Reese Witherspoon has opened up about a sex scene that she filmed with Mark Wahlberg when she was 19, claiming that she "didn't have control" over it.
Witherspoon, 47, has taken time to reflect on her past work, including the 1996 psycho-thriller Fear, which she doesn't look back on fondly.
During the film, the then 19-year-old took part in a sex scene with Wahlberg, where she was required to her to fake an orgasm.
The actress has recently sat down with Harpers Bazaar where she has touched upon her experiences while shooting the movie.
Witherspoon explained that she had asked for a stunt double for the scene, but this was denied, adding: "I didn’t have control over it."
"It wasn’t explicit in the script that that’s what was going to happen, so that was something that I think the director thought of on his own and then asked me on set if I would do it, and I said no," she continued. "It wasn’t a particularly great experience."
The actress went on to explain that she isn't looking for sympathy but sees the experience as "formative" as she was growing up and understanding how some parts of the industry work - and how she wanted to change it.
"I’m certainly not traumatized or anything by it, but it was formative," Witherspoon said. "It made me understand where my place was in the pecking order of filmmaking. I think it’s another one of those stories that made me want to be an agent for change and someone who maybe can be in a better leadership position to tell stories from a female perspective instead of from the male gaze."
It's clear that Witherspoon was true to her word, as in 2016 she set up Hello Sunshine, which is a production company that champions female-led stories such as Big Little Lies and The Morning Show.
Laura Dern, a co-star of Witherspoon referred to Hello Sunshine as "a sisterhood", claiming that Hollywood in the '90s and prior had meant that women had to "infantilize" themselves if they wanted to produce.
"They were like, ‘Aww, she’s calling herself a producer.’ There was no respect," Dern went on. "We’ve [Dern and Witherspoon] both had to fight for our voices and therefore hope to defend others’ voices in workplace environments. She knows how little space there is in a room. She knows that experience. And now that she has that space, she’s lifting up everyone else."