海角大神

After experiencing decades of professional isolation as "the only woman on set," actress Reese Witherspoon is making waves with a female-led miniseries.

The Academy Award-winning actress聽spoke during the Television Critics Association winter press tour about how she has felt isolated on past sets as a woman and about how Hollywood projects depict female characters. Her upcoming project, the HBO miniseries 鈥淏ig Little Lies,鈥� is a "refreshing" break from what she referred to as the "Smurfette Syndrome."聽

鈥淔or 25 years, I've been the only woman on set, so I had no other women to talk to,鈥澛爏he said Saturday, according to TVLine.聽鈥淭hey call it 'Smurfette Syndrome.' Because she's got a hundred Smurfs around her and she's the only girl.鈥澛�

She also expressed concern with some of the depictions of women she鈥檚 seen onscreen.

鈥淭hings have to change,鈥� Witherspoon said. 鈥淲e have to start seeing women as they really are 鈥� We have to see real women's experience. Whether it involves domestic violence, whether it involves sexual assault, whether it involves motherhood or romance or infidelity or divorce. We need to see these things.鈥澛�

Both Witherspoon and her co-star, Nicole Kidman, praised 鈥淏ig Little Lies鈥� for not just featuring several leading women, but for showcasing multi-dimensional, female characters.

鈥淭his piece is about women helping each other and women supporting each other, which was very important to Reese and聽I,鈥� Ms. Kidman said.

The show tells the story of three women whose children attend the same school and who become friends.聽

鈥淚t鈥檚 so refreshing to spend time with all of these women,鈥� Witherspoon said. (The project also stars Shailene Woodley, Zoe Kravitz, and Laura Dern in addition to Alexander Skarsg氓rd and Adam Scott.)聽

In recent years, Witherspoon has made a concerted effort to select female-led projects. She co-stars with Oprah Winfrey and Mindy Kaling in聽the upcoming movie adaptation of 鈥淎 Wrinkle in Time,鈥澛燿irected by Ava DuVernay, who in accepting the job became the first woman of color to helm a live-action film that has a budget of more than $100 million.聽

Witherspoon's production company, Pacific Standard, which she co-founded with Bruna Papandrea in 2012,聽has been behind such female-led movies as 鈥淲ild鈥� and 鈥淕one Girl.鈥澛�

The actress told Variety in 2014 that she asked executives in 2012, 鈥淲hat are you developing for women?鈥澛�

鈥淚 think it was literally one studio that had a project for a female lead over 30,鈥� Witherspoon recalled. 鈥淎nd I thought to myself, 鈥業鈥檝e got to get busy.鈥� 鈥澛�

Pacific Standard is co-producing 鈥淏ig Little Lies鈥� along with Blossom Films, Kidman鈥檚 production company.聽The miniseries, which is based on the bestseller of the same name by Liane Moriarty, is scheduled to debut on HBO in February.聽