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Tina Fey inspired Reese Witherspoon to help other women in Hollywood

Talk about great minds thinking alike! Movie star Reese Witherspoon reveals how Tina Fey's memoir encouraged her to help out her fellow women
Reese Witherspoon, Tina Fey

Reese opened up about the struggle to showcase women’s stories in cinema during an interview with Fox News Sunday – just a week after Emma Waton’s passionate ‘HeForShe’ speech on gender equality at the UN headquarters.

In her book Bossypants, Tina talks about how she feels a responsibility to do what she can to “create opportunities for others”, so more women can become producers and other key power players in Hollywood.

By doing so, the hope is that Hollywood will eventually produce more diverse films, where women can play more complex roles.

“And I hope to have that same goal, you know, just to create opportunities for other women to tell their stories, because women aren’t just girlfriends and wives, you know, in movies, to big leading men,” Reese revealed during her interview.

“Those are great roles, but I feel like women are much more complex than that. And I’m excited to be able to help them get their stories to the screen.”

Reese chats with Gone Girl star Rosamund Pike at the film’s premiere. Image: Twitter

When it comes to this issue, Reese isn’t just talking the talk – she’s also walking the walk. Most recently, she co-produced the highly anticipated film Gone Girl, which is based on the novel written by Gillian Flynn.

She’s also earning rave reviews for her turn in Wild, which tells the real life story of Cheryl Strayed – a woman who took on a 1,100 mile solo hike across the Pacific Crest Trail in the US.

Reese isn’t the only actress championing women’s rights in Hollywood. Thelma and Louise star Geena Davis is another outspoken advocate – she founded the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media to help empower young girls and shine a spotlight on gender bias in the media.

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