Reese Witherspoon Interview, Four Christmases

Reese Witherspoon sat down to chat with MoviesOnline at the Los Angeles press day for her new movie, “Four Christmases,” a hilarious comedy directed by Seth Gordon.

No one enjoys the holidays more than Brad and Kate. Every December 25th, this happily unmarried, upscale San Francisco couple embark on a holiday tradition they have shared every year since they met--ditching their crazy families for a relaxing, fun-filled vacation in some sunny exotic locale.

There, sipping margaritas by the pool, they toast the season, knowing they have once again avoided the chaos and emotional fallout of their four respective households: divorced parents, squabbling siblings, out-of-control kids and all the simmering resentments and awkward moments that are the hallmarks of every family Christmas.

But not this year. Shorts and sunglasses packed, Brad (Vince Vaughn) and Kate (Reese Witherspoon) are trapped at the San Francisco airport by a fogbank that cancels every outbound flight. Worse yet, they are caught on camera by a local news crew, revealing their whereabouts to the whole city...and to their families. With no escape and no excuses, they are now expected home by Brad's father. And Kate's mother. And Brad's mother. And Kate's father. Four Christmases in one day.

As they brace themselves for a marathon of homecomings, Brad and Kate expect the worst--and that's exactly what they get. But as Brad counts down the minutes to their freedom, Kate surprisingly finds herself tuned to the ticking of a different clock. At the end of the day, each will gain a new perspective on where they came from...and where they're going. Getting to know themselves and each other as they really are could finally give them a chance at the kind of love they've only been playing at.

Here’s what Reese had to tell us about her new comedy:

MoviesOnline: HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR THE HOLIDAYS?  DO YOU FREAK OUT AND GO CRAZY WITH PREPARATION?

WITHERSPOON: There are many stages. The first is panic.  Absolute panic. I walked into Starbucks and they were playing Christmas music last week and I had an absolute panic attack. I was like turn it off.  I'm not ready.  I think I have to get through Thanksgiving first and then you know it starts with the parties and then it starts with the family. That's when the family starts trickling in.  And then you finally get to get rid of the family, then you get to sleep for a few days, then it's New Year's.  Then it's all over, you know?

MoviesOnline: DO YOU MISS IT WHEN IT'S ALL OVER?

WITHERSPOON: No.  I'm not a look back kind of person.  I'm a go forward gal.

MoviesOnline: THIS DOESN'T SEEM TO BE LIKE THE KIND OF HOLIDAY MOVIE YOU'D THINK OF THE WHOLE FAMILY INCLUDING THE KIDS GOING TO.

WITHERSPOON: Yes, this is not for your children. Well, it's a PG-13.

MoviesOnline: WHAT'S YOUR IDEA OF A GOOD HOLIDAY MOVIE AND WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION TO REPORTS THAT POPED UP IN THE PRESS WHEN YOU AND VINCE WERE MAKING THIS THAT SAID YOU TWO WEREN'T GETTING ALONG?

WITHERSPOON: Oh well, first of all, I don't know where all that came from. Every co-star I ever work with I'm either having an affair with him, I'm about to get married to him, we're having a baby or we absolutely cannot stand each other.

MoviesOnline: AND IT'S ALWAYS TRUE.

WITHERSPOON: Well, always.  I mean because that's how you feel about everybody you know, right?  You can't just get along with people and work with them.  There has to be some sort of drama.  But now we got along great and we were very good friends and we're very much partners on this movie.  We decided to produce it together and we rewrote the script together and every day was like how are we going to do this?  What are we going to do now?  So yeah, my idea of a holiday movie, I don't know.  My family always went to movies on Christmas day so whatever movie was coming out, 'Godfather' or yeah, I know.  [LAUGHS] You know 'Elephant Man.' Things like that.  Cheerful holiday fare.  No, it's fun. It's fun to go to the movies on the holidays and it's nice to be part of a movie that you know at least the grownups can go see and the teenagers and stuff.  And my kids are looking forward to a lot of movies, mainly 'Bolt.'  They're very excited about 'Bolt.'  And 'Wall-E' is playing on DVD at my house like on a loop as soon as it comes out. Every day.

MoviesOnline: HOW WOULD YOU SLOT THIS AS A HOLIDAY MOVIE?  HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THIS TO PEOPLE?

WITHERSPOON: This to me is a film that, well it's all about you know a couple who avoids their families at the holidays and through a series of circumstances have to go home to all four families and they have to kind of face that horrible fear of bringing home your significant other to really meet every humiliating memory that you have of your past.  And everyone avoids it.  I mean there's a natural human instinct to avoid it so it's sort of that comedy about having to really deal with it.

MoviesOnline: THIS MOVIE'S ALSO ABOUT DIVORCED COUPLES AND PARENTS.  YOU YOURSELF ARE DIVORCED, WHAT IS THE COMPROMISE THAT YOU HAVE DONE WITH YOUR EX-HUSBAND TO MAKE IT NICE FOR YOUR CHILDREN?

WITHERSPOON: I think the most important thing is the children.  It's like what do they want?  What makes them feel comfortable?  What makes them happy and I think just to bear that in mind and the most important thing is to be a grownup about it and not let any kind of feelings affect how you deal with your children.  I think that's the most important thing so I'm very lucky in that you know we raised our kids to just be happy and it's all about them. You know what do they want?

MoviesOnline: DO THE KIDS GO WITH RYAN ONE DAY AND YOU THE NEXT?

WITHERSPOON: Oh, I don't know.  It's not that formal.  There's a lot of communication and a lot of just being very open about things.  There's nothing contentious about any of it so it's all very go with the flow, whatever happens in the moment.

MoviesOnline: IT'S VERY RELATABLE TO HAVE A COUPLE WHO CAN'T COMMIT TO EACH OTHER.  WHAT CAN SINGLES AND COUPLES LEARN ABOUT LOVE FROM WATCHING THE FILM?

WITHERSPOON: Yeah, I think it's interesting that idea. First of all it's a very modern idea that we're going to be together but not be married and never have children.  And it sounds like something people sort of theorize about but it's very difficult to do because people grow and evolve and change. And it's sort of interesting to see how this relationship in the movie has to grow.  I think the most important thing that I kind of got, we really worked on, was finding that place where to be comfortable in the uncomfortable.  You know, not knowing where things are going to go and still feeling okay about that.  And then we really worked hard on trying to find that in words and in scenes.

MoviesOnline: CAN YOU WALK US THROUGH MORE OF THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS AND HOW THAT ENGRAINED YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH SETH AND VINCE? AND THEN WHAT WAS IT LIKE WITH VINCE ON THE SET BECAUSE SO MUCH OF WHAT HE DOES SEEMS OFF THE CUFF?

WITHERSPOON: Yeah.  It is.  Well that's not entirely true.  I mean we knew every day what we were shooting. We definitely had a script and we worked on it very hard.  We worked on it for four months before we ever went on set every day for five, six hours a day.  We really worked on the script and each scene and broke it down and threw scenes away and started over, so that by the time we got to shooting we really knew what we were doing. And Seth was there the whole time and Vince was there.  Yeah, so that kind of gave me a taste of what the improv situation was going to be because he's so very smart, very funny on top of it, top of his head. He’s the funniest person I've ever worked with in my entire life.  But also it's so important when you're working with that kind of person to create a space where they feel free to do whatever they want to do.  And you know you can stay there with them and keep up with them.  So that was good.  It was a challenge for me and I had to really keep up with him and he taught me a lot.  He taught me a lot about improv and adlibbing and I feel really a better actor for that experience.

MoviesOnline: AND HOW DID SETH GUIDE THE TWO OF YOU THROUGH THAT?

WITHERSPOON: Seth's biggest strength is editing. I mean he really knew that he could let us be as free as we wanted to be when we were shooting because he knows, being a documentarian, he knows how to cut footage.  I mean that's all you do, you know.  So we were really confident that he would find the storyline with all the characters and all the set pieces and the funny parts.

MoviesOnline: I WANTED TO ASK YOUR REACTION TO JOAQUIN PHOENIX ANNOUNCING HIS RETIREMENT FROM ACTING.  AND ALSO IN THIS MOVIE THERE'S A GREAT SCENE WHERE VINCE BLOWS THE NEWS ABOUT SANTA CLAUS TO THE KIDS.  I WAS WONDERING WHEN YOU FOUND OUT THAT SANTA CLAUS WASN'T REAL?

WITHERSPOON: Yeah, well I remember that for me was in the second grade when Mary Beth decided to, in front of the entire second grade for show and tell, tell everyone there was no Santa Claus. That was her show and tell. And the whole class burst into tears.  [LAUGHS]  She got in a lot of trouble and got sent home.

MoviesOnline: DID YOU BELIEVE HER?

WITHERSPOON: Well, no.  I mean and then she had to come back the next day and say it wasn't really true.  She was just really lying to hurt people's feelings. Poor thing.  It was a psychological mess.  But yeah.  I don't know, someone told me that about Joaquin today.  I hadn't heard that.

MoviesOnline: IF HE HAD WON THE OSCAR, DO YOU THINK HE WOULD HAVE NOT RETURNED?

WITHERSPOON: I don't think Joaquin cares about Oscars. He's a great sort of creative spirit.  Whatever he puts his energy into, whether it's acting or I don't know what he's going to do, but...

MoviesOnline: THE IDEA HE FELT LIKE HE WAS DONE.

WITHERSPOON: He's great.  I mean he's done amazing things.  He's done a great job and whatever he wants to do to be happy.  He's a great guy.

MoviesOnline: CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR HEIGHT DIFFERENCE?

WITHERSPOON: Well they couldn't make Vince smaller. We tried.  [LAUGHS] We tried to take his shoes off and all that.  But no, he's 6'5" and I'm 5'2" so he's over a foot taller than me.  And we had a really funny scene, I don't know if it's in the movie anymore, but where he rolls over me.  We were in bed and then at the very end he rolls over and goes to sleep and he rolls over and lies on top of me. [LAUGHS]  And it was like a tree trunk had just landed on me.  [LAUGHS]  And I kept going, “Timmmberrrrr!.”  It was really funny.  But no, I stood on a lot of boxes and they had to build ramps that were about the same size as where I should be. It was a challenge and especially the kissing scene.  It was hard to get up there to kiss him but we worked it out.

MoviesOnline: AND THE DANCING?

WITHERSPOON: And the dancing.  He had to pick me up for half of the dancing. You'll see he's, if you saw our feet, he's actually holding me in the air so we can stay in the same frame.

MoviesOnline: WE SEE ONE OF THAT WHERE HE'S SPINNING YOU AROUND.

WITHERSPOON: In one yeah, where you tilt down and you can see he's got me lifted up.  I know.  It's really funny. He's a fantastic dancer. He's like a very, very good dancer, which I probably figure from 'Swingers' and stuff but I mean they were teaching him dances and I couldn't keep up and he was like oh, it's a one, two, cha, cha, cha.  

MoviesOnline: WHEN YOU WERE A LITTLE GIRL, DID YOU ALWAYS WANT TO BE A MOM?  WAS THERE A TIME WHEN YOU THOUGHT YOU WOULDN'T WANT TO BE A MOM?

WITHERSPOON: Right.  Well, I understood because before I had kids I had never held a baby, I had never babysat. I didn't have any cousins so when I first held my baby, Ava, that was the first time I'd ever held a baby in my life.  So I understand that sort of fear of not being a good mom.  It took me a long time to feel really comfortable in the role of mother.

MoviesOnline: A LOT OF US JUST SPOKE WITH ROBERT PATTINSON, WHO'S GOING TO BE IN 'TWILIGHT' NOW, AND HE SAYS HE WAS IN 'VANITY FAIR' WITH YOU. HE PLAYED YOUR SON.

WITHERSPOON: Yes, he did.

MoviesOnline: WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER OF HIM?

WITHERSPOON: I remember he was very handsome.  I do remember that.  I was like I have a really handsome son.  No, I was supposed to play, I was an older, it was an older version of my character who had been sort of a ruined woman and she was at the end of her life and I remember I just had to sob and cry all over him.  It's like ah.  He was great. He was a wonderful actor.   

MoviesOnline: ONE OF THE FUNNIEST SCENES IN THE MOVIE IS THE JUMP-JUMP SCENE.  WERE YOU SCARED OF THAT?  COULD YOU RELATE TO ANYTHING IN YOUR CHILDHOOD THAT YOU WERE SCARED OF? ARE YOUR KIDS AFRAID OF SOMETHING LIKE THAT?

WITHERSPOON: After I had to shoot the jump-jump for two consecutive weeks, I'm very, very scared of the jump-jump.  Literally we were on that thing for two weeks solid on a sound stage with all those children and of course one kid decided to eat too many Doritos one day and got on the jump, jump and then it was like the screaming and the evacuating because he threw up all over the jump, jump and there were all these balloons inside the, oh, it was disgusting.  It was major contamination.  But then we had to get back on and shoot it and the show goes on.  So we had to get back up there.  And I threw out my shoulder throwing one of those 10-year-old boys aside.  But it was fun for me.  I don't really get to do that kind of physical comedy that often so it was fun to get to try that stuff.    

MoviesOnline: WERE YOU AFRAID OF SOMETHING LIKE THAT IN YOUR CHILDHOOD?

WITHERSPOON: No.  I was that kind of kid who'd jump off a bridge if someone told me to do it.  I had a big brother who was like, "Just do it."  I was like okay, brother, whatever you want to do. So yeah, I didn't have a lot of fear.  I've grown up and become very fearful which is a good thing.

MoviesOnline: WHAT ATTRACTS YOU SO MUCH TO COMEDY?

WITHERSPOON: I just enjoy it.  I have a really good time and it means a lot to me when I get to have experiences where I meet young people and I say it's what got me through a hard time or you know this is the movie that I watched with my family or I watch with my children.  It's a big deal for me. And for a while I was like, you know, I get tired of being labeled sometimes but I've been very lucky.  I've gotten to do 'Walk the Line' and 'Rendition' and 'Vanity Fair' and you know different kinds of movies so I feel really lucky that I can kind of go back and forth between stuff.

MoviesOnline: WAS THIS A CONSCIOUS THING RIGHT AT THE BEGINNING WHEN YOU AND VINCE HAVE THAT BAR SCENE WHERE YOU'RE ACTUALLY ROLE PLAYING, BUT IT'S SO SEXUAL?  PEOPLE DON'T THINK OF YOU IN THOSE TERMS.

WITHERSPOON: Vince thought of that.  Those were Vince's terms.  No, I thought it was very genius too because we were playing on kind of what do people think of us in movies.  And he said wouldn't it be funny if you were the blowing me off kind of really sexy person and I was kind of a big nerd and trying to come on to you.  And we thought it was really funny so it ended up in the movie.

MoviesOnline: OF THE FOUR DIFFERENT HOUSES YOU GO TO, WAS THERE A CHRISTMAS THAT YOU IDENTIFIED WITH?

WITHERSPOON: Probably the one where you have to go to church.  We always had to go to a lot of church.  It was a lot of church and nativity plays and all that kind of stuff. So growing up I did a lot of that.

MoviesOnline: SETH DESCRIBED YOU AS A VERY POWERFUL PERSON.  DO YOU FEEL POWERFUL EMOTIONALLY AND SPIRITUALLY RIGHT NOW? AND WHAT ABOUT HOLLYWOOD POWER?

WITHERSPOON: I have no idea.  I don't know what kind of power he's talking about. No, I'm just very clear. I'm not wishy-washy.  You know I tell people exactly how I feel about things.  If I'm mad at you, you know within a minute.  I just don't, there's no ambiguity.  So yeah.  I mean it's nice to be in a place like I'm getting older and I don't feel as fearful of people's ideas of who I am.  I'm just becoming clearer about that myself.  I'm able to express myself better.

MoviesOnline: WHAT ABOUT YOUR HOLLYWOOD POWER?

WITHERSPOON: What Hollywood power?

MoviesOnline: THE POWER YOU HAVE IN GETTING MOVIES MADE?

WITHERSPOON: I don't know. I mean, I don't know people say that or they tell you you're on a list and it's just like it's wonderful. It's very nice to be, but I don't know what it translates, I mean obviously I get really... I'm very lucky I get opportunities to play great parts and work with great directors. That's the best part about it, I think, you know.  It really creates opportunities for me that I didn't have before.

MoviesOnline: WHAT WOULD YOU WANT FOR CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR?  

WITHERSPOON: Oh gosh.  Christmas this year?  I don't know.  Someone to help me out with some stuff.  I could really use some help.  [LAUGHS]

MoviesOnline: YOU MEAN HOUSECLEANING HELP?

WITHERSPOON: No.  I have a garden and that's a lot of work and I just get tired of doing all that stuff, but I like it.  It's kind of nice.  

MoviesOnline: WHAT ABOUT CHICKENS?

WITHERSPOON: Yeah, that would be nice.  I have a farm so I'd like chickens. I'd like an Araucana chicken. That would be really nice. They lay blue eggs. And I know I'm going to get hounded to get a horse this year.  I don't have a horse so I have a feeling I know I'm going to have two little people pulling on my leg going, "Can we have a horse?  Can we have a horse?"  Yeah.

MoviesOnline: DO YOU HAVE ANY NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS?

WITHERSPOON: Any New Year's resolutions.  Not yet, gosh, can't we just get through Thanksgiving?  So much pressure.

MoviesOnline: HOW DO YOU GET EVERYTHING DONE IN YOUR LIFE?

WITHERSPOON: I just try not to look too far in the future.  I just try to stay day-by-day and week by week and then you know it gets terrifying and daunting if you look at the big picture.  It's a lot.  So I just try to keep it simple.

MoviesOnline: IN THE MOVIE, THE PHILOSOPHY IS THAT THE RIGHT THING TO DO FOR A COUPLE IS TO GET MARRIED AND HAVE KIDS.  DO YOU AGREE WITH THAT?

WITHERSPOON: I think the message is more it's important to stay open to whatever your relationship evolves into.  I don't even think we say at the end we're married.  I don't think it says that.  It's very open and I think it also says whatever you think, so many people, I'm guilty of this too myself that I have a certain idea what I thought marriage and kids and the whole life and things are and sometimes it doesn't work out that way. So you have to be open to whatever comes your way in life.  And that life and love and relationships take all kinds of shapes and that it's not necessarily the one you recognize.

MoviesOnline: DOES THAT MEAN YOU WOULD OR WOULD NEVER GET MARRIED AGAIN?

WITHERSPOON: I don't know.  I don't think about it much.

MoviesOnline: I WAS WONDERING IF YOUR KIDS BELIEVE IN SANTA CLAUS AND HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF SOMEONE SPOILED IT FOR THEM, LIKE IN THE MOVIE?

WITHERSPOON: Yes.  My kids believe in all sorts of things.  Like we have all sorts of fairies for different holidays, like we have a Halloween fairy and then there’s the tooth fairy and the Easter bunny. I'm like how did this happen that I have to get more things?  We have a Halloween fairy.  But yeah, they still do and you know I don't know. Kids find out that kind of stuff on their own.

MoviesOnline: HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF A GROWNUP TOLD THEM?

WITHERSPOON: What, are you suggesting there's not a Santa Claus?  Is that what you're saying?  I don't know what you're talking about.  I don't even want to hear about it anymore.  You sit down.

MoviesOnline: WHAT ARE THE PITFALLS OF MAKING A CHRISTMAS FILM?

WITHERSPOON: I don't know, I just thought this was kind of a different kind of Christmas movie.  I've never really seen someone have to deal with a blended family and how they have to kind of go to a million different places, but I hear people complain about it constantly and I'd never seen a movie about it. And I was excited to work with Vince.  You know I just think he has a different kind of comedy.  It's renegade and like crazy.  And he always has crazy ideas right in the moment.  And it's just fun to be part of that energy. So I thought, I knew it would be original and interesting.

MoviesOnline: WHAT DOES CHRISTMAS MEAN TO YOU PERSONALLY?  AND WHAT DO YOU THINK IT MEANS TO THE REST OF THE WORLD?

WITHERSPOON: To the rest of the country?  Or the world?

MoviesOnline: I WAS TALKING ABOUT THE RITUALS OF JAPAN.

WITHERSPOON: Oh, okay.  Well for me I go to church on Christmas Eve and I like to hear the music and all that kind of stuff and quiet and thoughtful about what the holiday really means for me.  And you know it's just about family and togetherness.  It's about a lot of cooking and playing games and seeing my friends, mainly about kids.  I mean it's all about them enjoying their day and doing what they love to do. That's what makes it so much better when you have everyone around you.  And you can see the joy that they have.  Yeah.  I think it's you know a lot of it is just about traditions.  You know we tried to explore each one of those traditions in the film.  We had family photos and playing games and all kinds of stuff that people mark as traditions in their family.

MoviesOnline: HAVE YOU EVER DONE MORE THAN ONE CHRISTMAS IN A DAY AND HOW ARE YOUR KIDS PLANNING TO SPLIT THEIR TIME WITH MOM AND DAD THIS CHRISTMAS?

WITHERSPOON: Let me see.  Have I ever done that?  I don't know.  Yeah.  I mean I think it's pretty standard we'd be at my family's house and then we'd go out to my aunt and uncle's house.  So yeah, we'd do that kind of stuff.  And you know that's kind of how it is, I think.

MoviesOnline: WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO WORK WITH TWO GREATS, MARY AND SISSY?

WITHERSPOON: Fun.  It was so fun.  It was great and Jon Voight and Robert Duvall, I mean I have the biggest crush on Robert Duvall.  He's such a great southern guy and 'Tender Mercies' and just he was so great in 'The Apostle.'  Big crush.  And well Sissy was just so great, too.  We talked about playing country singers and stuff like that.  There were a lot of Oscars on the set.

MoviesOnline: WAS THERE A DAY EVERYBODY BROUGHT HIM?

WITHERSPOON: Bring your Oscar to work day? [LAUGHS]  No, we should have.  It would have been really funny.  It was fun.

MoviesOnline: THERE'S A SCENE IN THE FILM WHERE THE FAMILY HAS A $10 CHRISTMAS BUDGET.  HOW WOULD YOUR FAMILY RESPOND TO THAT?

WITHERSPOON: Wouldn't that be great?  Wouldn't you like to record the look on their faces?  [LAUGHS] No.  My family's not a big expense, my family always had like a thing.  Everybody always got one gift, and whether it was like chocolate or flowers, it'd be like the nicest little chocolates you could get, but that was all you got.  Or one really nice toy but it was beautifully made.  So it was always about the quality of things not the quantity of things.  So I like that.

MoviesOnline: THE SCENE AT THE CHURCH WHEN YOU GET STAGE FRIGHT, WHEN DID YOU EVER HAVE STAGE FRIGHT AND DID YOU EVER HAVE TO PLAY A CHARACTER IN A PAGEANT LIKE THAT?

WITHERSPOON: Yes, I get very bad stage fright. I get really, really bad and I'm really bad at those like luncheons where you have to talk.  I'm terrible at it. Or even at the awards shows I'm so, so, so nervous.  My knees are sweating.  My elbows are sweating.  Just sweating in like abnormal places.  You just basically have to push me on the stage.  But I'm getting a little better at it.  And yeah, I was in nativity plays when I was little. All I remember is just desperately wanting to play Mary in the nativity play and the preacher's daughter got it and I was so mad.  So mad.  You can't really compete with the preacher's daughter, can you?

MoviesOnline: WHAT DID YOU GET?

WITHERSPOON: I think I was like the third sheep from the left.  [LAUGHS]  And very angry about it.

MoviesOnline: THROUGH YOUR WORK WITH THE CHILDREN'S DEFENSE FUND, WE KNOW YOU CARE ABOUT CHILDREN. HOW IMPORTANT DO YOU THINK IT WILL BE TO HAVE A COUPLE OF CHILDREN IN THE WHITE HOUSE DEALING WITH SOME OF THOSE ISSUES?

WITHERSPOON: I hope so.  Yeah.  You never know and I just I have the highest hopes that everything is, that there's going to be a real focus on children and community and education.  I know that in these times those are like low on the ladder, but I think there's a lot of things that could be done to help educate kids about what's going on and really get to the root of the problem, which is sort of fundamental.  You know, we need to educate people so that these sorts of situations don't come up.  But yeah, it'll be nice. I'm excited to see those sweet little girls. They're so sweet, you know, and they look like just a really nice family. It'll be interesting.  

MoviesOnline: WORKING WITH KRISTIN CHENOWETH, HAS ANYONE TOLD YOU HOW MUCH YOU TWO LOOK ALIKE?  SHE SEEMS LIKE SUCH A DYNAMO, WHAT WAS IT LIKE WORKING WITH HER?

WITHERSPOON: Yeah, I used to get stopped all the time and say "Are you on 'West Wing'?"  I was like “No, I'm not on 'West Wing.'”  My girlfriend's like, "Oh, because on 'West Wing' there's a girl who looks just like you on 'West Wing' and she talks just like you and she's just like you."  And I was like really?  And then I ran into her at an awards show and I met her and I realized I had seen her in 'Wicked' and all this stuff and so I was like oh, wouldn't it be fun if we got to play sisters?  And turns out she's just the sweetest, nicest little country girl from Oklahoma, and just sweet and wonderful.  And so it came up and  we called her and we asked her to do the movie and she said yes.  We lucked out.  She was very busy at the time too.

MoviesOnline: SHE'S ACTUALLY SHORTER THAN YOU.

WITHERSPOON: I know.  She is.  She's tinier than tiny, y'all.  She's like 4'11" or something like that.  She's small.

MoviesOnline: WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO HAVING A GOOD RELATIONSHIP?

WITHERSPOON: Well, I think my character and his character sort of learn in this movie that it's important to have honesty and openness and communication.  I think that's what they learn in this film.  You can't have a relationship without those things.

“Four Christmases” opens in theaters on November 26th.