Reese Witherspoon just shared some ancient footage from 2010 (remember last decade?) that shows her practicing stunts for the circus film Water For Elephants, adapted from a book by the same name. She worked for almost half a year with trainers for her role as Marlena in the movie. Watch her flip and fly through the air in the video above. You’ll see her do gymnastics skills (that opening roundoff back handspring was impressive!), practice trapeze, and build strength with rope climbs and pull-ups.
“Learning all of those flips took five months of daily practice, practice, and MORE PRACTICE,” Witherspoon wrote on Instagram. “When I started, I had no idea how hard it would be (those performers make it look so easy!). But, I threw myself into training with every bit of determination I had.” While she admits she fell down quite a bit, she loved the challenge, and the stunt work pushed her “farther than I had ever gone as an actor.” We’d give her a standing ovation for sure.
