Stars Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara share an intimate embrace and even a kiss in their new comedy, "Hot Pursuit," but ultimately, the actresses hope their make-out is not what audiences focus on. Instead, they want their movie to remembered as a badass female-driven comedy.
"It's liberating because it's not all about our characters' romantic lives or that we're chasing men -- it's that we're running for our lives and we have to figure out a way to get along so that we survive," Witherspoon told PrideSource's Chris Azzopardi. The Oscar-winning actress plays a by-the-books police officer assigned to protect a drug boss's sexy wife (Vergara), who will serve as a key witness in a criminal trial. "Anything where two women are relating to each other -- and we're the leads of the movie, and it's directed by a woman -- it's kind of a new thing."
Added Vergara: "I think the thing with movies is to entertain everybody. You don't have to be anything special to enjoy the entertainment of what we're doing. We're doing it for everybody."
The much-ballyhooed kiss comes at a point in the film when Witherspoon and Vergara pose as a lesbian couple to avoid what Azzopardi describes as "a potentially sketchy situation."
The stars hope audiences enjoy the scene simply for its comedic aspects and don't assume it's giving a larger message.
"I think gay people are able to play straight roles; straight people are able to play gay roles," said Witherspoon, who pointed to the gay following she's enjoyed since the days of "Legally Blonde" and "Cruel Intentions."
Witherspoon shared a girl-on-girl smooch with Brittany Murphy in 1996's "Freeway," but "Hot Pursuit" allows her an opportunity to wear drag for a persona she describes as "Jose Bieber," or the Latin version of Justin Bieber.
"If people don't understand that we need to be malleable in our sexuality, then I think they need to lighten up," she added. "It doesn't matter where you're from, what your sexual orientation is, what you do for a living, what your ethnicity is -- women are women, and we all have a lot in common."
Head here to check out the full PrideSource interview with Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara.
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