Elle Directed by Reese Witherspoon, Season 2, Murder She Wrote Movie

Film, television and Broadway director Jason Moore knows that what’s old is new again.

The Tony nominee not only directed the first two episodes of the Prime Video “Legally Blonde” prequel series “Elle,” but he is also directing the upcoming feature film adaptation of “Murder, She Wrote,” which stars Jamie Lee Curtis as Jessica Fletcher, the role originated on TV by the late Angela Lansbury.

I recently spoke to Moore from his apartment in New York City, where he has just returned to the United States after directing a West End revival of “Avenue Q.” He earned a Tony nomination for the original Broadway production of the adult-oriented puppet musical in the Early Years for Best Direction of a Musical.

“Elle” stars Reese Witherspoon’s doppelgänger Lexi Minetree in the title role in the years before we first met Elle Woods in the original two “Legally Blonde” films, which began in 2001.

How did ‘Elle’ come about for you?

I had met Reese at a general years and years ago. I had been friends with Marc Platt (producer of ‘Legally Blonde’), so I was always around people who had worked on ‘Legally Blonde’. When they first called, my reaction was, “Oh my god, that movie is like canon to me, I can’t touch that.” That was my honest gut reaction, but then I thought, “Let me read the script.” The script was really good and it was what influenced me. It was very funny and a good way to show how she became the woman she became. And then there was Lexi. She reminds me of Sutton Foster and Lucille Ball. She is so talented and funny. We all knew the series wouldn’t happen without the right actress. Once we found her, we were ready to go.

When I look at Lexi I think, “She’s Reese.”

She is a special actress in her own right, but she also understands the character very well. I hired one of the best Broadway voice coaches for her. She went to her religiously for months. She controlled every intonation, the small breaths. We had a code for which breaths she would take at different times. She really worked it into her body. I directed “The Cher Show” and Stephanie Block won a Tony for playing Cher, so I had a good idea of ​​what you have to do to make the audience think it’s the same character but then make it their own. You don’t want it to be a caricature or an imitation. Lexi really got it. She came to the first day of the set having already memorized all eight episodes. She’s a Tracy Flick type, which works great.

I love all the throwbacks on the show. It’s set in the ’90s, with things like Tab, “Melrose Place”, Heather Locklear, “Sybil” and more being mentioned or seen on the show.

Some people don’t really understand it because they think things that take place in the 90s should look more 90s. My thing was, let’s design it so it’s in the 90s, but let’s shoot it like you would today. It’s Elle’s bedroom, but photographed with today’s aesthetic. We had done some testing where I dropped older lenses in, but it just felt like things you’d seen before. But when you look at it, it’s very ’90s. Plus, today’s fashion is very 90s.

The cast is very diverse. There is a lot more representation in the show than in the movies.

You know, but the film is often pointed to for capturing a certain version of the ’90s, especially sorority culture. I attribute all of that in the show to Laura Kittrell. She is the creator. It was an all-female creative team. I was the only man. I was in heaven. One of the things that surprised me when I was doing the research on “Legally Blonde” is how different the socioeconomic and racial profile was of people who admired Elle Woods. In some ways you would think she’s a privileged white girl, but the number of black women who said, “Elle Woods is my hero.”

We need to talk about the clothes.

They lean into the clothes even more in Season 2. They’re great in Season 1, but they get really bold in Season 2. The client from the original film did it, so we had access to all these archival pieces. For season 1, most of it was built to look archival. Season 2 is completely archival.

Was Reese on set a lot?

She came twice during my block. She came early too. We did a table read with everyone so they could meet her and break the ice and get the nerves out a little bit. Then she was there when we filmed the scene where Elle gets punched in the face and Miles (Jacob Moskovitz) takes her to the hospital. It was actually our biggest day. There were 200 extras. It was busy and everyone was sweaty. It was great because Reese was just part of the group. There was no place to really separate her from everyone. The cast became easy with her very quickly, and she is very generous. She is artistically generous.

What was it like seeing Lexi and Reese next to each other for the first time?

We’ve all now seen the video of when Lexi found out she got the part. They have always been aware of how much they look alike and are the same height. I had to text Reese before she came to tell her how high Lexi’s heels were so she would wear the same ones. But that’s also why Reese didn’t come for a few weeks. We thought it was important that Lexi felt like she had ownership.

Let’s talk about ‘Murder, She Wrote’. Do you use the same theme song?

We’ll find a way to use that theme song. People might be surprised how it is used.

Will the new ‘Murder, She Wrote’ be a hard-hitting crime drama or more of the lighter ‘who done it’ feel of the TV show?

‘Murder, She Wrote’ was inspired by Agatha Christie. I would say in some ways it leans more towards a classic Agatha Christie story. You’ll never see the killer coming. It has some comedic elements because Jamie is capable of that, but it’s a real murder mystery. It’s definitely true to the core of ‘Murder, She Wrote’, but in some ways it’s just a jumping off point for a great murder mystery with a great female detective.

Are we to assume that the typewriter is gone and Jessica Fletcher is writing on a laptop?

The typewriter is part of the story – the typewriter versus the computer, because it is set in modern times. In the show they went from a manual to an electric typewriter. But the typewriter is in the murder mystery.

Will there be an Angela Lansbury callback in the film?

Naturally. I did this with “Shrek: The Musical” and I did it with “Legally Blonde.” You always try to ask what people hope to see. Most people don’t know ‘Murder, She Wrote’. They remember watching it mostly with their grandmother. So the callbacks will mainly be Easter Eggs that the hardcore fans will get.

Season 1 of ‘Elle’ is available to stream on Prime Video.

This Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.