Shock advice Reese Witherspoon was given before Legally Blonde audition

Reese Witherspoon has opened up about the disturbing advice she was given in order to land the role of Elle Woods in the iconic film.

In order to land one of her most famous roles, Reese Witherspoon recalls being told to “dress sexy” for a meeting to help her land Elle Woods in Legally Blonde.

In 2000, Witherspoon, then in her early 20s, had just come off playing the over-achieving Tracy Flick in Election, and she said the studio wasn’t convinced she was right for the role of Elle.

“They thought I was a shrew,” the now-43-year-old told The Hollywood Reporter.

“My manager finally called and said, ‘You’ve got to go meet with the studio head because he will not approve you. He thinks you really are your character from Election and that you’re repellent.’ And then I was told to dress sexy.”

Witherspoon was nearly passed over for the role of Elle.

She continued, “And you’re 23, you have a baby at home, you need the money and you’re being told that by people who know what they’re doing. It’s funny to think of all the things we were told to do back then because now you’re thinking, ‘Oh God, if somebody told my daughter to do that, she’d be like, I really hope you’re joking.’”

The studio execs weren’t the only ones with doubts about Legally Blonde. After the birth of her daughter Ava in 1999, Witherspoon also started carefully considering the roles she was taking on.

“She was afraid it was too similar to Clueless, which had recently come out, in terms of the character,” said Marc Platt, who optioned the book for MGM. “I literally said to her, ‘I want Elle to be a role model. I wanted my daughters to watch her and think that they can live in a world where they can do anything.’”

Witherspoon at the Hollywood Reporter's annual Women in Entertainment Breakfast Gala this week in Hollywood. Picture: Robyn Beck/AFP

Witherspoon said she went through multiple auditions before she got the job.

“I remember a room full of men who were asking me questions about being a co-ed and being in a sorority, even though I had dropped out of college four years earlier and I have never been inside a sorority house,” she said.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Legally Blonde made $142 million worldwide and the sequel made another $125 million. Witherspoon is currently working on Legally Blonde 3.

This article originally appeared in the NY Post and was reproduced with permission.