Film, television and Broadway director Jason Moore knows 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 helming 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 caught up with Moore recently from his New York City apartment, where he’s just returned to the States after directing a revival of “Avenue Q” in the West End. He earned a Tony nomination on the original Broadway production of the adult-oriented puppet musical in the early aughts for best direction of a musical.
In “Elle,” Reese Witherspoon‘s doppelgänger Lexi Minetree stars in the titular role in the years before we first met Elle Woods in the original two “Legally Blonde” movies, starting in 2001.
How did “Elle” come about for you?
I had met with Reese on a general years and years ago. I had been friends with (“Legally Blonde” producer) Marc Platt, so I had always been 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’m not touching that.” That was my honest gut reaction, but then I was like, “Let me read the script.” The script was really good and it was the thing that swayed me. It was very funny and it was 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’s that level of talent and funny. We all knew that the series wasn’t going to happen without the right actress. Once we found her, we were good to go.
When I look at Lexi, I’m like, “She is Reese.”
She’s a special actress on her own, but she also really understands the character. I hired one of the best Broadway voice coaches for her. She went to her religiously every week for months. She got every intonation, the little breaths. We had a code for which of the breaths she would do 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 kind of had a real sense of what you need to do to make audiences think it’s the same character, but then also make it their own. You don’t want it to be a caricature or an impersonation. Lexi really got it. She came to the first day of 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 takes place in the ’90s with things like Tab, “Melrose Place,” Heather Locklear, “Sybil” and more are mentioned or seen in the show.
Some people don’t really understand because they think that things that take place in the ’90s are supposed to look more ’90s. My thing was let’s design it so that it is in the ’90s, but let’s photograph it like you would today. It’s Elle’s bedroom, but photographed with today’s aesthetics. We had done some tests where I dropped in older lenses, but it just felt like stuff you’d seen before. But if you look at it, it’s very ’90s. Also, the fashion today is very ’90s.
The cast is very diverse. There’s a lot more representation on the show than in the movies.
You know this, but the movie often gets pointed out because it was capturing a certain version of the ’90s, especially the sorority culture. I attribute all of that in the show to Laura Kittrell. She’s the creator. It was an all-female creative team. I was the only male. I was in heaven. One of the things that surprised me when doing the research on “Legally Blonde” is how different the socio-economic and racial profile was of people who admired Elle Woods. In some ways, you’d think, she’s a privileged white girl, but the amount of Black women who were like, “Elle Woods is my hero.”
Lauren Neustadter, Jason Moore, Jacob Moskovitz, Caroline Dries, Reese Witherspoon, Zac Looker, Lexi Minetree, Jessica Belkin, Gabrielle Policano, Laura Kittrell, Chandler Kinney, Tom Everett Scott and June Diane Raphael at Prime Video’s “Elle” New York premiere on June 23 in New York City.
Variety via Getty Images
We have to talk about the clothes.
They really lean into the clothes even more in Season 2. They’re great in Season 1, but they get really bold in Season 2. The costumer of the original movie 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 all archival.
Was Reese on set a lot?
She came twice during my block. She came early on, too. We did a table read with everybody, so they got to meet her and break the ice and kind of get the nerves out with her. Then she was there when we filmed the scene where Elle gets knocked in the face and Miles (Jacob Moskovitz) takes her to the hospital. It was actually our biggest day. There were 200 extras. It was crowded 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 got very quickly easy with her, and she’s very generous. She’s very artistically generous.
What was it like seeing Lexi and Reese next to each other for the first time?
We’ve all seen the video now of when Lexi learned she got the role. They’ve always been aware of how much they look alike and they’re 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. But that’s also why Reese didn’t come for a few weeks. We felt it was important for Lexi to feel she had ownership.
Let’s talk about “Murder, She Wrote.” Are you using the same theme song?
We will find a way to use that theme song. It might surprise people how it is used.
Will the new “Murder, She Wrote” be a hard 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 into a classic Agatha Christie twisty-turny story. You’re never going to see the killer coming. It has some comedy elements because Jamie’s able to do that, but it’s a proper 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.
Should we assume 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 does take place in modern day. In the show, they did move from a manual to an electric typewriter. But the typewriter is in the murder mystery.
Will there be an Angela Lansbury callback in the movie?
Of course. I did this with “Shrek: The Musical” and I did it with “Legally Blonde.” You always try and ask what do people hope to see. Most people don’t know “Murder, She Wrote.” They remember mostly watching it with their grandmother. So the callbacks will be mostly Easter Eggs that the hardcore fans will get.
“Elle” Season 1 is available to stream on Prime Video.
This Q&A was edited for length and clarity.
