Legally Blonde – along with many great movies – turned 20 this year, and to celebrate, I rewatched the film, and it’s sequel (we wont talk about the third one), and wrote 20 facts about the cult classic. What, like it’s hard? 😉
1. Legally Blonde was actually inspired by a book, based on the author’s life at Stanford Law School. She even penned the first draft on pink paper!
2. The author of the book, Amanda Brown, named her titular character Elle because she spent most of her time reading Elle Magazine and sending letters home to her family about how she was so different from her classmates.
3. It’s hard to imagine anyone other than Reese Witherspoon playing the icon that is Elle Woods. But, a number of other famous actresses at the time were in the running for this role, including Christina Applegate who turned it down.
4. Witherspoon had given birth to her first child less than a year before shooting began, so she would often bring her daughter on set with her. That little girl is now 22 years old…let that sink in.
5. Elle Woods wore 60 outfits over the course of the film (and they were all fabulous!).
6. Witherspoon kept all of her outfits from the film! She must have a great wardrobe!
7. The original ending of the film saw Elle and Emmett kiss after her successful court case. However, test audiences did not like this ending, as they felt the film was about Elle’s success not about her romance. They wanted to see if Elle Woods would finish law school and go into the profession. Hence, the ending we know now was born.
8. The final scene had to be reshot because of these changes, but Witherspoon was in England filming her next film, ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’. Due to this, the graduation speech was actually filmed in London’s Dulwich College.
9. The rest of the Law School scenes throughout the film were filmed at Stanford and USC, but neither would allow their names to be used in the film.
10. Both Luke Wilson and Reese Witherspoon had wigs on for this final scene as they had changed their hair for their respective new film roles.
11. Witherspoon stayed in sorority houses and spent time in Beverly Hills to learn about life there, and immerse herself in her role. Just like her character, the actress gives 100 percent to all she does.
12. There has been both a Broadway, and a West End, musical version of the famous film.
13. Speaking of musicals, the film almost had it’s own musical number. The infamous Bend And Snap scene was actually a whole musical sequence, but was cut in the end.
14. The Bend And Snap scene was created after the script was complete. One of the writers just came up with it on the spot one night, and the other writers loved it. The rest is history.
15. Elle’s dog – the famous Gemini vegetarian, who was also the focus of the second film – was played by Moonie the dog. Moonie sadly passed away in 2016 at the old age (for a dog) of 18.
16. As mentioned in my intro, there is a third film in the franchise, but it does not feature any of the original main characters. The film is ultimately so lowly-rated, that Legally Blonde fans just don’t acknowledge it’s existence!
17. Many women have said that the film inspired them to go to Law School too.
18. Legally Blonde has also inspired many costume parties, Halloween outfits, and even graduation caps (in America of course), many of which have been acknowledged proudly by Reese Witherspoon herself.
19. Witherspoon has said, many, many times, that this film is dear to her heart, and Elle Woods was one of her favourite characters to play.
20. Apparently a new sequel is in the works, in which the main characters will return, including Queen Elle Woods herself. Witherspoon’s friend, and hilarious writer, Mindy Kaling, will be a co-writer, so it’s bound to be awesome.
Have these facts inspired you to rewatch this fantastic film? Hope so!
Comment your favourite Elle Woods moment below!
With Love, Abi X
Abi's World 
Very nice 🙂
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