After Reese Witherspoon established herself as an actress, she branched out to numerous other roles, such as being a producer who adapts popular books and starting her own incredibly successful and respected book club. So it’s not exactly a stretch for Witherspoon to play a major book lover in her latest romantic comedy, Netflix’s Your Place Or Mine. However, it was her co-star, Ashton Kutcher, who actually read a ton of books in preparation for the role.
When the co-stars spoke about Your Place Or Mine during the movie’s press conference, which CinemaBlend attended virtually, Ashton Kutcher revealed that he became a bookworm in a big way as a result of signing on to his first romantic comedy in 12 years after almost quitting acting. In Kutcher’s words:
I don't read a lot of fiction, but this character's a novelist, so he's gonna be very well read in fiction. And so, I ended up diving in, Aline sent me I think like 10 books prior to the film. She's like, ‘You need to read all of these’. And every one of the books had note cards in them about what Peter got from this book specifically, like what he got as a writer from this book.
Kutcher is referring to Your Place Or Mine’s writer/director Aline Brosh McKenna, who famously penned beloved movies like The Devil Wears Prada and 27 Dresses. Since the actor’s latest role is someone who deeply loves reading, the filmmaker gave the actor a ton of books to read ahead of the role. When Witherspoon asked Kutcher which book was his favorite, Kutcher continued, saying this:
When Breath Becomes Air, that book was devastatingly wonderful. High Fidelity was very good. I read all of them. I read 10 books. I read every single one of them… I actually fell in love with reading fiction again from this experience. That was kind of fun and refreshing.
The Your Place Or Mine writer/director also gave Reese Witherspoon books to read as well, but the actress had an unexpected response to the assignment. As the actress shared:
Aline also sent me 25 books and I did not read any of them. So I called her and I said, I have three children, I'm running a company, I have a full-time mother job. I'm not reading these books, but they could look really good on the set, and they did.
The books Brosh McKenna gave Witherspoon were vintage. So while they were not read by a certified book lover, they did find a place on the movie’s set. It’s kind of funny that Kutcher, who shared he’s not a big fiction reader, really got into books for the movie, whilst Witherspoon had to make a solid excuse. I mean it’s fair, she clearly has a lot on her plate and is already rather quite well read.
Release Date: February 10, 2023 (Netflix)
Written/Directed By: Aline Brosh McKenna
Starring: Reese Witherspoon, Ashton Kutcher, Jesse Williams, Tig Notaro, Zoe Chao, Steve Zahn, Rachel Bloom and Wesley Kimmel
In the latest friends-to-lovers romantic comedy, Ashton Kutcher and Reese Witherspoon play longtime best friends who live on opposite sides of the United States, NYC and Los Angeles respectively, but keep in touch all the time over video. When Witherspoon’s character, Debbie, gets an opportunity in New York City, but her babysitter bails, Kutcher’s character, Peter, offers to watch her teen son in the City of Angels while she shacks up in his New York apartment for the week.
During Debbie’s New York adventures, she stumbles on a hero of hers in the book publishing industry (played by Jesse Williams), whilst Peter enjoys quality time with her son in Los Angeles. As the two best friends hang around the other’s living space, they begin to realize that perhaps their relationship could be more. Your Place Or Mine can be streamed with a Netflix subscription on Friday, February 10.
