From her trademark blond curls to her perpetually optimistic persona and steadfast love of pink, Elle Woods was\u2014and still is\u2014an icon to many of us today. A replica of Reese Witherspoon\u2019s character with her bouncy blonde hair and blue eyes, Minetree was the perfect actress for the role. \u201cMy whole life, everyone told me I looked like Reese Witherspoon,\u201d she said. \u201cRandom people on the street would come up to me, unprompted and say, \u2018You know who you look like? Reese Witherspoon\u2019\u201d. So, naturally, there was no reason she wouldn\u2019t audition for the role.<\/p>\n\n
Stepping into the shoes of an iconic character as beloved as Elle Woods would be daunting for anyone. But, Minetree stole the show with her grace, wit and determination. \u201cAs a human being\u2014when you care about something\u2014you put a lot of time into it. You never know how it\u2019s going to play out, and you always hope for the best outcome,\u201d she said. \u201cReese laid out such an incredible blueprint for me to look at. The fact that the movie came out in 2001 and it\u2019s still so iconic is a testament to that.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Lexi](\"https:\/\/itpbaz.kinsta.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Lexi_Minetree_15170-1-1-768x1024-1.jpg\")
<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nIn conversation with Lexi Minetree:<\/h2>\n\nCan you walk us through the audition process?<\/h2>\n\n
They asked for a self-tape of some scenes from the film and for a slate\u2014your name, height, where you\u2019re based and in 30 seconds and why\u2019d you be good Elle Woods. I remembered after seeing that, I knew exactly what I had to do. I had to recreate her iconic Harvard admissions video, the one where she\u2019s in the sparkly pink bikini and in the hot tub. I made a whole script, edited the video and put music over it. It took me, god knows how long, but I think casting might have liked it.<\/p>\n\n
What were your emotions like when you landed the role?<\/h2>\n\n
I was in shock and awe, and I was really proud. I put so much heart and soul into this character, and to hear it from Reese herself that I got it was such a life-changing moment\u2014the biggest one of my entire life. I\u2019m honoured I get to play such an incredible character that I think is such a wonderful role model for young women. I hope that the next generation of girls gets to see this and gets inspired by her as so many already are.<\/p>\n\n
Elle Woods is such an iconic character. How did you approach honouring that legacy while making the role your own?<\/h2>\n\n
Since this is the prequel, I wanted to make sure that we get to see someone who\u2019s in high school and who\u2019s figuring things out. When I was in high school, I was a mess, and I still probably am. But, I wanted to bring that kind of earnestness to Elle and the kind of girl who\u2019s still navigating new waters and maybe sometimes failing, but failing so kindly. And I wanted to also add my own touch of Lexi to the character and my own silliness.<\/p>\n
![\"Lexi](\"https:\/\/itpbaz.kinsta.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/72-Lexi_Minetree_15100-1-768x1024-1.jpg\")
<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nHow did you prepare for the role? Was there any particular thing you did that helped shape the character even more?<\/h2>\n\n
[Laughing] I watched the movie an ungodly number of times. At one point, I think I could have done a one-woman show of it. But, when I was approaching this character\u2014like every character that I do\u2014you kind of have to find your own way in. For me, I knew her mannerisms and voice were important. So, I worked very hard on the voice work. Every morning before I go into the scenes, I do a vocal and body warmup to make sure my voice is ready to go because she has a higher register, and she kind of has this melodic quality to her voice.<\/p>\n\n
There were a couple of parallel scenes in the show that people have developed a connection with from the film. Was there any pressure for you to recreate those scenes?<\/h2>\n\n
The Legally Blonde<\/i> fans are going to be very happy with all the little fun Easter eggs we have hidden\u2014an homage to the movie. I wouldn\u2019t say I felt pressure necessarily, because I had such an incredible support system around me, like Reese and Lauren, who is the head of Hell Sunshine and the showrunners, who are both women. So I felt very supported. Honestly, it was really fun. You see yourself rise to the challenge and do things you didn\u2019t think you were capable of, like hitting a note that could break glass.<\/p>\n It was the outfits where Bruiser and I had matching ones. They were so cute,<\/p>\n\n It makes me feel like this [screaming and smiling] No, I\u2019m thrilled. I mean, when I\u2019m on set, I feel like I\u2019m at summer camp and I get to go back to summer camp again with my favourite people on the planet. I love the cast and the crew so much, and truly, they make it all worth it. I love this story. I love the script. I love this character, and I\u2019m so grateful that we get to go do this again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In conversation with Lexi Minetree, we caught up with her for a candid conversation about her role as Elle Woods in Prime Video’s “Elle”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3263,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","bz_kicker":"Voices","bz_opener":"bleed","bz_photographer":"","bz_hero_caption":"","bz_hero_credit":"","bz_hero_clip":0,"bz_inset":0,"bz_tile_image":0,"bz_clip":0,"bz_tile_dek":"","bz_reading_time":"","bz_duration":"","bz_feature_small":0,"bz_feature_medium":0,"bz_feature_quote":""},"categories":[4,1334],"tags":[1302],"bz_slot":[],"class_list":["post-3259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-voices","tag-lexi-minetree"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/preview.itp.luxury\/baz-my-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/preview.itp.luxury\/baz-my-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/preview.itp.luxury\/baz-my-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preview.itp.luxury\/baz-my-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preview.itp.luxury\/baz-my-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3259"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/preview.itp.luxury\/baz-my-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3571,"href":"https:\/\/preview.itp.luxury\/baz-my-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3259\/revisions\/3571"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preview.itp.luxury\/baz-my-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/preview.itp.luxury\/baz-my-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preview.itp.luxury\/baz-my-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preview.itp.luxury\/baz-my-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3259"},{"taxonomy":"bz_slot","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/preview.itp.luxury\/baz-my-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bz_slot?post=3259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Lexi](\"https:\/\/itpbaz.kinsta.cloud\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/72-Lexi_Minetree_14667-1-768x1024-1.jpg\")
<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nElle Woods\u2019 wardrobe is synonymous with a very specific aesthetic\u2014pink, polished, unapologetically feminine. Was there a specific outfit or look that you loved wearing?<\/h2>\n\n
So the show is renewed for a second season. How does that make you feel?<\/h2>\n\n