Reese Witherspoon has been working with authors for many years. Now she can count herself among them.
Witherspoon, who runs her own book club and has been an executive producer on many film adaptations of the book, has collaborated with best-selling thriller author Harlan Coben to write Gone Until Goodbye, which will be released Oct. 14.
Witherspoon told TODAY.com that the experience left her with “more respect for writers.”
“These are just incredibly disciplined talents who have to come up with things out of thin air,” Witherspoon says.
Coben, standing next to her, says he's not sure where his ability to write his many twists and turns comes from. “I think if I think about it, it will go away,” he says, laughing.
“Gone Before Goodbye” began as an idea that Witherspoon had about three years ago, but felt she couldn't do on her own. She called Coben, whom she met about two and a half years ago, to help tell the story of Maggie McCabe, a former Army combat surgeon who became involved with billionaire oligarchs, dark money and a dangerous scheme.
Raised by a surgeon and a nurse, Witherspoon was fascinated by the medical profession and said on her Shine Away show in October that she once dreamed of entering the field. Hollywood Reporter.
Writing the book marked a new chapter for Witherspoon and a new one for Coben, who had never worked on a book before.
They emailed, talked, texted, or met every day. “We were both completely obsessed with the story,” Coben says.
Coben calls Witherspoon “a generous collaborator” and “one of the greatest storytellers.”
“Reese was just the perfect partner. She knew when to push me, when to back off, when to just… I can see why she would be a great boss,” he says, adding, “I really admire everything about Reese.”
Meanwhile, Witherspoon says it was a “privilege” to watch him write the book.
“As an actor, I understood a lot about creating characters, but he builds entire worlds and a set of characters that all have to intertwine to get that perfect result. And he managed to tie up all the loose ends in a way that I didn't think was possible,” she says.
But when it came to the end, Coben trusted Witherspoon's suggestion to change it.
“When she first told me about it, I thought, 'Nobody touches my endings.' But actually she was right. I went to bed that night and woke up the next morning and said, “You’re right.” So we made some small changes at the end,” he says.
The duo played coy when asked about it. TODAY with Jenna and friends will they ever come together to adapt.
As for whether Witherspoon will write another book?
“Only with Harlan Coben,” she says.
