Hillary Clinton Nixed for Cameo in 'Blonde 2' (Thanks for Small Mercies / barf Alert)

Zap2it.com ^ | June 25, 2003 | Mike Szymanski

[fightinJAG]

Hillary Clinton Nixed for Cameo in 'Blonde 2'

By Mike Szymanski Wed, Jun 25, 2003, 12:06 PM PT

HOLLYWOOD (Zap2it.com) --

Ultimately, it came down to not being partisan.

Flying in the face of the liberal bent that the general public expects from Hollywood movies, Reese Witherspoon and company nixed an appearance by New York Senator Hillary Clinton for "Legally Blonde 2" because it would seem too partisan.

Screenwriter Kate Kondell says a cameo for the former first lady was written into the script where Witherspoon's Elle Woods character would look up Delta Nu sorority sister Clinton.

"We had the cameo planned, but it didn't happen, it wasn't shot," Kondell says.

In the sequel to the 2001 blockbuster, "Legally Blonde," the naive but good-hearted Elle heads to Washington, D.C. to change the laws involving animal testing for make-up. She meets up with a tough congresswoman played by Sally Field and befriends an arch conservative Southern senator played by Bruce McGill ("Sum of All Fears," "Shallow Hal.")

"It was a big concern for us that we didn't want the movie to appear partisan or anything like that," Witherspoon tells Zap2it.com. In addition to starring in the film, the actress is also the executive producer and was very involved in the writing process.

"We didn't want to sway it from one side or another and everyone is expecting a liberal bent from Hollywood anyway," she says. "This was really about bigger ideas than which side we'd be affiliated with."

Witherspoon says she fought hard to keep in a final scene where Elle winks at the White House for her next conquest. Although no sequel is planned, and she doubts it would include Elle running for president, Witherspoon says she hoped that scene may give hope to young girls who may someday want to run for political office.

Despite nixing the cameo, Witherspoon says she's looking forward to reading Senator Clinton's just-released book.

"I can't wait to read the book, and I do hope that there will be a female president in our lifetime," Witherspoon says with a wink. "I think Hillary is a great possibility."

"Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde" opens in theaters nationwide on Wednesday, July 2.

[fightinJAG]

Well, you might as well pick up a West Wing DVD while you're out. :)

[fightinJAG]

As I understand, Blonde 2 is about animal rights, too. So (Rat) politics + animal wackoism = suck the life out of an otherwise cute flick.

[fightinJAG]

Mr. FightinJAG and I got a good chuckle out of "A Mighty Wind" (the film, not the Hildebeast or her, ahem, "husband"). Don't think the kids would get it, though. :)

I felt very culturally inclusive to be able to appreciate both "Wind" and "FromJ2K." See how broad-minded we conservatives are. lol

[Charlie OK]

Screenwriter Kate Kondell says a cameo for the former first lady was written into the script where Witherspoon's Elle Woods character would look up Delta Nu sorority sister Clinton.

I couldve swore she was an Omega MOO...

[NYCVirago]

How (un)believable would it have been for Hillary Clinton to have been in a sorority? Kay Bailey Hutchison I can buy in that role, but there's no way Hillary! would have ever made the cut in a sorority.

[discostu]

My wife wanted to see the first one and I had no interest, but in the end I decided getting husband points while staring at Reese Witherspoon for an hour and a half wasn't a bad deal. Much to my suprise it was a fine movie, funny, smart, and no jokes involving efluvia (and I got to stare at Reese Witherspoon for an hour and a half, I'm still a man here). I doubt 2 will be very good, but i'll probably watch it anyway.

[discostu]

Actually putting her in THAT sorority would have been pretty funny. It's primarily for girls in college on fashion related majors, filled with girls concerned with their looks and traditionally thought of as airheads, ie the exact opposite of Hitlery.

[NYCVirago]

Actually putting her in THAT sorority would have been pretty funny. It's primarily for girls in college on fashion related majors, filled with girls concerned with their looks and traditionally thought of as airheads, ie the exact opposite of Hitlery.

Yeah, but you know that if the movie had had her in it, they wouldn't make that joke out of it. They'd probably say she's the most fashionable senator ever!

[discostu]

Sadly you're right.

[cyncooper]

In "Sweet Home Alabama," the last Reese Witherspoon movie I saw, the villain was a democrat politician played by Candice Bergen.

Saw the trailer for this movie last week and we are going to see it.

In the clip I saw, Reese meets a Congressman from some state and she gives him kudos for having no state income tax.

[RJayneJ]

I had my daughter-in-law's little 10 year old to entertain and we watched it together. She is in the gifted program at school and I had an opportunity to explain what a sorority is and a few other things, and she loved it, and followed the wardrobe of the dog, which I didn't even notice until she pointed it out to me. She is a young Elle Woods if there ever was one. I liked the positive message about female empowerment and we had a great day. It's hard to find a movie with a positive message that you can watch with a young person. Reese is a delight.

[savagesusie]

Legally Blonde is adorable and well worth seeing. I have the DVD and it is my favorite.

Mine, too! It is very well done.

[marajade]

It was actually pretty good...

[marajade]

I absolutely loved the dog, Brewster... he was absolutely adorable...

[RJayneJ]

Remember the picture in the magazine of the Yale law student and Vanderbilt that was engaged to Warner's brother? Looked just like Hillary.

[discostu]

And one of the best parts was the Elle was empowered but also feminine. There are very few characters in Hollywood that are allowed to go to beauty salons and be intelligent. It truly was a non-typical Hollywood production, I was very happy it made good money (was a "suprise hit" actually, at our nearest theater it was on 2 more screens in week two than week one, the showings before ours after ours and ours were sold out), I'm hoping they learned the right lesson, we'll find out with #2.

[discostu]

She's deformed, poor thing.

[mewzilla]

I thought it was about animal testing of beauty products? Or do they do the whole animal rights thing?

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

They discussed this on "Fox and Friends" this morning. The people who made the film decided in the end that a Hillary cameo would definitely hurt the box office numbers for their film. Anyone here could have told them that.

[RJayneJ]

I'm sure that any Hollywood people that has half a brain took note as to what kind of grief the Dixie Chicks, Garafalo, Sarandon and Timmy faced when they went partisan.