{"id":915338,"date":"2026-07-06T01:37:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T01:37:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/915338\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T01:37:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T01:37:34","slug":"elle-director-on-reese-witherspoon-season-2-murder-she-wrote-movie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/915338\/","title":{"rendered":"Elle Director on Reese Witherspoon, Season 2, Murder She Wrote Movie"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tFilm, television and Broadway director Jason Moore<\/a> knows what\u2019s old is new again.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Tony-nominee not only directed the first two episodes of the Prime Video \u201cLegally Blonde\u201d prequel series \u201cElle<\/a>,\u201d but he is also helming the upcoming feature film adaptation of \u201cMurder, She Wrote,\u201d which stars Jamie Lee Curtis as Jessica Fletcher, the role originated on TV by the late Angela Lansbury.<\/p>\n

\n\tI caught up with Moore recently from his New York City apartment, where he\u2019s just returned to the States after directing a revival of \u201cAvenue Q\u201d in the West End. He earned a Tony nomination on the original Broadway production of the adult-oriented puppet musical in the early aughts for best direction of a musical.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn \u201cElle,\u201d Reese Witherspoon<\/a>\u2018s doppelg\u00e4nger Lexi Minetree stars in the titular role in the years before we first met Elle Woods in the original two \u201cLegally Blonde\u201d movies, starting in 2001.<\/p>\n

\t\tHow did \u201cElle\u201d come about for you?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI had met with Reese on a general years and years ago. I had been friends with (\u201cLegally Blonde\u201d producer) Marc Platt, so I had always been around people who had worked on \u201cLegally Blonde.\u201d When they first called, my reaction was, \u201cOh my god, that movie is like canon to me, I\u2019m not touching that.\u201d That was my honest gut reaction, but then I was like, \u201cLet me read the script.\u201d The script was really good and it was the thing that swayed me. It was very funny and it was a good way to show how she became the woman she became. And then there was Lexi. She reminds me of Sutton Foster and Lucille Ball. She\u2019s that level of talent and funny. We all knew that the series wasn\u2019t going to happen without the right actress. Once we found her, we were good to go.<\/p>\n

\t\tWhen I look at Lexi, I\u2019m like, \u201cShe is Reese.\u201d<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tShe\u2019s a special actress on her own, but she also really understands the character. I hired one of the best Broadway voice coaches for her. She went to her religiously every week for months. She got every intonation, the little breaths. We had a code for which of the breaths she would do at different times. She really worked it into her body. I directed \u201cThe Cher Show,\u201d and Stephanie Block won a Tony for playing Cher, so I kind of had a real sense of what you need to do to make audiences think it\u2019s the same character, but then also make it their own. You don\u2019t want it to be a caricature or an impersonation. Lexi really got it. She came to the first day of set having already memorized all eight episodes. She\u2019s a Tracy Flick type, which works great.<\/p>\n

\t\tI love all the throwbacks on the show. It takes place in the \u201990s with things like Tab, \u201cMelrose Place,\u201d Heather Locklear, \u201cSybil\u201d and more are mentioned or seen in the show.<\/strong>\t<\/p>\n

\n\tSome people don\u2019t really understand because they think that things that take place in the \u201990s are supposed to look more \u201990s. My thing was let\u2019s design it so that it is in the \u201990s, but let\u2019s photograph it like you would today. It\u2019s Elle\u2019s bedroom, but photographed with today\u2019s aesthetics. We had done some tests where I dropped in older lenses, but it just felt like stuff you\u2019d seen before. But if you look at it, it\u2019s very \u201990s. Also, the fashion today is very \u201990s.<\/p>\n

\t\tThe cast is very diverse. There\u2019s a lot more representation on the show than in the movies.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tYou know this, but the movie often gets pointed out because it was capturing a certain version of the \u201990s, especially the sorority culture. I attribute all of that in the show to Laura Kittrell. She\u2019s the creator. It was an all-female creative team. I was the only male. I was in heaven. One of the things that surprised me when doing the research on \u201cLegally Blonde\u201d is how different the socio-economic and racial profile was of people who admired Elle Woods. In some ways, you\u2019d think, she\u2019s a privileged white girl, but the amount of Black women who were like, \u201cElle Woods is my hero.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tLauren Neustadter, Jason Moore, Jacob Moskovitz, Caroline Dries, Reese Witherspoon, Zac Looker, Lexi Minetree, Jessica Belkin, Gabrielle Policano, Laura Kittrell, Chandler Kinney, Tom Everett Scott and June Diane Raphael at Prime Video\u2019s \u201cElle\u201d New York premiere on June 23 in New York City.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tVariety via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\t\tWe have to talk about the clothes.\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThey really lean into the clothes even more in Season 2. They\u2019re great in Season 1, but they get really bold in Season 2. The costumer of the original movie did it, so we had access to all these archival pieces. For Season 1, most of it was built to look archival. Season 2 is all archival.<\/p>\n

\t\tWas Reese on set a lot?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tShe came twice during my block. She came early on, too. We did a table read with everybody, so they got to meet her and break the ice and kind of get the nerves out with her. Then she was there when we filmed the scene where Elle gets knocked in the face and Miles (Jacob Moskovitz) takes her to the hospital. It was actually our biggest day. There were 200 extras. It was crowded and everyone was sweaty. It was great because Reese was just part of the group. There was no place to really separate her from everyone. The cast got very quickly easy with her, and she\u2019s very generous. She\u2019s very artistically generous.<\/p>\n

\t\tWhat was it like seeing Lexi and Reese next to each other for the first time?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWe\u2019ve all seen the video now of when Lexi learned she got the role. They\u2019ve always been aware of how much they look alike and they\u2019re the same height. I had to text Reese before she came to tell her how high Lexi\u2019s heels were so she would wear the same. But that\u2019s also why Reese didn\u2019t come for a few weeks. We felt it was important for Lexi to feel she had ownership.<\/p>\n

\t\tLet\u2019s talk about \u201cMurder, She Wrote.\u201d Are you using the same theme song?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWe will find a way to use that theme song. It might surprise people how it is used.<\/p>\n

\t\tWill the new \u201cMurder, She Wrote\u201d be a hard crime drama or more of the lighter who-done-it feel of the TV show?\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cMurder, She Wrote\u201d was inspired by Agatha Christie. I would say in some ways it leans more into a classic Agatha Christie twisty-turny story. You\u2019re never going to see the killer coming. It has some comedy elements because Jamie\u2019s able to do that, but it\u2019s a proper murder mystery. It\u2019s definitely true to the core of \u201cMurder, She Wrote,\u201d but in some ways, it\u2019s just a jumping-off point for a great murder mystery with a great female detective.<\/p>\n

\t\tShould we assume the typewriter is gone and Jessica Fletcher is writing on a laptop?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tThe typewriter is part of the story \u2014 the typewriter versus the computer, because it does take place in modern day. In the show, they did move from a manual to an electric typewriter. But the typewriter is in the murder mystery.<\/p>\n

\t\tWill there be an Angela Lansbury callback in the movie?\t<\/p>\n

\n\tOf course. I did this with \u201cShrek: The Musical\u201d and I did it with \u201cLegally Blonde.\u201d You always try and ask what do people hope to see. Most people don\u2019t know \u201cMurder, She Wrote.\u201d They remember mostly watching it with their grandmother. So the callbacks will be mostly Easter Eggs that the hardcore fans will get.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cElle\u201d Season 1 is available to stream on Prime Video.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis Q&A was edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n

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