Reese Witherspoon reminded longtime fans of Legally Blonde that the movie was originally supposed to be filmed at Stanford University in California instead of Harvard University in Massachusetts. Stanford has a “no filming” policy, which forced the filmmakers back in 2001 to switch locations. This is still in place, as Insecure star Issa Rae learned while making new episodes of her acclaimed HBO series.
Back on Sunday, Rae thanked Stanford for breaking the “no filming” policy to let her show film episodes of its final season on campus. “Shout out to [Stanford] for breaking their ‘no filming’ rule for us,” Rae tweeted. “This is major! Fun fact: They would not let us film Legally Blonde there. So we went to Harvard instead,” Witherspoon wrote in response.
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Witherspoon did not reveal a new secret about her 20-year-old hit movie. Legally Blonde is based on the memoir of the same name by Amanda Brown, who wrote about her experiences at Stanford Law School as a blonde. In 2008, Stanford Magazine published an article on how the scull was depicted on the screen, noting that the university administration did not like the script, so the location was changed to Harvard. Witherspoon also attended Stanford in real life, studying for an English literature degree, but she left before graduating to begin acting.
In addition, not all of the film was shot at Harvard University. Most of the production was based in Los Angeles, so the California Institute of Technology and the University of Southern California both stood in for Harvard. Witherspoon also sat in on classes at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and met with USC sorority girls while preparing for the role of Elle Woods.
It didn’t really matter where the film was shot or set to audiences because Legally Blonde was still a huge hit. The movie inspired a sequel, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde, a direct-to-video movie, and a Broadway musical. In May 2020, The Office star Mindy Kaling and Brooklyn Nine-Nine co-creator Dan Goor were hired to write the long-awaited third movie. In October 2020, MGM announced the new movie will finally hit theaters in May 2022.
If you can’t wait until May to see more of Witherspoon in action, she still stars in Apple TV+’s The Morning Show, which is in the midst of its second season. She also voices the character Rosita in Sing 2, which opens on Dec. 22. Witherspoon’s other recent credits include Hulu’s Little Fires Everywhere and HBO’s Big Little Lies. She is an executive producer on Amazon’s upcoming Daisy Jones & The Six, starring Riley Keough.
