LEGALLY BLONDE turns 20

TWO DECADES ON, THE COMEDY REMAINS A FAVOURITE

Twenty years after playing Legally Blonde character Elle Woods, Reese Witherspoon still has a soft spot for the perky Harvard-bound sorority girl with something to prove. “I think she just inspired people to believe in themselves,” the Oscar winner said in July. “She just has a true sense of herself, and she always wants to see the best in others.”

While the role was originally offered to actress Christina Applegate, who turned it down, it’s hard to imagine anyone else in the role of Elle Woods. “What a stupid move that was, right?” Applegate previously joked about passing up the role. “Reese deserved that. She did a much better job than I ever could, and so that’s her life. That’s her path.”

Nostalgia aside, Witherspoon is also looking forward to slipping back into her pink pumps for Legally Blonde 3, co-written by Mindy Kaling and Dan Goor. “So much fun. So full of fashion,” Witherspoon has teased of the next instalment, due in May 2022. “So full of awesome feminist ideas.”

Some things will remain, though. “Bend and Snap is forever,” Kaling said of the iconic movie moment. “We definitely have a lot of fan favourites from the original movie.”

Witherspoon has said she spent time with real-life sorority members to get ready for her role as Elle Woods.

Witherspoon once admitted she kept all the outfits from the film. “One day my daughter can play with it,” she said at the time.