Witherspoon: 'Wild' sex was 'awkward'

Reese Witherspoon plays Cheryl Strayed in the movie "Wild," about a woman who battles her demons during a solo hike along one of the country's longest and toughest trails. Video shot by Todd Plitt for USA TODAY. VPC

Reese Witherspoon didn't have major qualms about de-glamming herself, injecting heroin or having passionless sex with strangers on screen in Wild, opening Friday.

But she did have serious qualms about a rather more hirsute plot point.

"She's much more of a Southern lady than I ever was," says Cheryl Strayed, who wrote the non-fiction book upon which the film is based, about a drug-using, emotionally frayed woman who hikes the Pacific Crest Trail to deal, in part, with the devastation from her mother's death.

"Right before we began production, Reese asked me if I shaved on my hike. Of course, I did not. She said to me, 'Will you just do me a favor and tell (director Jean-Marc Vallée) that you shaved? I'm from the South, I shave. I draw the line there.' "

But nothing else was off-limits for the Oscar winner, 38, who became a star by playing spunky go-getters in Election, Legally Blonde and Sweet Home Alabama, and won her Academy Award as June Carter Cash for 2005's Walk the Line. She's now married for the second time, to film agent Jim Toth, and has three kids (Tennessee, 2; Ava, 15; and Deacon, 11). Despite appearances, she says nothing in her seemingly charmed existence is perfect.

"I've certainly been through my own trials in life. I've been divorced. I've been on both sides of the story of the mother and the daughter," says Witherspoon. "I've had to say goodbye to people I loved.

"I've had a lot of moments where I realized no one is going to figure things out for me and I had to figure things out for myself. It's about growing up."

USA Today Movie Critic Claudia Puig discusses "Wild" and tells you whether to "Catch It," "Rent It," or "Skip It" in this week's edition of The Screening Room.

The drama, which Witherspoon produced after optioning the book through her Pacific Standard production company, represents a rawer trajectory in her career.

"I have a really interesting relationship with the audience that has watched me grow up. I have had career highs and career lows. It's hard for me to understand how I'm perceived by the outside world," she says. "My audience has evolved as well. The little girls who watched Legally Blonde are older now. They want to see films about their own evolution. We do change."

And that means embracing the uglier sides of humanity — even those, like hairy legs, that are foreign to her.

"The physical aspects of the shoot were difficult. I have no experience with any of the drugs, so that was a lot of YouTubing and talking to people," she says. "By and far, the sexual aspects of the character were the hardest for me. I'd never done explicit love scenes and they were awkward. It's an uncomfortable place to be."

Her new directive, Witherspoon says, is to make films her daughter will want to see, and to showcase women who aren't always reeling from breakups or shopping disasters. Plus, it's put her back in the awards conversation as one of the favorites.

USA TODAY

Review: Don't stray from Witherspoon's 'Wild'

"The accolades are wonderful. It's so nice to take a risk. This movie was big leap outside my comfort zone. I had to make a choice to do all the parts of the story, not just the parts I was comfortable with," she says.

And it's added a new friend to her roster. Strayed "just clicked" with Witherspoon, she says. "We have a lot in common. People think that because I wrote about my wild days, I am this woman in black and Reese is America's sweetheart.

"We're both mothers. We're both married. We both love books. We talk about our families, our romantic lives. We're both divorced. We have more in common than not."