The journey to bring Scottish Princess Merida to the big screen was one that was filled with challenges, including director changes, casting shakeups, and even a disagreement on what the film's title should be. In the end, Brave featured Kelly Macdonald as the voice of Merida, but the Scottish star reportedly landed the role only after Reese Witherspoon backed out. Producer Katherine Sarafian talked to /Film about the casting change, defending why she'd initially cast an American to play the part. Sarafian said the character was "less about being Scottish and more about being a willful teenager and Reese really knows how to play willful teenagers. She's got that great youthful quality and when you think about her body of work, you could probably think of, 'Oh, actually I can see it.'" The director noted that Witherspoon had worked with a dialect and accent coach, but scheduling conflicts prompted her to turn down the part.
That might not be the end of the story, though. During a January 2017 interview on a morning news show, Witherspoon appeared to inadvertently blow the lid off that supposed scheduling conflict. Witherspoon was talking about difficult accents with fellow actor Matthew McConaughey when she admitted: "I tried to do a Scottish accent once. It was bad. I had to quit the movie." Witherspoon didn't confirm that said movie was, in fact, Brave, so we'll leave it up to you to decide if she's referring to her temporary involvement in some other piece of Scottish-themed cinema.
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