Even awards contenders have embarrassing moments on set.
For Reese Witherspoon, one of her embarrassing moments came while shooting Wild, a film centering on a real-life woman named Cheryl Strayed, who was on set during the entire shoot.
“I felt embarrassed for the first three days. Was I doing her voice right? And is she going to judge me? She was amazing and really lovely. But one of the hardest days on that shoot was, I had to do a sex scene with two guys, says Witherspoon. “I called Cheryl that night, and I was like, ‘I can’t believe I have to do that.’ And she was like, ‘Sorry I was such a slut in the ’90s!’ ”
Witherspoon’s Wild costar Laura Dern had her most embarrassing experience on the set of Alexander Payne’s 1996 film Citizen Ruth. On her first day of shooting, Payne informed her they were going to meet the man with whom she’d have a love scene.
See more Exclusive Portraits From THR’s Actress Roundtable
“I was like, ‘Great, you know, what actor is playing that part?” And he goes, “His name’s Lance; we just picked him up at the bar down the street.” (Laughs.) And he came in and he was like, “I am so excited to be here! I just went down to the 7-Eleven and I got some Arrid Extra Dry and some breath mints. Let’s go!’ ”
The actresses made their comments during The Hollywood Reporter’s actress roundtable, which also featured Patricia Arquette, Julianne Moore, Amy Adams, Hilary Swank, and Felicity Jones. Read highlights from the roundtable here, and check out exclusive portraits from their THR cover shoot here.
