Lexi Minetree ‘Blacked Out’ When Reese Witherspoon Gave Her ‘Elle’ News (Exclusive)

“Elle” stars Lexi Minetree, Chandler Kinney, and Gabrielle Policano dish with "Extra's" Mona Kosar Abdi on the new “Legally Blonde” prequel series.

Lexi recalled the day Reese Witherspoon surprised her with the news that she got the role of young Elle Woods.

While Lexi thought she’d be meeting with Hello Sunshine producers for another round of interviews, she was surprised to learn that she’d be meeting with Reese instead!

Minetree admitted, “I was a little bit nervous because I’m a planner. I like to come prepared. To not only not be given a heads up, but I’m about to meet one of arguably one of the most famous actresses ever, it’s a little bit intimidating.”

Lexi called Reese “amazing” and “so sweet,” saying, “We did an acting scene together when we got in the room and that’s when they were filming because they filmed, like, every part of the process.”

When Lexi sat down, Reese told her that she got the part!

Minetree joked of her thought process, “I was like, ‘Reese is so nice. Maybe she just came here to reject me in person ’cause that’s how nice she is.’”

Lexi added, "Luckily, she said that I did get it, and it was absolutely incredible. And she changed my life, so I'm so grateful for it."

Minetree reflected on taking on such an iconic role, sharing, "I do think that this high school version of her, you get to see her be a little bit more confident, maybe a little bit less confident. Because she's so confident in the movie. It's everyone else that's catching up to her. But here in high school, you get to see her, like many high schoolers, have bumpier terrain and learn from her friends about how to be the confident woman that we see in the movie.”

Chandler dished on her character Kimberly, who’s a mean girl but has layers to be peeled back. 

Chandler was “a little nervous” to play the character, who was “a little creative challenge” for her.

She added, “It was harder than I expected… As an actor, you’ve really got to find a place psychologically to justify some of the things that you’re doing.” 

“Lexi Minetree here is the hardest person to be mean,” Chandler quipped. “She just looks at me with those eyes and bats her little eyelashes.”

As for Kimberly, Chandler shared, “She’s fiercely loyal and protective and cares deeply about her people. She just sometimes shows it in a way that I personally won’t condone.”

Gabrielle, who plays Liz, gushed about her character’s friendship with Elle and hers with Lexi in real life!

"Lexi and I are such good friends that it wasn't hard at all for us to find, like, the chemistry or the banter or any of it."

Gabrielle elaborated, “Liz and Elle are very different and also they are both really unabashedly, unapologetically themselves. I think they learn from each other how to do that even more, and I think their friendship is one of the most expected but loveliest things to come out of the show. I think they both impact each other in a really big way.”