(What, like its hard?)
As the women take their seats on the couch, the movie begins.
Frat boys are drunk on the lawn.
Credit: Jennifer Rocholl for EW
Sorority girls are working out.
And Elle is getting ready for what she hopes is a big night.
KAREN MCCULLAH (co-writer):This is not Reeses hand [brushing her hair].
Jennifer Rocholl for EW
Not her hair, not her hand.SELMA BLAIR (Vivian):And thats not Reeses toes.
Reese has gorgeous toes and hands.
Cut to Elle going shopping with her besties Margot (Jessica Cauffiel) and Serena.
Jennifer Rocholl for EW
And yet, the shopping scene wasnt just about finding the right outfit.
Because that always proves a point.
[Laughs]UBACH:That was the first day we worked.
Jennifer Rocholl for EW
They had to CGI that out.
USC and UCLA were the exteriors.
you have to say Wasabi?
Jennifer Rocholl for EW
Because were the sushi crowd.
It was cut during the test screening because a movie executive said, What does cunnilingus mean?
Elle decides to win Warner back by following him to Harvard Law.
BLAIR:I was very nervous on my first day of shooting.
Then they waxed my forehead.UBACH:What?
!BLAIR:My forehead is very exotic, for lack of a better word.
It looks like a map of Texas upside down.
McCULLAH:We always called this the Luke Wilson role as we were writing it.
Elle struggles to fit into the Harvard social scene, mostly because there isnt one.
BLAIR:[To McCullah] Do you remember what happened while we were shooting that?
I had a votive candle in my trailer.McCULLAH:Did it light on fire?BLAIR:Yeah.
It was because they wanted to verify I switched trailers.
But it didnt burn it down.
Elle eventually finds a friend at a nearby nail salon, Paulette (Jennifer Coolidge).
McCULLAH:[Producer] Marc [Platt] wanted a B plot for Paulette.
At first, we were like, Should the store be robbed?
And then, What if Elle shows her a move so she can get the UPS guy?
[Director] Robert [Luketic] did that.BLAIR:I never understood it.
Jennifer Coolidge was over there shortly after the movie and said everyone was doing it on the dance floor.
And her reasoning Exercise gives you endorphins.
Endorphins make you happy.
Happy people just dont shoot their husbands ended up changing one viewers life.
He said no, he didnt want to go out.
And then after he hung up the phone, he remembered that line: Exercise gives you endorphins.
Endorphins make you happy.
I was weeping [reading that].
What an offhand line to end up being so meaningful to someone.
That blew my mind.
The film ends with a two-year time jump, which sees Elle giving an inspirational speech at her graduation.
But that wasnt always the plan.
McCULLAH:Originally it ended at the courthouse right after the trial.
Everyone was congratulating Elle, and Emmett came up and gave her a big kiss.
[Laughs] The test-screening audience didnt feel like it was an exciting enough ending for her, success-wise.
If you look really closely, youll notice the lightings a little bit different.
And we never thought we made law school look that interesting.
Didnt we make law school look kind of bad?
