It has been 20 years since the hot pink classic, Legally Blonde. The movie starring Reese Witherspoon is very iconic, empowering, and continues to be a staple that everybody goes back to watch two decades later. In the last scene, Elle Woods gives an unforgettable speech to Harvard's graduating class as "Perfect Day" takes us into the credits. Fun fact: the graduation scene was not the original idea for the last moments of the 2001 comedy.
In this article, we will take a look at all of the wild alternate endings Legally Blonde almost had. As Elle Woods once said, bend and snap at all of these surprising alternate endings!
6 Elle And Vivian Become Very Close
In celebration of the movie's 20th anniversary, a bunch of cast members along with the film's writers talked about the creation of the movie with The New York Times. While talking about the ending, actress Jessica Cauffiel, who plays Elle's friend Margot recalled reading that "The first ending was Elle and Vivian in Hawaii in beach chairs, drinking margaritas and holding hands. The insinuation was either they were best friends or they had gotten together romantically."
The screenwriters quickly declared that this statement was totally untrue, however, along with Cauffiel, Alanna Ubach, the last BFF in Elle's trio Serena, also recalled the same scene being worked into the script. Although, one of Legally Blonde's writers Karen McCullah did state that there was going to be a different ending entailing more Elle and Vivian goodness: "We originally cut to a year later, Elle and Vivian were good friends, and Vivian's now blonde. They had started the Blond Legal Defense Club and were handing out fliers in the quad because that was the ending in Amanda's manuscript."
It certainly would have been a shocking ending to the classic film. Selma Blair's Vivian basically stole Elle Wood's boyfriend Warner and they become sworn enemies. So basically, if they used this particular ending, it would have been an amazing enemies-to-lovers storyline straight out of a romance novel.
5 A Musical Number
Jessica Cauffiel shared a second alternate ending that really does seem too good to be true as well. She stated that "The second or third ending was a musical number on the courtroom steps, and as Elle came out, jury and everybody in the courtroom broke into song and dance. I've been waiting for somebody to leak that for 20 years."
This makes a lot of sense since this was the early '00s. It would not be surprising at all if that was in fact the Legally Blonde ending. Especially now as the movie itself was the inspiration for a popular Broadway musical. But, let's dive right into the last alternate ending that led the writers to land on the real ending.
4 Elle And Emmet's Happily Ever After
After McCullah's screenwriting partner on Legally Blonde Meredith Scott Lynn opened up about the ending that almost made it to the final cut before test audiences shot it down, she expressed that "One of the versions ended with Emmett and Elle kissing. We screened the movie two or three times, and every time people didn't want it to end with a kiss. They thought it wasn't a story about Elle getting a boyfriend, which was really cool to have people say that."
Remarkably, people could recognize that this film was a lot more than just some girly rom-com. It is a movie that focuses on Elle Woods' accomplishments at Harvard after being told that she was not good enough to be a lawyer. Also, it discusses how you should believe in yourself rather than trying to make other people happy and be good enough for them.
3 Elle Woods And Emmett Richmond Wearing Wigs?
Filming the new ending would provide a lot of obstacles for the writers of Legally Blonde. "At that point Reese was in England shooting The Importance Of Being Earnest," McCullah states. "She'd cut off her hair because it had gotten damaged from all the hot rollers, so they put her in a wig."
Another character that had on a wig at the end of the film was Luke Wilson. "Luke Wilson had on a wig because he'd shaved his head for The Royal Tenenbaums," states McCullah. "The whole graduation scene is shot in London, but all the reaction shots were in Burbank in a soundstage. If you look really closely, you'll notice the lighting's a little bit different. But the new ending was way more satisfying."
2 Why The Ending We Got Was Truly The Perfect Ending
Legally Blonde was never going to be some sort of romantic comedy and audiences knew that. If the Elle and Vivian relationship happened or if Elle and Emmett kissed at the end of the film, it would have given off rom-com vibes. Even though the idea of a musical number is pretty amazing, it would have been very cheesy to add that at the end since the movie is more about Elle's personal journey of becoming a lawyer and the stereotypes she had to overcome.
1 The Franchise's Longevity Speaks For Itself
It is certainly fascinating to see what could have been 20 years after the release of Legally Blonde as a third movie comes very soon. You can be the judge of what ending you think fits best by streaming the movie over on Netflix now!