Watch: Jennifer Aniston Has Hilarious Reaction to Learning Reese Witherspoon's Real NameReese Witherspoon isn't hiding any big little lies about Gone Girl. The Oscar winner detailed how David Fincher, who directed the 2012 movie adaptation of Gillian Flynn's best-selling thriller, staunchly disagreed with casting her as Amy Dunne, the role that ultimately went to Rosamund Pike. "David sat me down-and this is not on David-but David's like, 'You're totally wrong for this part,'" Reese explained on the Sept. 17 episode of Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers' Las Culturistas podcast, "and I'm not putting you in it.'" The 49-year-old-whose production company Pacific Standard (which later became Hello Sunshine) produced the movie as its first-ever project-noted that the director of The Social Network wasn't swayed by the author's blessing, either. "I had all these conversations with the writer Gillian Flynn, and she was like, 'No, I'd really like you to do it,'" Reese continued. "But he was like, 'You're wrong.'" She explained that it was a big learning moment for her-one she's grateful for, in retrospect. readJennifer Aniston Has Hilarious Reaction to Learning Reese Witherspoon's Real Name"That was, first of all, an ego check for me," Reese admitted. "It was like, 'No, you're not right for everything.' And he was right. He was totally right." Indeed, the Big Little Lies actress remains happy that the movie ended up starring Rosamund, Ben Affleck, Carrie Coon, Tyler Perry and Neil Patrick Harris. Andrew H. Walker/Shutterstock; Matt Baron/BEI/Shutterstock"Fincher just killed it," she said, "and Rosamund Pike is so diabolical and Ben Affleck is sort of the rube on the other side of it." Plus, Reese sees David's refusal to cast her in the film as pivotal to her understanding her role as a producer. "Producing also means get out of the way when you're supposed to," she shared. "Do your job to promote, continue to pull people together, continue to build creative groups so that the ultimate result is the best work that it could possibly be. So that was a lesson to me." Read on to learn other facts you may not have known about Reese. Elliott Marks/Mgm/Kobal1. She was born Laura Jean Reese Witherspoon in 1976 in New Orleans. Reese is actually her mother Betty's maiden name. 2. She is a claimed descendant of John Witherspoon, one of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, though that claim has not been verified by the Society of the Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence genealogists. 3. Her father Dr. John Draper Witherspoon served as a lieutenant in the United States Army Reserve and, as result, Reese spent four years of her childhood living in Wiesbaden, Germany.

Ron Galella/WireImage4. Growing up a dedicated student who loved reading, she earned the nickname "Little Miss Type A" from her parents. She would later launch her own production company with a title that nodded to the moniker, Type A. In a 2005 profile with Interview, however, she clarified the title choice, saying, "It was actually an in-joke with my family because at [age] 7 I understood complicated medical terms, such as the difference between type A and type B personalities. But I just wished I'd named the company Dogfood Films or Fork or something. You carry that baggage all your life." 5. Her first acting gig came at age 7, when she selected as a model for a florist's commercials. It inspired her to take acting lessons. 6. In 1991, she attended an open casting call for the film The Man in the Moon, intending to audition as a bit player. Instead, she landed the lead role of Dani Trant, the 14-year-old girl who falls in love for the first time with her 17-year-old neighbor. In her debut, she was nominated for Best Young Actress at that year's Young Artist Awards.

Melissa Moseley/Columbia/Kobal7. Despite making her acting debut at 14, she maintained good enough grades to get accepted to Stanford University as an English literature major, but she withdrew after a year to pursue her burgeoning acting career. 8. Reese met her first husband, Ryan Phillippe, when a mutual friend brought him along to her 21st birthday party in 1997. As she told People in 2002, she told him at the end of the night, "I think you're my present." 9. After filming the cult classic Cruel Intentions, which was released in 1999, Phillippe proposed to his girlfriend in December 1998 with a homemade breakfast-in-bed meal of waffles with strawberries and cream. They tied the knot in Charleston, South Carolina on June 5, 1999. Their daughter Ava was born three months later.

Richard Corkery/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images10. On September 29, 2001, Witherspoon hosted the very first episode of Saturday Night Live to air after the September 11 terrorist attacks. "It was a really difficult time in New York City," Witherspoon told Katie Couric in 2015. "But I was so proud to be there and be on stage with firemen and Paul Simon and Lorne Michaels I think did an incredi