Selma Blair weighs in on rumored LGBT ending to Legally Blonde
Blair, who played Vivian to Reese Witherspoon's Elle, responds to co-star Jessica Cauffiel's memory of an alternate ending to the movie
Aux News Selma Blair
Whether or not the gay ending of Legally Blonde was actually real, Selma Blair has pledged her support for it. The actress, who played Elle’s (Reese Witherspoon) rival Vivian, only just learned about the supposed alternate ending on Evan Ross Katz’s podcast, but the rumor has persisted since the New York Times oral history of the film.
In the piece, Jessica Cauffiel and Alanna Urbach, who played Elle’s sorority besties, both recalled a version of the script that ended with an enemies-to-lovers twist. “The first ending was Elle and Vivian in Hawaii in beach chairs, drinking margaritas and holding hands. The insinuation was either they were best friends or they had gotten together romantically,” Cauffiel claimed. (For the record, screenwriters Karen McCullah and Kirsten Smith have denied writing such an ending.)
When Blair was asked if she was aware of the possibility on Shut Up Evan, she replies, “No, but I love that idea! What fun.” Noting Cauffiel “has a kid at home,” she speculates, “I’m sure she was just, like, having fun with this.”
She adds, “I don’t remember that, maybe it was, but I don’t think so. I’m friends with Karen and Kiwi that wrote it, and it wasn’t–but I would’ve loved that so much. Let’s go with that. I think it’s so much fun.”
She does remember another of the alternates: “There was an ending that Vivian was blonde, and I did–I have that, I have the Polaroids, and I look gorgeous, I looked just like Faye Dunaway…in Bonnie and Clyde. It was gorgeous. The beret was on and the blonde.”
As for the future of Legally Blonde, Blair doesn’t have any insider info on Mindy Kaling’s script for the upcoming third film: “I’m hoping that I at least get to make a cameo, that I’m there,” she says. “I’m hoping, hoping that that legacy can continue, because that was–talk about the good things in life. That movie is one of the good things in life. It’s a highlight. Like, I really feel like, ‘Yeah, my obit’s gonna look OK.’”
18 Comments
I somehow read all the way to the last paragraph thinking this was about Cruel Intentions, a movie I have seen, and not Legally Blonde, a movie I have not seen. I guess LGBT and Selma Blair was all I read of the headline.
Legally Blonde deserves to go on your movie list this summer. It’s a camp classic.
Surprising it is also accurate on the legal side of things. Much like My Cousin Vinny.
The Legal Eagle analysis keeps popping up in my “suggested” list on YouTube and now I’ll check it out – the videos about films that are relatively accurate (with MCV IIRC being the most accurate that he’s analyzed) are my favorites.
Legal Eagles with Redford and Winger?
It’s legit terrible. Tough watch these days.
I bet that’s still more than many of us read.
It’s no A Dirty Shame.
“(For the record, screenwriters Karen McCullah and Kirsten Smith have denied writing such an ending.)“Maybe I’m misunderstanding something but shouldn’t this nip any theory about another ending in the bud? Like I understand shipping and wanting things to go down differently but can you really say this is some secret alternate ending when the writers come out and say “no we actually never had this happen”. Like, I would’ve liked it if Tony Stark didn’t die in Avengers Endgame but I’m not gonna go around saying there’s another version of the movie and the actors how they feel about it.
Welcome to Pop Culture in the Year 2022, where shipping and fan fiction of officially overrules the intentions of the original creators of a work because a group of random people on the internet or a podcast say so.
I mean, your overall point isn’t wrong, but it was two actors from the film who brought it up, not some rando. That doesn’t make it any more true, of course, and the actual writers poo-pooing it should be the end of it, but at least the source makes it more worthy of discussion than it would be had it come from some random Legally Blonde shipper from AO3.
I reject your Schindlers List ending , and substitute my own , which features time travelling golem and transforming robots!
“Death of the author” was a metaphor.Unfortunately, the left-brained, literal-minded nerds who don’t understand metaphors took it exactly as read and unfortunately the internet’s given them a platform, when previously they’d been confined to their parents’ basements and the odd annual convention.
Even if the screenwriters didn’t write it, that doesn’t mean that someone along in the process didn’t bring it up. The filmmaking process is at best, collaborative, and at worst, has too many cooks. But it’s entirely possible that an out there idea (for the times) was floated but never even written into the script and a legend took hold.
But, but, but then AV Club wouldn’t get clicks for this non-”story”.
I think a lot of people have embraced ‘ I reject your reality and substitute my own’ as an actual lifestyle choice rather than just a funny bumper stickerSo now ‘your weird Internet slashfiction” = word of god ending from the creators.
Any word on the ending where she hauls ass to Lollapalooza?