Reese Witherspoon has gotten pap’d like crazy the past four or five days. She’s been on location for a month or so (in New Orleans I think) filming a movie with Sofia Vergara, so I guess the paps just got pap-happy when she arrived back in LA. They got her in various cute outfits, and I’m sure this all part of the Reese’s re-branding. She is no longer the prim and proper Good Girl. She’s a sexy multi-hyphenate and Hollywood power broker. Something like that.
So, how is the rebrand going? She’s going to launch Draper James, her Southern-Goop lifestyle website and store, she’s growing her social media presence and she’s in the market for another Oscar. Will it work? Maybe. Reese is about to have a HUGE year with multiple prestige-films coming out within the span of like four months.
Here’s what she’s got coming out this fall: The Devil’s Knot (she plays the mother of a murder victim who sets out to find out what really happened to her son), The Good Lie (a woman who adopts Sudanese refugee), Wild (that stupid looking hiking movie), and Inherent Vice, which is Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest ensemble film. Inherent Vice is premiering at the New York Film Festival right after Gone Girl, which Reese produced. I’m telling you… she’s going to have a HUGE year. This is why she married Jim Toth, who must have a hand in this re-branding. This is why she’s growing her social media presence and why she’s getting pap’d so much. Reese is looking to make the most out of all of this. And she wants to get another Oscar nomination (if not an award).
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
She looks fantastic. Also a great actress! Loved her in Mud.
I think for the most part her appeal is over. That entire arrest and “do you know who I am” thing kind of ruined her.
I agree, she was never the best looking or the best actress in Hollywood (I still do not think her first Oscar was well deserved) but her biggest appeal was that she was the sweet girl next door that made her into “America’s sweetheart”, now that public image has been shattered for a lot of people after that attitude filled arrest incident.
I think that’s probably true. Sometimes people can have a comeback, though. Sort of depends on the situation. Robert Downey Jr. turned his life around. Reese though, demonstrated what a snotty b*tch she is and I’m not sure she will be able to move past that because I tend to believe that is part of who she really is. Self absorbed.
It seems many of the “stars” are showing their true colours lately. First Madonna and her loathsome Hydrangeas, then Reese, with her “do you know who I am”, and now Cameron Diaz, and Jason Segel being outright rude to fans. They all think they are so far above us because of their net worth. Unfortunately, what they forget is, it’s people like us who gave them that net worth.
I think she behaved like an ass, but people have forgiven a lot worse than that.
Good point
I agree. I was never a big fan of hers, but that wasn’t a big enough offense to be boycotted for life. If a movie of hers looks good, I would still watch it.
Oh yeah–whenever I criticize celeb for their personal lives, with the exception of serious stuff like abuse/rape, etc, my criticisms have absolutely no bearing on their actual talent. If they put out a good movie/tv show, then I’ll watch it. Period.
Reese’s issue, I think IS that she was the good, nice girl from the South who made it big. And that’s what a big part of her appeal was in her films. Those were her characters that she is best known for. And then she ruined that image. So it’s hard to see her as anything but a snotty, self absorbed twit.
I mean, before the whole ‘Do you know who I am?’ crap, I knew the bare minimum about Reese. I knew that Ryan Phillipe cheated on her, and she kept her mouth shut about it to the public. I knew her from Legally Blonde–and I LOVE her in that movie. That’s it. I just thought of her as another Amy Adams. Not anymore.
But her other issue is that she hasn’t really had any good movies come out in the past few years. And it’s not even the case of stretching herself as an actress–honestly I don’t really care when an actor does the same type of movie over and over again, as long as they are good at it. But her movies for the past several years have been flat out mediocre at best.
I am an American citizen, and I cannot stand Reese Witherspoon!
LOL!
other than “election,” i dont think she’s that good and i dont think she really deserved that first oscar. i think she will be hard pressed to get a 2nd.
I know I am the only one who thinks this, but I don’t even know if her “do you know who I am” was as much about being a Hollywood star as a US citizen! I have no tolerance for drinking and driving, but her actual tirade was pretty goofy/ harmless. I don’t think she was vicious, racist, or nasty, and I thought her apology was very chastened and embarrassed. I’m going to give her another chance.
The arrest was a storm in a tea cup. So she was drunk and said do you know who I am? Big deal. Kaiser is right, Reese is going to have a huge year. Inherent Vice will go gangbusters.
Yep. Laura Jeanne Poon totally messed it up for Miss Reese. Not exactly a Gibson career-destroying moment, but certainly an unfortunate ripping-off of that carefully created veneer (really, the only person more insane about their public image is Tom Cruise, and even he lost control of it).
I think she’ll do OK this year, but as an aging Hollywood actress she hasn’t really played it right. Now Sandra Bullock – there’s a lady who has stores and stores of goodwill, admiration, love and respect from the public. Witherspoon should have taken a lesson from her career and image.
She is an insufferable fake.
Also if she gets a second Oscar before Julliane Moore than f*** those awards.
Devils knot is already on netflix…
She had to do something after I AM AN AMERICAN CITIZEN.
Thank you, I almost didn’t know who she was.
Anyone know if she was standing on American soil when she said that?
That was her best, most convincing role ever! The drunken-ness, the over inflated sense of entitlement, it jumped through the screen! She was brilliant in it.
I agree. Who knew she was so Method?
Mmmm hmmm! She should have won an Oscar for that performance!
Well, the Oscars are a complete farce so yes, Reese has a strong chance of getting a statue.
LOL.
+1
Agree completely!
I can’t stand her so I hope not. Oscar never really mean anything anyway..
Oscars never mean anything until someone you like is nominated or wins one right?
Yeah kind of 😀
I was really happy when Colin Firth won.
@Fingerbinger (I first thought your name said BANGER ha)
Spot on with your comment, that’s the way it goes.
The Oscars are a popularity game. Only occassionally do the people that really deserve the Award win.
LOL – so true.
I know look at the Oscars as just another gossip opportunity. That sort of thing is always going to be a popularity contest, but it’s fun and silly. It’s fun to get outraged when some crappy actor who phoned in a semi-decent performance gets a ton of buzz and noms because he/she didn’t suck at their role for once. And it’s fun to see the cool speeches, the gowns. It’s a beauty pageant, basically.
For me, I have never thought she deserved her first Oscar. I have no idea why people think she is that great of an actress. People always complain about certain actresses being untalented and oatmeal tyoe boring, Reese maybe not be oatmeal boring BUT she is Cream of Wheat dull. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
i actually really love her and Selma Blair in Legally Blonde. i watched it a lot when i was in bedrest many moons ago. it cheered me up.
I think you are right, this is why she married Jim Toth. Unfortunately for them, they got a reputation as a couple who drinks too much. She can’t have another incident like she did in Atlanta. She is definitely looking for a big year, time will tell how successful it will be.
Never going to be a fan but I appreciate she realized she can’t do one stupid romcom after the other solely to make a fortune.
When she started out she had a lot of promise and potential to be quite an interesting actress. FREEWAY, ELECTION and PLEASANTVILLE are great comedic performances. She had a dark edge and wasn’t afraid to show it.
But since LEGALLY BLONDE, I’ve lost interest. Her romantic comedies were lazy and formulaic and she was fine in WALK THE LINE but only won that Oscar because it was a weak year. I hope her ‘rebranding’ involves taking risks like she did at the start of her career.
Yeah, she is a completely different persona than at the start. Now she is a country club lady where before I thought she was an Indie-chick. Maybe she was always this person and the roles before didn’t define who she was?
+1
I agree with this – I like her as an actress, but agree she had a bad streak of generic rom coms.
I can’t get too bent out of shape over her trying to fixher image – anyone who has a PR hiccup does it. That whole incident did a lot of damage to her reputation, but I’d rather see someone trying to rehab their image through good work instead of a stupid reality show or something like that.
Lucy2, what is this reality show that you speak of that has rehabilitated someone’s reputation? In the history of all mankind, I think the opposite has been more accurate, in that most people end up coming across as absolute jackasses in the reality genre.
All she has to master is learning how to hide that insufferable snark. Oscar? I think not!!!!!!!!!
Snark, indeed. She all goodness and light and smiles when it serves her. Paps walks all day long to sell her James Draper line ( What’s the deal with that name anyway?) AKA a curated lifestyle. Once she used them to serve her purpose, she’ll usher that “snark” to the front row.
Reese married Jim Toth so she can “re-brand” herself? Why does every marriage, relationship, hookup or and/or pregnancy have to have some ulterior motive. Can’t people be married because they love or at least like each other any more?
Her whole persona now is a shambles. She has a HUGE uphill battle to get people to LIKE her. That is her main problem, the “Do you know who I am?!” incident revealed her true personality and that she REALLY likes to get her drink on (at that NYC fashion event in the elevator, again she was shown to be more bitchy than sweet). Plus, she’s always been a “meh” when it comes to celebrities. LIke Kate Hudson, they wear cute clothes and SO WANT to be the IT gal so bad, SO deterimined to be THE cute Hollywood blonde, but nobody else seems to care or go to their movies. or LIKE them. They love themsleves more than the paying public loves them and why they tank at the box office. And why “branding” doesn’t always work. At leat with Gwynneth, people KNOW she is a B, whereas Reece is a B fronting as sweet.
Even though Cara isn’t 100% sweet either, I really felt for her at that moment. I almost felt Reese was belittling her.
Shambles? Really?
If her persona or career were in shambles, she wouldn’t have all of these projects coming out. Clearly “the incident” hasn’t impacted her ability to get work or to get people to work with her.
LOL!!!!
well, she may get nominated but with all of that in the mix she may just cancel her chances out. Whatever.
She looks great and her kid is perfectly photogenic so I’m sure she’ll keep working that angle.
As for Draper James, she may make a splash. I guess it’ll have a southern flavor to it. But really, the lifestyle market is getting like celeb perfumes and clothing lines.
I saw her (and her husband) in person at the LAX this past Wed. She cut past me (I was waiting in line to board my flight) with her “people”. Her hair is very yellow in person. The Chin wasn’t as big as it looks in pics. She had on a super cute outfit tho. Jim Toth’s face looked red and bloated. (Just sayin’.)
Freeway will always be her best movie. She is not Oscar material.
I’ve never really gotten the appeal of her in many of her movies but I did and I still do love her in Election. God that was a good movie. I think her kids with Ryan are adorable as is her son with her new husband. I am also with the crowd that does not think that June Carter was an Oscar winning role. That said can someone explain to me what exactly her new “branding” is? Cause I am not seeing it!
Huge year! McConaughey will be jealous!
Marion Cotillard
Julianne Moore
Cate Blanchett
Jennifer Lawrence
Amy Adams
Carey Mulligan
Jessica Chastain
Michelle Williams
Naomi Watts
Charlize Theron
Hilary Swank
Those are just the names I can think of off the top of my head, based on festival appearances so far and previews. Best actress is going to be extremely competitive this year, for once at least as competitive as the actors race, if not more so. Reese is going to get buried by her competition. As someone mentioned up thread, she won for Walk the Line in a weak year, but this is not a weak year.
Newcomers for the obligatory “young girl” roster spot:
Shailene Woodley (thanks largely to good box office for Fault in our Stars)
Gugu Mbatha-Raw
Rosamund Pike
I love the outfits! Esp the skirt and top with embellishments/cutouts(?) along the hems. Any clues as to who designer/line is?
I will go see Wild prob, and really can’t wait for Gone Girl. Rosamund Pike is amazing, and if this gets her award attention, so much the better!
Nice legs!
Good gahd I hope not. She is a horrible actress and shouldn’t have won her first Oscar to begin with. She overacts and comes across as such a phoney in all of her films.
I don’t think her husband loves her anymore. He didn’t defend her during her arrest and admitted that she is often like that. I guess the only thing stopping a divorce is the baby.
I think she’ll still be viewed fondly in the south (by the kind of women who wear Sweet Tees, decorate their homes in chevron prints, fleur de lis, and zebra exclusively, and put headbands on their infants that are larger than said infant’s head.) The women who will never believe her bad press, because she’s just a southern gal done good. She does have the ability to be a fine actress, but that ego. I want to continue to like her, Election is one of my favorites (and Man in the Moon), but that diva behavior, the entitlement, that puts me off.
And no offense to any southern girls who love any of the things mentioned above, but let’s agree that crap’s massively overdone, mmmkay?
I am wondering if the link that binds the “friends” – Reese, Aniston and Handler is that they are drinking buddies.
Yes, she has a ton of fans like that.
I was on youtube, watching a scene from ‘Walk the Line’ with her and Joaquin–and there was some comment about how they thought the whole thing about Reese getting arrested was overblown, everyone makes mistakes, etc. And I basically said that Reese showed her true colors in doing what she did, and while I still liked her in this particular movie, I probably would never look at her in the same way ever again. Because I knew what she was.
And Lord–you’d think I told that person that Reese was the Anti-Christ. She completely freaked, gave me this long, ranty reply, and ended it with ‘So everyone makes mistakes, m’kay?’
I thought about replying back, but decided not to feed the crazy.
I had a similar encounter on another site right after her arrest. Relayed that she’s known for constant bad behavior, and is downright viscous to her “friends,” and even worse to the people who work for her, so her tirade to the cop came as no surprise. Was told something along the lines of “yeah, well, I like her and I don’t believe you!” Oh, you got me. Some people cannot separate the actor from the role, and I really think she’s one of those actresses that is given a pass by the public because her characters are generally bland, likable, fluff. But in real life, she is known to be just nasty.
She looks good and I love her outfits. That’s all I’ve got.
Me too! she’s definitely stepping it up a notch.
Get it girl!
i don’t thing her last movie will do the list at the Oscar this year
She is Tracy Flick. I loathe her.
Reese is a decent actress. She did behave like an entitled jerk when she was arrested, but that’s not going to dissuade me from watching her movies. I never believed her goody two shoes image. If her actions rose to the level of Mel Gibson or Charlie Sheen, I’d stop supporting her movies.
A Southern Lifestyle GOOP-lile website.
Another celebrity “curated” lifestyle blog. Just what the world needs.
Oh goody.