- Hi, I'm Reese Witherspoon from Little Fires Everywhere.
- Hi I'm Megan Stott.
- And I'm Jade Pettyjohn.
- Hey, I'm Gavin Lewis.
- Hi I'm Lexy Underwood.
- Hi I'm Jordan Elsass from Little Fires Everywhere.
- And I'm Kerry Washington
also from Little Fires Everywhere.
And we are here to play Buzzfeed's first times.
- Oh my goodness, I'm gonna start lying now.
(laughs)
just so you know everything I'm about to say is a lie.
(upbeat music)
When I first met you in person I was like,
who is that girl?
(laughs)
She's so smart.
- When I first met you in person I was like,
oh my god I know who that girl is.
(laughs)
That's Reese Witherspoon. ♪ Who's that girl ♪
- Now that I get to know Kerry and our relationship
has grown and become richer and deeper through Time's UP.
- Mmhmm.
- And really sharing ideas about how we want to see
safety in the work place. - Mmhmm.
And also just being kind of in each other's tribe
and sharing what its like to start a production company,
what it's like to be a working mom,
what it's like to balance your marriage
while you're a working actor.
- It's really cool for me to see you step
into a leadership position that you so deserve
and that you really feel excited about it.
- Ah I love that, thank you.
She's an amazing partner.
- I told you that I was lying about all this stuff.
- Oh see, she's such a good actor.
- Yeah, on my callback that's when I met Jade
and we read together and when I first met you
I was like wow she was really professional
and then I got on set with her and I'm like,
oh wow, she's really funny, nevermind,
she's not just professional (laughs)
- Yeah, I mean I thought you were just really bright
like the second I met you in the audition
you were just, I mean your character's very moody
and very you know, angsty. - I more like Doc Martens
I wore the same outfit for every single audition,
I wore Doc Martens and they were red
and then a red t-shirt and every single time
then I would come in and I'd be like, I'm tough.
- No, you were tough, you were professional.
- And then I looked you up and I was like,
oh my gosh, she has so many followers,
look at her followers. (laughs)
I literally went through your Instagram
and I was like, oh that's cute, and I tried so hard
not to like them but I probably liked like four of them.
I was like, oh that's cute.
I went back. (laughs)
I got back, I did a bit of Instagram stalking.
- I did the same on you though.
- Yeah.
- You gotta admit it, we all Instagram stalk.
- It happens because you're like, what do I have in common
with this person, what can I talk to them about.
- You gotta know.
- Yeah, that's how it works.
- I hated everybody.
(laughs) - fair.
- Still do.
There was chemistry already there between all of us I think.
- You know everybody's just so talented.
Like our first table read I was like immediately blown away
but also like when we were all auditioning together
- Mmhmm. - Like I just remember
like the first time that I met Gavin
and did the Moody and Pearl scene with you.
I was just like, this kid is amazing.
I'm an only child so these people are like my siblings now.
- I want to just return the compliment.
Everyone was incredibly talented.
I think we lucked out.
(upbeat music)
- I will say that Reese and I met at a workshopping meeting
reading of a script.
- Oh yeah.
- At Leonardo DiCaprio's house.
- That's right.
- Just a little name drop.
And it was for a movie that eventually went
but neither of us was in it.
- No.
Neither was Leo.
- That's true.
(laughs)
- You know what, one thing that is public that came out
last year I auditioned so hard for Clueless.
And I didn't get it.
- Really?
- I auditioned so hard for it.
- I did too.
- Did you?
- I did.
That would have been a different, we should do like.
- We could do like a whole.
- Like a remake like, yes.
- Recreate a scene from Clueless.
- Yes with us.
- That would be so fun.
I know I was in a airport once
and I met this comedian Yakov Smirnoff.
(laughs) And I was like,
oh my god, this guy is so famous I can't believe
he's on the same plane as me.
- When I was a kid, I was like toddler age,
I want to say maybe around three,
my parents brought me, my very cool parents
brought me to a Peaches and Herb concert.
- Whoa.
- And as they were walking down the aisle singing,
they like touched my hand,
'cause I was a baby in the audience,
it was my first brush with greatness.
- Oh I love it.
- Everyone on set.
That was the first time I've ever met anybody
who's famous like, Reese and Kerry and all of them.
I was like, oh my god.
- Yeah.
- This is so cool.
I'd never met anybody.
- Meeting Reese was so cool.
- Oh my gosh, it was so cool.
- I think the first celebrity I ever met
was actually the voice of Bart Simpson.
(gasps)
Nancy Cartwright.
She introduced herself in the Bart Simpson voice
and I was like, (gasps) what, this is incredible.
And it made like my six year old creams come true.
- Oh that is adorable.
- I think the first celebrity I ever met
would have been all three of the Jonas Brothers
it would have started with Nick, because I won a contest
because I was diabetic and I had a non profit organization
that I was trying to save the oceans when I was little
and that's actually something I want to get back to
and he sort of inspired me because, I was diabetic,
it was when I was newly diagnosed,
and he sort of inspired me for living well with diabetes
and I think he was actually part of the inspiration
that I started acting, so yeah,
it was a pretty impressionable first celebrity meeting.
- I worked on a feature film that was like direct to DVD
when I was like 14 and Tom Arnold
like played the villain in it and I met him
and I was just like, wow, it's Tom Arnold
and I remember he was only there for one day
and he just came in and he was super professional
super nice and then he was gone,
never saw this guy ever again.
He was in and out, hi I'm Tom, nice to meet you, just dips.
- Probably Meagan Good, I remember
it was like my first time in LA and I was
about like nine years old and my mom and I,
we were at a Roscoe's, at the time, what was it,
Jumping The Broom was like my favorite movie
to watch on TV so I was so excited to meet her
and actually flash forward to summer of 2018,
I actually just played her daughter in an indie film
so it's crazy how like it all came full circle,
I was so excited to meet her.
(upbeat music)
- You know I just remember it was such a big deal
to be talking so openly about the inner lives of women
and their friendships but also about domestic violence
and portraying that in a real raw, emotional way
that it was, Nicole Kidman's performance is incredible.
- Brilliant.
- So there was a lot of emotional response to that
but also enjoying Laura Dern's comedic talents.
- Yes, yes, all of you, the magic of that ensemble.
- It was a really fun group of women.
I don't think we ever expected it to be
as culturally a touchstone people enjoyed it.
So thank you for watching.
- I think that would be my same reaction too,
is just the big thank you, like everybody kept telling us
before Scandal aired what a risk it was
for a black woman to be the lead of a network drama
that it hadn't happened in 40 years.
So there was kind of a sense, or a questioning,
like will people tune in, will people watch?
So when people did show up, we were just so grateful
we were so happy that people were willing to show up
for our heroes to look like more than just one thing.
- Something along the lines of, (gasps)
there was so much juice and mystery to it.
- Yeah like when I first read the book I was like,
wow this is very interesting, and I was kind of like,
oh cool, I wonder what they're gonna do with the script
and then I read the script and I was like, wow.
- Pun intended, it was very firey.
- The book was really emotional for me,
it really explored motherhood in a way
that I hadn't had some of those descriptions in it
and also this idea that sometimes other women mother you.
I've had many different women in my life
who have become mothers to me
and helped me through times that my own mother
didn't have experience with or wasn't there
standing next to me.
I really identified with that part of it.
- It was just a very profound experience
'cause I do think that we tend to think of mothers
in very binary terms, there's good mothers
and bad mothers, you know and not to really dive
into the beautiful complexity
of what it means to be a mother, the unique challenges
and rewards, we had a beautiful room of writers
who worked so fantastically together
but we were really weighing in on scripts
and helping those scripts evolve and giving the writers room
to be as brilliant as they were.
- And we got to be sort of 90s consultants
because we were teenagers in the 90s.
- Yeah.
- We were like, that's not a thing but Slimfast was.
(laughs)
And we both were rollerblading.
- Rollerblades for sure.
- Mmhmm.
- I read it through the audition process
and I really really liked the book and yeah,
I was just super excited to bring the character to life
that no one had ever brought to life before.
- My first time reading the book was actually also
during the audition process.
Couldn't put it down and that was the same thing
with the script, you know as soon as I got
all eight scripts at once and I just like binge
read all the scripts.
- I read the book after because I wanted to,
'cause I knew there were some discrepancies
and then I read the book after and I was just like,
wow, they're both amazing.
(laughs) - oh, I know,
I was on Jeopardy.
Was I on Jeopardy, no I,
- You were a question on Jeopardy?
- No I was a, no, I was on Wheel of Fortune.
- You were.
- They said my whole, even the Witherspoon,
the hard long part was on it.
- The answer was Reese Witherspoon?
- Yeah I was like, okay, this is it.
- I have arrived.
- Yeah.
- Wow.
- Also you know like the very first time I was on TV guide.
- Yeah, oh yeah.
- Member how important it was.
- Huge.
- My grandma called me and she was like,
your in TV Guide.
- The first time I realized I was famous
I was walking on the street in New York, in Chelsea,
I was on 23rd Street and somebody said,
Kerry, and I was like hi and I gave them a hug
and then I stepped back and I was like trying to place them
and they were like, I loved you in Save the Last Dance
and I was like, oh my god I just gave a hug
to a complete stranger.
(laughs)
I don't know this person at all.
I was like I should probably have different boundaries now.
- But you didn't.
- No. - no you still hug strangers.
- I still hug strangers.
(laughs)
- Legally Blonde.
- The first one I saw was Man on The Moon, I think.
- (gasps) oh, yeah, that was her first film, yeah.
- Dude, that movie was amazing.
- That movie made me cry my eyes out.
- And then I watched Legally Blonde
and I was like, oh I like her.
- Yeah.
- [Producer] Did you ever quote Legally Blonde
to her on the set at all?
- Well I tried to make it really non chalant.
I don't remember what it was but I said like,
well yeah, like it's hard.
But I'm pretty sure she noticed and was like,
you're doing Legally Blonde right now.
- I think it would have been Legally Blonde,
it was a good first impression of Reese.
- I was obsessed with Legally Blonde.
I just love Reese Witherspoon, she is an incredible person.
And she's even more incredible as Elle Woods.
- Probably have been Walk the Line
'cause I'm a big Joaquin fan, like she did so good.
It was dope. - mmhmm.
- Oh, this is a good question because I do think
women need to talk about money more often
and our successes, not just our devastations.
Well first of all, the first time I was able
to afford a rental house that had air conditioning
was such a huge moment. - Huge deal.
- Because LA was really hot and I couldn't
and I'd lived in a lot of little places
that had no air condition, and I was just sweating y'all.
- It's a huge deal.
- And then the first time I ever bought a house.
And that was a huge moment in my life
and I feel really proud of that accomplishment.
- When I did Save the Last Dance they were still giving
per diem in cash. - Mmhmm.
- I was living in Chicago it was my first studio film
and they handed me an envelope full of cash
where I come from, when somebody hands you an envelope
full of cash you're doing something illegal.
So I was like, what is this?
And they explained it to me and I proceeded
to hide that weekly cash under my mattress
and at the end of Save The Last Dance
I bought my first laptop because I'd saved my per diem
throughout the film.
- That's so cool.
- And I was like, I have to remember to do this,
I have to remember to keep paying myself first.
- Right.
- Lots of tears, (laughs)
I got the call and I think you said this happened
to you too where my team was like,
so we have some news for you.
- Yeah, we're really sorry Megan
but you booked Little Fires and I literally
I started crying when they were like
we have bad news for you and I started crying
I was like, okay, I didn't get this,
this is like my dream job and then they told me I got it
and I started screaming, it was the best moment
of all time.
- I love it.
(laughs) me too, me too.
- I was screaming, and crying, I was jumping up and down,
I'm sure my neighbors were probably like,
super annoyed with me but it's fine,
it was a fantastic moment. - 911.
- And now we're here.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- I had a friend over when I first found out
and I was crazy excited and she celebrated with me
and it was good, it was a really good moment,
I was very very excited.
- I cried, I burst into tears ran upstairs,
to my Pops and I just like was like, I got it,
and he was like, oh my god you got it,
I was like yeah and I just like started crying
and I was so so excited, like I can't even describe
the feeling it was incredible.
(soft music)
- The first premier of a movie I was in was called
The Man in The Moon and I was 14 years old
and I went down to La Brea to a vintage store
and I bought myself a little vintage dress
and then I wore my cowboy boots with it
because I thought that was cute.
I thought it was really cool that Arnold Schwarzenegger
came to the premier.
I have no idea still to this day, why.
- Why? - Why?
- I used to go to Cannes often 'cause I worked
with a company that has a big presence there.
And I had previously been at a photo shoot
for people magazine where I had worn a dress
by a little known designer named Jason Wu
and I loved the dress and I asked him
if he could make it for me in green
and so I was the first person
to wear Jason Wu internationally, on an international carpet
and I wore this gorgeous green gown that he made
for me in Cannes and I'll never forget it because it was
the beginning of our friendship and of course
his meteoric rise to fame.
- You wear clothes so beautifully.
- Ah, that's very kind.
- I love watching you on the red carpet.
Isn't she the best on the red carpet?
- I love a dress, I love a moment, a red carpet moment.
- You really go there with style
and it's really fun to watch.
- I try to think of it as like performance art.
- Yeah.
- I think it's these moments to create magic
with a team of other artisans coming together.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- It's really cool.
- Otherwise I wouldn't get through it,
I have to make it something like creative and silly
otherwise I'd be like no.
(laughs)
(upbeat music)