movie together a long time ago so it was fun to get back into the rhythm we had before.

- Are there any children's stories that you'd like to see filmed?

This is such a benchmark for animation and it is going to be exciting to see where female characters go from here on out. I love that it creates opportunities for more female driven storylines. It was great to see Cameron Diaz do so well in the Shrek series, those are great characters for young women.

There is a dearth of those characters in literature, even female writers and writing stories about little boys. So it is great to see Stephenie Meyer write about a young woman in Twilight.

- What were you most concerned about in making this movie?

Probably just keeping up with where we were at in the story and trying to understand what Rob and Conrad wanted at that moment.. Figuring out when the character changes and she decides that she wants to stay being a monster.

Figuring that out was the most pivotal thing. There was a lot of pretending that I had cars strapped to my feet or I was fighting the alien robot.

- This must have been the first movie where hair and make-up wasn't a consideration. Did you slob out?

Heck no, they had a lipstick camera on me! I would be interested to see the lipstick montage of all the hair-dos and different outfits. Did I turn up in jeans and T-shirt? Yeah. I didn't wear my diamonds or my ball gowns (laugh)

- Are you a fan of the TV shows that feature your supporting cast?

I love Will Arnett on 30 Rock he's so funny. I am a huge fan of Seth and I worked with Kiefer on a movie a long time ago and it was greatto see him do comedy because he's a really funny guy. And of course Hugh Laurie is fantastic.

I was on Jay Leno once with Hugh and he was cracking me up. It is surreal to be in a movie with so many great comedians. Getting this great group of people who are so funny would be so hard in a live action movie.

- You are a role model for your fans. Who is your role model?

I admire a lot of people who manage to have great careers and have a family life and have kept their feet on the ground Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward were a great inspiration.

There are also people who do great things with celebrity and create opportunities for other people who really need it.

- How do you see your future?

Hopefully still working. Making more movies. I love my job; I am so lucky to be doing it. Hopefully I will just have endless opportunities for the rest of my life.

- Thanks Reese.

Thank you.

Monster vs Aliens is out now on DVD