Reese Witherspoon Q&A

2 weeks ago 02nd Nov 10:07

Reese Witherspoon may be an Oscar winning actress but it is her voice on show in the latest animation movie to hit DVD... Monsters vs Aliens.

When a meteorite from outer space hits a young woman and turns her into a giant monster, she is taken to a secret government compound where she meets a ragtag group of monsters also rounded up over the years.

- Hi Reese. How are you?

Great. It is nice to be here.

- In Monsters vs. Aliens you play the giant monster, Ginormica. In real life you are so cute and petite. What was it like for you to provide a voice for a character so tall?

It was a lot of fun. They (directors Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon) walked me through the process of her as she was growing and what it was like. They had to constantly give me the perspective because Insectosaurus is much bigger than me and the alien robots are even bigger.

So I was being told to look up or to project further. She gets her strength and really enjoys having that super power. She gets stronger and more deeply involved.

- You are one of the most photographed women in the world? Paparazzi are always chasing you. In that respect do you feel a little like Ginormica in that people are staring at her?

Yeah (laughs). Sometimes I feel like a 49 foot woman, I go places where I see people whispering and pushing their children toward me to take pictures or look cute in front of me. I know what that feels like, a little bit.

But I would not say it is a detriment. It has afforded me a lot of great things in my life and I am very lucky and blessed to have everything I do.

- Is it true you signed up to do Monsters vs. Aliens after visiting Hollywood studio DreamWorks and seeing some of the early drawings of the monsters and aliens?

Yes. I went in to meet (DreamWorks film studio co-founder) Jeffrey Katzenberg, just as a general idea, once I started seeing the DreamWorks animated movies over and over again with my children.

We had a meeting and he walked me through the process of what they do and I ended up seeing the boards for this movie and got very excited. It just seemed like a good idea that revolved around this great image of my character sitting on the roof of the gas station, which was really cool.

- So that was it? You signed up straight away?

Yes. I signed on and I guess about a year later I began doing recordings ­ which I like to call Actor In A Box (laughs).

- That's hilarious. So you spend hours in a voice booth?

Yeah. It was great, I had never really done voiceover work before, so it was really helpful to have Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon there to walk me through everything because it is sort of stop and go.

You pick up scenes here and there and you double back and get them again. It really is a very director focused medium because they always have to inform the actors where they are at, otherwise they would be incredibly lost.

It is also ever evolving. The narrative is always changing. I think that in the beginning I was the fifth lead (laughs) and then it evolved until they told me I was one of the leads.