ELLE'S ANNUAL WOMEN IN HOLLYWOOD ISSUE

Reese Witherspoon In Elle Magazine

November marks ELLE’s annual Women in Hollywood issue, honoring women who have made extraordinary contributions to the film industry this year. Icons Reese Witherspoon, Penelope Cruz and Melissa McCarthy, alongside emerging star Shailene Woodley, look stunning in Versace, The Row, Marina Rinaldi and Calvin Klein. The icons opens up about their unique experiences as female leads in Hollywood, the women they love to watch, and their hopes for the future.

Reese Witherspoon on what inspired her to begin producing movies:

“I started noticing a couple years ago that I wasn’t seeing women as the stars of movies. I’m seeing them as the guys’ girlfriends, or so-and-so’s wife. I just thought: God, if I don’t start buckling down and start producing some movies, what’s my daughter going to see in the movies?”

Reese Witherspoon on how her children changed her life:

“Somebody was saying to me the other day, ‘Oh, people get less interesting when they have kids.’ I just don’t think that’s true. I feel like I was so confused before I had kids, I almost got in my own way. Having kids made me clearer about who I was as a woman. I just wanted to exhibit good qualities for my daughter. I was a little competitive before I had kids- probably really competitive, to be honest. It really made me let go of that.”

Melissa McCarthy on playing nontraditional female comedic leads:

“A lot of times, women have had all their tools taken away (in Hollywood comedies). It’s like you’re never inappropriate, you have the greatest job, you look great, your hair is amazing, and now go be funny. And it’s like, with what? You have to fall down for us to want to watch you get back up. And it’s like they never let you watch women fall down.”

Melissa McCarthy on which comediennes she enjoys watching:

“I watch Julia Louis-Dreyfus on Veep and she is so good, because she is playing the world’s biggest asshole narcissist, and yet you can’t take your eyes off of her. In fact, you still strangely like her and almost want to hang with her.”

Penelope Cruz reflecting on her Hollywood stardom:

“The concept of a ‘star’ will always sound foreign and surreal to me because growing up in my country, you’re an actor, not a star.”

Penelope Cruz on the best piece of career advice she’s ever received:

“How important it is to learn to say no. You’re going to have to put a lot of your time into a project, and you have to know if it’s something you really feel connected with, because it’s not a job you can do like you press a button- no.”

Shailene Woodley on staying true to herself in Hollywood:

“There’s nothing like walking into a meeting and people expecting me to shake hands, and you hug them. For me, a hug is to disregard all of that bullshit and be like, This is me, Shai. This is who I am. Now let’s talk about real situations. Let’s not talk about all this surface-level stuff.”

Shailene Woodley on the next five years:

“I’m so young, and I’m single, and I just want to drift. I’m just going to be a drifter. I want to do something totally different before Insurgent [the second film in the Divergent trilogy]. Maybe I’ll work in a tea shop. Or live in Amsterdam. Or be a nanny. Life experience only helps us as actors. I need new experiences to draw upon.”