Reese Witherspoon has shared that the smash hit sequel Top Gun: Maverick has provided inspiration for the Legally Blonde 3 team, ahead of the film’s release next year.
The actress is set to return to one of her most famous roles to date, playing lawyer Elle Woods, in the third Legally Blonde movie in 2023, twenty years after the film’s two earlier titles released in 2001, and 2003.
Reese, 46, has revealed in a new interview that Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick, released in May, has helped the team of the upcoming Legally Blonde sequel navigate how they are going to construct the hotly-anticipated film.
Paramount’s Top Gun: Maverick met box office-breaking success following its long-awaited release 36 years on from the first film, and passed $650 million domestically and $1.3 billion worldwide this weekend. The Tom Cruise hit received wide critical acclaim and informed Reese just how well sequels can be done.
The actress told USA Today: “I’m still hoping that Legally Blonde 3 is gonna come together in the right way.
"It’s just like Top Gun: They waited a long time to make another version of that movie, and I loved the nostalgia piece they incorporated in it. So definitely that gave us a lot of inspiration about what we would want to do with Elle Woods and make sure that we had all those same touchstones that mattered to people (back) then."
Reese added: "I feel like these characters are my friends, so I safeguard them. I would never make the subpar, mediocre version of their story."
Legally Blonde 3 was originally slated for a 2020 release when it was announced to be going ahead in 2018. Mindy Kaling and Dan Goor were brought on to re-write the screenplay for the film following the announcment, causing the title to be pushed back to a 2023 release.
The first Legally Blonde film generally received critical praise and grossed a total of $141.7 million worldwide. The movie went on to become a pop culture hit and has continued to gain new fans over generations.
Currently, Legally Blonde and Legally Blonde 2: Red, White and Blonde can be streamed on Netflix.
