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“A fellow blonde! I love it,” a bubbly Lexi Minetree exclaims as she logs on to our Zoom call. I let her in on a secret: Mine isn’t natural. “Neither is mine,” she tells me. Here we are, a couple of natural brunettes bonding over the high-maintenance upkeep of golden tresses. Fortunately for Minetree, though, she has a team of pros on hand to keep her buttery-blonde blowout looking fresh at all times. It’s one of the many perks of playing the iconic Elle Woods in Amazon Prime Video’s Legally Blonde prequel series, Elle.
Minetree looks strikingly similar to Reese Witherspoon’s Elle Woods—the aforementioned blonde locks, a heart-shaped face, crystal-blue eyes, and a petite frame. But that’s half the battle when bringing such a beloved and internationally recognized character to life. There’s also Elle’s high-pitched inflection, enthusiastic mannerisms, and unapologetic confidence, which I can confirm Minetree executes effortlessly across the show’s first eight episodes. (Season 2 has already been shot.) It’s easy to see why the 25-year-old actress was a standout among thousands of submissions.
In Elle, we meet our titular character in 1995, long before she defied the odds at Harvard Law School, navigating the highs and lows of a much higher-stakes institution—high school. When her family is forced to uproot from their sunny Bel Air life to gloomy, grunge-inspired Seattle, Elle finds herself (fully clad in pink) as a fish out of water. But Elle Woods never backs down from a problem. With a young Bruiser by her side, the teen will overcome any obstacle, all while trying to land her dream internship at Cosmopolitan magazine.
What, like it’s hard?
First things first, your Elle Woods blonde is perfect. What was the process of getting to this shade?
I actually went blonde before the open call was even announced. A lot of people think I went blonde after I booked it. It was more of a very random kismet thing that occurred because I’m the kind of girl who will be like, “I want to cut my bangs,” and then I do it the next day because I have no willpower and then regret it immediately. I had just graduated college, and I was like, “I’m entering a new era of my life.” I want a big change because I naturally have brown hair, and I’m a college student. The money that I have is questionable, so I kept going to salon schools to do my hair. You pay $30, and they’ll do your hair. They do a wonderful job, but to be fair, they’re students, and you have multiple people doing your hair. So my hair was a mosaic of different artists. When you looked closely, it was not a pretty sight.
When I booked the role, the hairstylist was like, “Oh dear God, what have you done to your head?!” They called in a bunch of different pros to help adjust my hair to make it look good.
I know Reese Witherspoon has talked about the color being quite specific.
They call it a buttery blonde. Nowadays, ashy blonde is in, and if you rewatch the movie, her hair has warmer tones underneath versus ashy blonde, [which] has more silver tones. So they really want to keep that warmth in there. They are truly masters of their craft. People even think that I’m a natural blonde. I tell them that I’m brunette, and they’re like, “Really?!” My roots will be showing and everything. That’s when you know you nailed it.
Let’s take it back to the beginning. Your audition tape was pretty special. How did that come together?
I think it was first announced that they were doing an open call at the end of September, early October, and … when it first came out, five of my friends immediately texted me and were like, “You have to audition for this. You look just like her.” And I was like, “I’m, of course, gonna audition, but everyone and their mother is going to be going for this.” But … if you’re gonna do something, don’t half-ass it. Go all the way. They asked for a self-tape and a slate, which is your name, your height, where you’re based, and 30 seconds on why you would be a good Elle Woods. I remember having this light-bulb moment, like when Elle Woods gets her light-bulb moments. I was like, “I know what I have to do. I have to re-create her Harvard admission video.” They’re not actually wanting to know why I would be a good Elle Woods. They’re wanting to find someone who can embody Elle Woods. And what’s more Elle than being so extra that you make your slate the craziest thing of all time, like a whole production? I was home at the time filming something else, and I literally wrote the script. I filmed it and edited it myself. I put music over it. I spent hours on it. I remember thinking, “Oh gosh, casting will probably never see this, but if they do, I think they’re going to like it.” And I think they did.
Legally Blonde came out the year you were born. What’s your earliest memory of the film?
Oh gosh, it feels like one of those movies that I always kind of knew as a kid. What’s great about Legally Blonde in particular is that I feel like you can watch it at any age. You can show this to a younger kid, and for the most part, any of the mature jokes will go over their head. Or an adult can watch it and really enjoy it. I think I watched it at a very young age, and it’s just one of those movies that has so much rewatchability, which I think is why, 25 years later, people are still quoting Elle Woods and talking about Elle Woods and are going to law school because of Elle Woods, which is crazy to think about. She’s such a relatable character, especially to women who are often shamed and looked down upon or trivialized by society. In fact, that ends up being her superpower. As women, we have to remind ourselves that no matter what people are saying, we are far more capable than people give us credit for.
I loved the video of Witherspoon breaking the news to you that you got the part. What advice did she give you ahead of filming?
Oh my gosh, so much. It’s crazy because she gave me her number, and we’ll send each other voice memos. That’s a sentence I never thought I would ever say. But she’s been so encouraging. … One thing that’s really special about this project to me is how involved she is in it. I know Legally Blonde is so important to people, and they’re very precious with it, and they don’t want anyone to mess it up in the legacy. But I think, particularly because she is so involved, people are going to be so happy with where we have taken Elle Woods. It’s very much a collaboration, and everything we do is to honor this character. Reese herself sent me many clips from the movie, and we talked about things that she loves about Elle. For example, she sent me the clip when Warner asked Elle to get back together, and Elle shut him down in a very kind way. Reese was saying, no matter how cruel the person was to her, she’s never a bully. She always takes the high road, but she sets a boundary. I think that’s important because you don’t want to teach people to be a doormat and let people do bad things to you. But you also don’t need to sink down to their level. That’s one thing that really stuck out that she pointed out to me.
One of the first things that stood out to me watching the show was how you really nailed her voice. Did you spend a lot of time perfecting that?
I feel like her voice in particular, even over her movement (which I did work on a lot), was the thing that I really wanted to nail the most and really focus on because it’s such a specific cadence. It’s really easy to go into a stereotype of a Valley girl accent or something, which I didn’t want to do because she doesn’t have that. I watched the movie a lot, and I noticed that when she asks questions, she has this thing in her mouth where she makes this little tisk sound. When she’s excited, she goes really high. I love voice-over, and I love doing accents and dialects, so it was really exciting for me and very fun to get into it and discover it, especially with dialogue that hasn’t been said before by this character. I didn’t have a reference for young Elle Woods.
When I was in high school, my voice was a little bit higher, so I thought maybe she has a little bit of a higher-pitched voice because she’s in high school. Our voices do change from when we were younger to older. And then there are certain things like her cry that’s so iconic that I was like, “I simply have to do this.” My voice can tend to go a little bit lower than Elle’s, so every morning, I’d do a vocal and body warm-up before set. Sometimes, I’m called at 4 a.m., and the voice is not there yet. It’s doing scary things. I sound like Gollum, so I’d make sure I do all these different vocal warm-ups so that I can be able to reach that right lifted place.
Elle Woods is such a cultural figure to so many. What else was important to you to get right in terms of the interpretation?
There are two big things. One is Elle’s earnestness. She approaches the world with such openness and brightness and joy. And I’m gonna be honest. She says some diabolical things that if anyone else were to say it, they’d give them the biggest side-eye of all time. But she means it with such good intentions, and she means it with all love that you can’t really be mad at her. I love that she sees the bright side of everything, and I wanted to do that.
The other thing I really wanted to emphasize is to not judge her as an actor and play her stupid because I think that the whole point of this character is that people think, because she is optimistic and bright, that she’s not intelligent. And that’s not the case at all. She’s very capable and very smart, and both those things can exist simultaneously. The thing that Reese did—and, again, why this character is so iconic—is that when you see her play this character, she doesn’t judge her character. She doesn’t play her stupid. I wanted to bring that same energy. Of course, she’s in high school, so there might be a little bit more of a naïveness or maybe a little bit less self-assuredness than you’d see in the movie because when I was in high school, I was not nearly as confident.
The show is set in the ’90s, which lends itself to a lot of nostalgia. How was it stepping into that world?
First of all, a car phone—can we bring that back? We are thoroughly lacking. I love how tactile everything was. It’s funny. A lot of Gen Z are going back to a nostalgic era that we never even had ourselves. There’s something about having the physical thing in your hand and putting the CD in the CD player. It’s rewarding and slows you down a bit. The phones, I’m obsessed with the phones because there are so many different variations. Long antennae that you pull out. There are the ones that have the cords. I’m learning so much from my costars who lived through the ’90s. It was a whole other world then, and I think that it’s a world that forces people to confront the place they are at because they didn’t have the crutch of ultimate connection that we have now with the internet and with FaceTime and calling.
Can you take me inside the wardrobe fittings for Elle? It feels like a fashion-person fantasy situation.
Oh my gosh, it is a world of beautiful, beautiful pink. I have worn nicer clothes in the past two years than I have ever before in my life. I’m a thrift girl. I thrift most of my clothes. So to be able to wear all these designer clothes and couture, it’s mind-boggling. It’s really been fun to dive into this world of fashion because the fashion in the movie is so important. You get to see Reese’s style evolve and adapt to where she is in the movie. I think it’s going to really surprise the audience in the best way to see how Elle’s style evolves because she comes into Seattle from Bel Air, and it’s very obvious. She sticks out like a sore thumb. She doesn’t wear any jackets. She wears skirts and dresses, much to my chagrin. I was freezing cold. But it’s fun because you get to see her fashion start to evolve as she adapts to Seattle’s little isms and things involved. She still stays true to herself, but as the season progresses, she takes inspiration from them.
Did you have a favorite look of Elle’s from this season?
Oh goodness, there are so many. There was this one dress that I wore in episode 8, the last episode. It was this Vivienne Westwood dress. I felt like a pretty, pretty princess in it. I had this gorgeous updo. I think that might be one of my favorites just because I felt beautiful in it.
How do you feel about the color pink personally?
I love the color pink. I love a baby pink, like a soft pink. Do I think I can wear it as much now? Probably not. My favorite color is green. Green is great, but pink is also lovely. I love pink, and I’m surprisingly not sick of it yet.
We have to talk about your beloved costar Bruiser Woods. You recently said he is your spirit animal.
He’s a little baby. He’s adorable. I’m obsessed with him and his matching outfits. I don’t think you will ever see him naked. We won’t let that happen. He’ll always be wearing something. He is a baby Chihuahua. As you can imagine, there are some moments where he’d be a little feisty. But he gets lots of treats, and we take very good care of him. He’s our little star.
The cast is all over your Instagram, and it seems like you all have grown so close. How was that dynamic on set, meeting these folks and building that friendship both on-screen and off?
It’s kind of scary how well we get along. We like each other so much. It’s the dream. It’s always great when you get along because you’re spending ungodly hours together, sometimes up to 15 hours a day. You really have to be like family if you’re going to be spending that much time together. Honestly, being on set, it feels like summer camp in a way. And it’s really great because you have some of your closest friends so close by. We’re all a bunch of theater nerds, so it’s great. We started a play-reading club together where, every Sunday night, someone would pick a play, and we’d read it together and assign characters. We would just nerd out about how much we love storytelling. Also, it’s always nice to stretch the muscle for other characters and stuff because we’re obviously in this world now, but it’s nice to remember there are so many different stories to tell as well. Last night, we literally were up all night playing hacky sack. I did win. I have to make that clear.
It’s amazing that you guys have found that. You’re already filming season 2, right?
It’s done.
Oh! I know you can’t say anything, but what can you tease at all about what’s to come?
Dare I say, I might like it even better than season 1? It’s crazy because season 1 is so, so good. But season 1, for most shows, you introduce the world, and you introduce the characters. And season 2, if you’re doing it right, you get to really dive in headfirst. I think people are gonna get to see so many more dynamics in season 2. I feel like the tone of our show… We get even wackier and funnier, and I have a blast. I get to do things I never thought I’d get to do. I think that people are really gonna like it, and I’m really glad we’re doing it because so many times with shows, people have to wait so long [for the next season]. Fans can watch peacefully knowing that season 2 is already done.
Stream Elle on Amazon Prime Video on July 1.
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