HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Hollywood superstar Reese Witherspoon was more than happy to assume a lesser role in her latest film “Penelope.” After all, the highly sought-after actress was too busy adding another title to her name — producer.
“This was the first film that we found the script, found the director and did all the heavy lifting,” the 31-year-old Witherspoon tells Reuters.
Witherspoon’s company, Type A Films, in which she works alongside producing partner Jennifer Simpson, also produced “Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde.” However, in that film, Witherspoon held a starring role and was more of an advisor in her “executive producer” duties.
In “Penelope,” which stars Christina Ricci and James McAvoy, she took on a much more active behind-the-scenes role, including script development, casting, production, editing and distribution.
The film, which opens Friday, revolves around a young woman (Ricci) who is “cursed” with a pig’s nose and sets out to free herself of a life-long streak of bad luck and find her true self.
“It had a really great female character who was strong, ambitious, but definitely had a journey to go through to get to the place where she would find herself,” Witherspoon says of the film.
Witherspoon says she considered taking the lead role, but other commitments prevented her from doing so. In the end, that was just fine by her.
“It’s very freeing to play a supporting character,” she says. “Those are the kind of parts I came up playing, so it was kind of nice to return to that.”
As for her future dealings as a producer, Witherspoon readily admits that she has a steep hill left to climb.
“I got to learn a lot … things I don’t normally get to touch,” she says.
