Reese Witherspoon is remembering Diane Keaton, one of her most cherished mentors in Hollywood. While appearing at her company Hello Sunshine's Shine Away event on Oct. 11, the actress, 49, recounted some of her earliest memories of the late Annie Hall star, who died at age 79 in California on Saturday, Oct. 11. "I was 15 years old and I was from Nashville, Tenn., and I didn't know anybody,” Witherspoon said during a discussion with author Harlan Coben about their upcoming novel, Gone Before Goodbye, which took place hours after PEOPLE revealed the news of Keaton's death.
00:00Hi, you guys. Okay, I just wanted to talk to you for one second because, okay, and I'm going to try and get through this without tearing up, but I don't know if you guys heard that Diane Keaton passed today.
00:11And I had to take a second to just really think about it because when I was 15 years old, Diane was really important. She was one of my first mentors in this business.
00:21I was 15 years old, and I was from Nashville, Tennessee, and I didn't know anybody, and I came in. It was my second, maybe my third movie audition ever, and I auditioned for her, and she looked at me after, and I came in with this big country accent, and I was playing this little southern girl, and she goes, who are you?
00:41I said, I'm Reese Witherspoon, and I'm from Nashville, Tennessee, and she said, are you making that up? That accent you're doing? And I said, no, ma'am, I'm from Nashville, Tennessee, and I'm here, and I'd love to be in your movie, and she was like, well, you're hired. You're hired today, tomorrow, and the next day.
01:00I don't know who you are, but I am so excited to have you. And I went, and I made this movie, and she directed the movie, and it was called Wildflower, and I did it with Patricia Arquette and Diane Keaton, and it was one of the most important summers of my childhood because she really took the time to pull me aside and say, stand up straight, okay? I want you to have good posture. If you're going to be an actress, you've got to work on your posture, okay?
01:23And I was like, okay, Miss Keaton. And then I did this scene, I had to be emotional, and she was like, okay, let's do it once. And she was like, oh my God, that was amazing. And then we did it again, and she goes, that was not as good.
01:35So we're going to go with the first one. But the thing I just loved about her is she was such an original. And if you just close your mind and think of Diane Keaton, I mean, I guarantee you from Annie Hall to The Godfather to something that's going on,
01:53how to give. She is just incredible and indelible and just a truly original person. So for Diane, watch one of her movies and wear like a really cool, interesting outfit, black and white. Take a cool picture and just live your dream. Just be your unique, interesting self. I think Diane would be really happy.
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