Reese Witherspoon Q&A

The talented actress discusses playing a country legend and picking up an Oscar nomination for 'Walk the Line'

Feb 13 2006

Having made her name in edgy teen flicks like 'Election' and 'Cruel Intentions' and the hugely successful romantic comedies 'Legally Blonde' and 'Sweet Home Alabama', Reese Witherspoon is now one of Hollywood's most bankable female stars. Thanks to her stunning turn as June Carter in the Johnny Cash biopic 'Walk the Line', she is also now an Oscar-nominated actress. Anwar Brett recently caught up with her to discuss playing the country legend.
 
Congratulations on the Oscar nomination – when do you finally decide what you'll be wearing on Oscar night?

It's funny that it all becomes about clothes! It's bizarre. You work your butt off and then you win an award and it's all about your dress. You can't get away from it.

You've won plenty of awards for this movie already of course, where do you keep them all?

My daughter sneaks them off to her room and dresses them up. She's totally unfazed by the whole thing. When I come home she says 'well, did you get it or not? Where is it? Are you going to take it to my room?'

What was your reaction to director James Mangold, when he approached you to be in 'Walk the Line'?

He said 'I'm going to make a film about Johnny Cash' and I thought my eyes were going to pop out of my head because I'm from Nashville, which is the centre of country music in America. So not only did I know everything about Mr Cash and his life, but I knew about June Carter Cash and the entire Carter family. I even played [June's mother] Mama Maybelle Carter in a fourth grade play. So yeah, I was very excited when he said he was making this film.

You were familiar with June's music then?

I knew the music and I knew the feeling, the attitude and the culture she came from which is a huge part of getting into a character. I look at where they're from, what is their orientation towards their family, what is their spirituality? A lot of these were just very easy connections for me. And then there was the whole challenge of singing and playing an instrument and giving live performances – that was frightening but completely exhilarating.

There's always a danger when researching someone you hold in such high-esteem that you may find out something that might disappoint. That doesn't sound like it was the case with June though does it?

That was actually one of the great things about it, the more I got to investigate her and look at her performances it really helped to inform my performance but also helped bring her to the fore in a way that she has never been before. In the 50s she was a huge star – she was a great comedienne, and toured with every major male star out there. Every single one of them had a giant crush on her and she just would not give them the time of day. Apparently, John and Elvis had a big fight over her. She had a whole thing with Elvis where he was completely infatuated with her and possibly something happened and that was sort of winked at to me by the family. John became so jealous with rage every time Elvis's name came up.

Was it difficult to sing in June's style for the film?

I started working on trying to sound like her from the very beginning. It was one of those things where I thought I was going to be fantastic. I listened to her CDs and sang in my car for probably about a month before I had a voice lesson or did any recording. I thought 'I'm so going to nail this'. But then I started to record and when they played it back I asked: 'who's that?' When they said it was me, it was like 'you're kidding me! I'm much better than that. I don't hit all those awkward notes or make mistakes like that'. But it was and I immediately hit the panic button. I called my attorney four times in a row and asked him to get me out of this because I was determined not to suck in this movie. After many arguments and discussions they finally made me go back and start working with a vocal coach. It took me five months to get to the point where I could actually hear the playback, and it didn't sound like nails on a chalk board.

Given the fame you and your husband enjoy can you learn anything from John and June's story?

I think every experience of making a new film is educational and sort of very revealing because of the reasons you choose the film, the reasons that you choose to make certain scenes become more important. Upon reflection, they're always very, very revealing about a time that you're in or something that you're going through. To play June, I had an immediate connection with her background and culture. We grew up with the same religion and in a lot of areas with the same sort of values of family and spirituality.

Does your own contentment at home reflect well on your professional life?

Absolutely. I think movies are great and I have a great time making them but they're not what keeps you warm at night, or what's ultimately the most important thing in anyone's life journey. I feel very blessed to have two wonderful, healthy children who keep me completely grounded, and throw up on my shoes just before I go to an awards show just so I know to keep it real.

'Walk the Line' is in cinemas now.

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