Reese Witherspoon's No. 1 Advice for Elle's Lexi Minetree Is Iconic

Reese Witherspoon's No. 1 Advice for ‘Elle’ Star Lexi Minetree Is Iconic

Whoever said Reese Witherspoon doesn't give the best advice is seriously disturbed.

Elle star Lexi Minetree is revealing the No. 1 lesson that the Legally Blonde actress shared with her as she filled Elle Woods' Prada shoes for the new Prime Video prequel series.

"We were messaging at one point," Minetree told E! News in an exclusive interview ahead of the show's July 1 premiere, "and she sent me the clip from the movie at the end where Warner is saying, 'I made a mistake, Pooh Bear. I want to be with you.' And she goes 'no' in a very Elle Woodsy way."

"And Reese was saying," the 25-year-old continued, "that the thing about Elle [is] no matter how unkind someone's been to her, treated her, she always takes the high road and she's never a bully. But she always stands up for herself."

Witherspoon's moral compass helped Minetree lock into the mindset of a young Elle navigating teenage drama and high school bullies.

"I really took that with me with playing this character," the Georgia native reflected, "because there's some meanies in the show, or people who misjudge her. But she still shows them kindness and I think that it's a testament to her character."

And turning your haters into allies helps in the real world too.

As she noted, "Ultimately she connects with them later and they end up becoming her friends, which I feel like is a lesson for all of us."

Another golden rule Minetree followed as she inhabited the iconic Bel-Air heiress turned Harvard law student? Make every role your own.

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Prime Video

"Obviously Reese created such an iconic character that 25 years later we're still quoting, which is crazy," the actress said. "I obviously took a lot of inspiration from her, but I also wanted to bring my own quirks to the character."

Because, yes, taking on a role that Witherspoon made famous is hard. As Minetree noted, "I could never fully recreate what she did."

Luckily for Minetree, putting her own spin on the character works every time (just like the bend and snap).

Jessica Brooks/Prime Video

"I'm a theater kid," she confessed, "and I think the cool thing about theater is that one play can be written and done hundreds of different times by different actors and different interpretations."

Ultimately, she added, "I had a lot of fun with it."

TV gives you endorphins, and endorphins make you happy. So stream season one of Elle on Prime Video now.

And in honor of the new series, keep reading to learn BTS secrets about the making of Legally Blonde.

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