Christina Applegate regrets turning down the role of Elle Woods in 'Legally Blonde

This is one of those films that only works with the right actor/actress. I’m not saying Applegate wouldn’t have bodied the role but the material wouldn’t work with the wrong casting. Just saying’.

It would have worked with her I think, but Reese was a newer face.

She would have had to play innocent like Reese. I know she can play dumb and smart but innocent and full of sincere cheer?

I actually think she would be a terrible Elle. She lacks Reese’s charm. Applegate can come off cold and doesn’t have a warm presence.

I hated her as Kelly Bundy on Married with Children.

Good point, r3.

I don't think that's true, r4. I caught a few episodes of one of her later series and she was very warm and appealing.

Christina and Reese each played one of Rachel’s sisters on Friends.

I don’t think she would have been as good as Reese Witherspoon

R9 oh 100%. Plus she was already too old for the part.

There wouldn't have been a Legally Blonde 2 if Applegate was in it.

She would have been great. For starters, she actually looks like a sorority girl rather than a bulldog jawed, hillbilly dwarf who pretends to be refined southern aristocracy.

Sorority girl, r12?

The Dusty Springfield movie has been in development hell and purgatory for years. Setting the accent aside, Christina would have been great in the film. She resembles Dusty, especially her 70s years, and could sing and dance well enough to not look awkward on film.

Unfortunately the best time to make that film would have been around 2006 or so. But she would have been great.

She only regrets it for the money she would have made? That tells you all you need to know. She would have sucked.

Witherspoon's money comes from producing shit loads of stuff, some of which she doesn't star in. I kinda admire that she bought "Gone Girl" as a star vehicle but let Fun her tell her why she was all wrong for the part and let him cast Pike instead.

But let *Fincher

R16 the point is LB is what shot Reese to A-List and provided her with the status to demand big paychecks that led to her being able to buy properties and make them into films and shows.

R18 I don't think Legally Blonde alone did that, I think she would still have got Sweet Home Alabama without LB as she was second choice after Charlize Theron and was a natural fit, the character even has shades of Tracy Flick. SHA was a big hit.

LB may have made her more "castable" in Vanity Fair, which flopped. I doubt it led to her playing June Carter.

What helped Witherspoon get into producing was the tutoring of her soon-to-be ex.

Sweet Home Alabama was a hit because it started new fresh A Lister Reese. It wouldn’t have been what made her an A Lister and she wouldn’t have gotten the big paycheck for that if not for LB, even if she did land SHA.

Sweet Home Alabama was a vehicle for her post LB success.

Bullshit, Reese wasn't "A list" until she won the Oscar. Even then she had so many flops up until 2013 when she was in "Mud" then "Wild" that I'd say her position was precarious. LB may have helped her get more money and a couple of romcoms but it was becoming a young Oscar winner that boosted her career.

R21 she was AList post Legally Blonde. Once again showing you know nothing about the industry but claim to work in it.

R22 I have never once claimed to work in movies, you're confusing me with someone else.

I take your point that LB helped in her career progression but I don't think it's the launch pad. I think we might have different ideas about what constitutes "A-list".

I also suspect, looking at the filming times, she was already cast in SHA before LB was released. It also says she got the part when Charlize Theron turned it down. Are you saying Charlize was also "A-list" pre-Monster?

My point is Reese rejuvenated her career as a producer in the 2010s by clever investment in scrips/books, partially because she wasn't being offered any great parts. Look at her movies between Walk The Line and Mud. Applegate would have been unlikely to get the same roles as Reese outside of romcoms

R23 buddy. I know who you are. Why you keep on thinking making a new account suddenly erases your identity is absurd. Yes. You’ve claimed that.

R24 lol sorry but you're really wrong. And if you think starring in a light comedy which made $140m worldwide suddenly turns someone into an A-lister in 2001, alongside the likes of Julia, Sandra, Brad & Jen, Angelina, Tom & Nicole, Bruce and Goop then I'm not going to spend any more time disagreeing with you.

R25 again, you don’t know anything about the industry. Please stop. You’re embarrassing.

You can become A-List off of small indies baby. Educate yourself.

R26 please tell me who? I know very little about it but understand you may become A-list through starring in big hits (Willis, Cruise, Will Smith, Sandy Bollocks), media saturation (Pitt, Roberts, Paltrow), association (Aniston) or being high respected (DeNiro, Pacino, Streep) or a combination of these.

If Reese was an A-lister in 2001 how come she lost "Monster" to Theron? How come the HFPA toadies didn't give her a win for LB?

Reese's only really big movie was LB.

Election was more of a critical darling.

She's kinda been coasting ever since. Maybe no giant flops, and obviously she won the Oscar, but....she isn't the megastar she's been made out to be.

She was wise to move to TV and to producing. Her Best By date was a short shelf life.

She’s charming and I love to hate her. She’s just such a smarmy, calculating cunt.

Applegate was in a sitcom that ran for more than a decade. Surely she's made more money from that than she would have from one movie.

Never forget. Don’t you know who I am?!

I like Applegate way more than Reese. She’s much better looking too, no pointy witch chin.

R28 Reese has her share of flops:

This Means War

How Do You Know

Vanity Fair

Penelope

Rendition

Hot Pursuit

Wow! If she took that part, I might not have been born, then I wouldn’t have such a hot, hung dad. Horrible thought.

She’s fat now

The assumption that it's the part and not the performer with these star making movies is always so dumb. Like saying Pretty Woman would work without Julia Roberts.

Pretty Woman was a POS. I have no idea why it gained cultural ubiquity, especially with horseface Roberts.

We were supposed to buy Christina Applegate as a college senior in 2001?

They left out the quotes that came after from Christina in Vanity Fair saying that she can’t imagine anyone else doing that role and that Reece was just too good.

#2LateNow

How many years ago was that?

Christina is truly one of the most grounded, unbelievably kind people you could ever meet.

Coulda woulda shoulda.

Yes, she missed out on Legally Blonde, but she also dodged “House Bunny” and you know she would have been in the running for that piece of shit. Stuck with Potato.

I don't think Christina could have pulled it off. That role required a sweet, naive innocence.

R38 - Olivia Newton John and Stockard Channing were playing *high school* seniors in their 30s.

"I'm right on top of it Rose!"

[quote] "I'm right on top of it Rose!"

Oh dear and OH DEAR!

"I'm right on top of THAT, Rose."