How the actor and producer reinvented herself and is presently producing multiple TV projects with the likes of Kerry Washington, Jennifer Aniston, Octavia Spencer and Kristen Wiig.
Hollywood stars continue to dabble in television. It isn’t always successful. Take Penelope Cruz for example. Though she is starring in Ryan Murphy’s American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace as Donatella Versace, the show is so focused on serial killer Andrew Cunanan (Darren Criss) that it should’ve been called American Crime Story: The unraveling of Andrew Cunanan.
But while some take on one project or two at most, no one has thrived in the new age of television as much as Reese Witherspoon, one of Hollywood’s leading names with several memorable films to her name as well as an Oscar.
Once known for playing romantic comedy roles with Legally Blonde being the most well-known film from the lot, Witherspoon reinvented herself, first as an actor by taking on tougher roles such as Wild and later by becoming a producer.
Apart from producing films like Gone Girl, she produced the Emmy award winning series Big Little Lies in addition to starring in it and partnered with Nicole Kidman in the process. Fast forward to 2018 and Witherspoon not only has season two of Big Little Lies in the pipeline but as it turns out a number of shows. Oh and yes, Big Little Lies’s upcoming season will also feature Meryl Streep.
While Wrinkle in Time, a film in which Witherspoon is co-starring with Oprah Winfrey and Mindy Kaling hasn’t done well financially, the actor and producer, who recently turned 40 is far from done.
In addition to Big Little Lies 2, Witherspoon is joining forces with Jennifer Aniston for an untitled morning show drama that will take a look at the inner workings of a morning show. She will produce the series apart from co-starring with Aniston. The series has been picked up by Apple and has a two season straight to series order. If this reunion of the two stars, who played sisters on iconic comedy show Friends isn’t exciting enough, then there is the fact that she is joining forces with Kerry Washington aka Scandal’s Olivia Pope.
The limited untitled series is adapted from the book Little Fires Everywhere and will see Witherspoon and Washington playing the leads as well as co-producing the project. After a bidding war, Hulu picked up the eight-episode series, which is written by Liz Tigelaar.
Witherspoon is also producing a series that will star Octavia Spencer (The Shape of Water). Based on Kathleen Barber’s novel “about the obsession over true crime podcasts”, it is also going to appear on Apple’s streaming service.
And finally, going back to her roots of comedy, Witherspoon will produce yet another project for Apple, an untitled comedy series starring Kristen Wiig.
Created by Colleen McGuinness, the 10-episode show draws inspiration from an upcoming short story collection. Wigg will executive produce the series in addition to starring in it as the lead.
