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Actress Reese Witherspoon put an end to the ongoing confusion about her leading man in the 2002 romantic comedy Sweet Home Alabama. The 48-year-old recently sat down with PEOPLE magazine to reflect on her career and discuss her iconic roles. Talking about fans mistaking her actual co-star, Josh Lucas, for Matthew McConaughey, she quipped:
"All I want to say about Sweet Home Alabama is that it's not Matthew McConaughey. I know a lot of people think it's Matthew. Matthew always says, 'Everybody comes up to me and says, 'Are you in Sweet Home?' And I'm not.’ I’m like, ‘Well I know, I know.’ "
Reese Witherspoon has collaborated with Matthew McConaughey on three other films
Sweet Home Alabama, taking its name from a Lynyrd Skynyrd song, is centered around Melanie, played by Reese Witherspoon. Melanie is a big-shot fashion designer living in New York who must return to her hometown of Pigeon Creek, Alabama, to divorce her husband, Jake Perry (played by Lucas), so she can marry the city's most eligible bachelor.
Melanie and Jake were childhood sweethearts who married right out of high school. When their relationship falls apart after a miscarriage, she runs away to New York to begin a new life.
According to Box Office Mojo, the film was a commercial success. It grossed over $35 million in its first weekend and over $130 million domestically during its run with a budget of $30 million.
While Reese Witherspoon and Matthew McConaughey did not share the screen in Sweet Home Alabama, they have collaborated on three other films.
"And I’ve really only done – well I’ve done three movies with Matthew–but he’s not in Sweet Home Alabama," Reese told PEOPLE.
The duo has worked together on the animated musical comedy film Sing (2016). Sing is set in a world with anthropomorphic animals and centers around a struggling theatre owner who stages a singing competition to save his theatre from closing. The film received positive reviews and even sparked a sequel, Sing 2, with the original cast returning.
They also starred together in the 2012 coming-of-age drama Mud. The film centers around a pair of teenagers who encounter a fugitive (portrayed by Matthew McConaughey) hiding on an island named Mud. Reese Witherspoon plays a small role in the film.
If one were to compare pictures of Josh and Matthew together, one can find that can confuse people.
In an April 2024 interview with PEOPLE, Josh, too, recounted a past incident when a fan mistook him for McConaughey and would not take a no for an answer when the actor politely corrected him.
"The weirdest story I have is, I once almost got into a fight with a guy because I refused to sign his autograph because he was basically telling me, ‘Hey, Matthew McConaughey, I need you to sign this autograph,’" he recalled.
Despite him correcting the fan, they continued insisting, and the actor was basically told, "You're an a**hole McConaughey."
"It got weirder and weirder. The guy literally started yelling at me on the street, but he was yelling at McConaughey. That was a very strang one," Josh continued.
Reese Witherspoon is set to produce and act in three Netflix films. Per a 2020 report, she will reprise her iconic role of Elle Woods in Legally Blonde 3.
