Christina Applegate on turning down Legally Blonde: Reese did a much better job
Dead To Me on Netflix is such a good, highly bingeable show. I binged it in about three (ok two) days after reading Kristy at Pajiba’s spoiler-free review. She wrote that “It’s as easy to burn through season one in a single sitting as it is to knock back a pint of Ben & Jerry’s in one go” and that you become invested in the lead characters, played by Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini. That’s definitely the case, and both women give incredible performances. Christina especially is so convincing as an angry, alcoholic 40-something real estate agent coping with her husband’s loss. Linda plays her hippy codependant friend with a secret.
I got to know Christina as dim blonde Kelly on Married With Children, which aired from 1987-1997. Apparently she was sent the script for Legally Blonde, but she passed before auditioning because she didn’t want to be typecast. She told Andy Cohen on WWHL that she has no regrets, that Reese did a great job and that Reese is also much more successful than she is. Linda Cardellini was there too and reminded Christina that she had been in Legally Blonde! You can see that clip here and I’ve transcribed part of it below.
Is it true that you turned down Elle Woods in Legally Blonde?
Christina: I wasn’t actually offered it the script came to me. I felt like I had just done Married With Children and I felt like it was too close to what I had been doing. I [wanted] to remove myself from that.
I don’t regret it because Reese Witherspoon did a much better job than I ever could and she has way more money than I do and way more success. Why would I even regret that?
Linda: You could have worked with me!
After that Andy reminded her that she reinvented herself as an actor post-Married. That was weird what she said about Reese, because by my yardstick Christina Applegate is wildly successful. I guess it’s all relative, especially in that society where people are wealthy beyond the rest of the planet’s dreams. Sometimes I look at other people’s success and get a tinge of something, but I try to remember that I work from home, don’t have a boss and get to write about celebrities for a living. I forgot that Linda Cardellini was in Legally Blonde! Spoilers for an 18 year-old movie, she played the young woman whom Elle cross examined and caught in a lie for claiming she’d showered right after getting a perm. Here’s the link to that clip.
I so recommend Dead to Me on Netflix. It’s only three hours of programming and I want a second season already.
You can tell that Christina and Linda became good friends making this show.
photos credit: Netflix Press and Avalon.red
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