Reese Witherspoon is opening up about almost starring in “Gone Girl.” The Oscar winner revealed that director David Fincher told her she wasn’t the right fit for Amy Dunne in the 2012 adaptation of Gillian Flynn’s bestselling novel. While promoting the new season of Apple TV’s “The Morning Show,” Witherspoon made an honest confession.
Why Witherspoon Didn’t Land ‘Gone Girl’
(Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)“David sat me down—and this is not on David—but David’s like, ‘You’re totally wrong for this part,’” Reese shared on the September 17 episode of Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers’ “Las Culturistas” podcast. “And I’m not putting you in it.”
(Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)Although author Gillian Flynn wanted her to play Amy, Fincher remained firm. “I had all these conversations with the writer Gillian Flynn, and she was like, ‘No, I’d really like you to do it,’” Reese continued. “But he was like, ‘You’re wrong.’”
Why the Lesson Stayed With Reese
Noam Galai/Getty Images for WSJ. Magazine Innovators AwardsReese, 49, said she learned a valuable lesson about both acting and producing from the experience. “That was, first of all, an ego check for me,” she admitted. “It was like, ‘No, you’re not right for everything.’ And he was right. He was totally right.”
The “Big Little Lies” star also credited Fincher for assembling the perfect cast, which included Rosamund Pike, Ben Affleck, Carrie Coon, Tyler Perry, and Neil Patrick Harris.
“Fincher just killed it,” she said. “And Rosamund Pike is so diabolical and Ben Affleck is sort of the rube on the other side of it.”
(Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)As a producer on the film through her company, Pacific Standard (later Hello Sunshine), Reese explained that she realized when to step back.
“Producing also means get out of the way when you’re supposed to,” she said. “Continue to build creative groups so that the ultimate result is the best work that it could possibly be. So that was a lesson to me.”
Witherspoon Reflects on Living With Anxiety
(Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for WSJ. Magazine Innovators Awards)In the same podcast appearance, Reese opened up about her lifelong struggles with anxiety. “I’m a high-anxiety person,” she admitted. “I used to have panic attacks, bad panic attacks, like crying.”
She explained that much of her anxiety has been performance-based. “Like, you have to perform. You have to show up, which is a lot of my anxiety,” she shared.
Co-host Matt Rogers responded, “I’m actually really happy to hear you say that… when someone talks about themselves as ambitious, what people don’t say is the amount of anxiety that sometimes can be driving that ambition.”
The Tools That Changed Her Life
Reese revealed she tried multiple ways to manage her anxiety, from meditation to medication. “I tried meditation,” she said, but explained it was difficult because of her ADD symptoms. “I can’t listen to stuff for very long.”
She also experimented with medication. “I tried the medication Ativan to calm down,” she said, “but it would make me feel like a zombie.”
Ultimately, she found help through a hypnotist. “That changed my whole life,” she explained, crediting the tools she learned for reshaping how she approaches anxiety. You can hear Witherspoon’s full conversation here.
