Reese Witherspoon makes first foray into action genre in a comedic ‘War’

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Reese Witherspoon makes first foray into action genre in a comedic ‘War’

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McG, left, and Reese Witherspoon visited Korea for the first time yesterday to promote “This Means War,” which is slated to open next Wednesday.[NEWSIS]

Actress Reese Witherspoon and director McG visited Korea for the first time yesterday to promote the action-packed romantic comedy “This Means War” that is slated to open here next Wednesday.

Directed by McG, famous for blockbuster hits including “Terminator Salvation” (2009) and “Charlie’s Angels” (2000), “This Means War” features a star-studded cast that includes Chris Pine and Tom Hardy.

The improbable plot follows CIA agents and close friends FDR Foster (Pine) and Tuck Henson (Hardy). When the two fall for the same woman, Lauren Scott, (Witherspoon) they virtually declare war against each other in order to win her heart. They install surveillance equipment in her home to monitor each other’s actions and FDR even commandeers a helicopter to sabotage one of Tuck and Lauren’s dates, shooting at their car from above in one fast-paced scene.

The film was written by Simon Kinberg, famous for “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” (2005), with special effects by Barclay Aaris, who also did special effects for “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” (2011).

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Chris Pine, right, and Tom Hardy, left, both fall for Reese Witherspoon in “This Means War” Provided by 20th Century Fox

It smoothly weaves together action, comedy and romance and McG gives us another entertaining popcorn movie.

“This is a balance between many great filmmaking styles - action, comedy, romance and relationships,” McG told the Korean press. “It’s a movie into which you can immerse yourself completely and let go of everything in your life, the kind of movie I like the most. Every day was a new day [during the production period] and that’s what I think made it fun for all of us.”

Witherspoon, clad in a hot pink dress accented with black trim, said that like McG she had a lot of fun shooting the film, which was her first foray into the action genre.

“I thought it was a great opportunity to reach out to a wider audience because it’s so great for men and women and it’s also great for international audiences,” Witherspoon said.

Witherspoon was named Best Actress at the Academy Awards in 2005 for her performance in “Walk the Line” but she is still widely remembered by many Korean fans as the perky blonde from the 2001 hit “Legally Blonde.”

Since then, she has become involved in producing and her first venture in that role was for “Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde” (2003).

“I love making movies and I love being an actor,” she said. “The opportunity to make a different movie every time is what really excites me.”

She also said she thinks of her profession as a gift.

“I’ve been so lucky to travel throughout the world,” she said. “One experience I remember was in Washington, D.C., and I was speaking to a conference to hundreds of international women judges, talking about policies [regarding women]. A group of Korean women came up to me and said, ‘I went to law school because of “Legally Blonde.” ’ ”

“Sometimes you don’t realize when you are making a movie what an incredible influence you can have on young women. I consider it as such a gift.”

The Korean press took a few minutes during the press conference to ask the actress, who is 35, about the wrinkles that are visible in the film.

“I think this is a wonderful question. I think it’s only natural that women start to have wrinkles. The wonderful part of it is that I can be an example for women,” Witherspoon said.

“This is a great responsibility and I take it very seriously because women are very hard on themselves. I want them to feel better about themselves and realize you don’t need to change yourself to be lovable or likable. It’s more important to be accomplished, hardworking, funny, interesting and curious. Those are the women I find most appealing.”

Meanwhile, McG and Witherspoon said that they are huge fans of Korean cinema and said they especially like the works of directors Bong Joon-ho and Park Chan-wook.


By Sung So-young [so@joongang.co.kr]
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