Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher’s friendship crash course for Netflix movie

With their new Netflix movie Your Place or Mine casting the Hollywood A-listers as long-time best friends, Reese decided she needed to take drastic action after their previous encounter left a less than memorable impression.

“We had only met one time at a party and I thought he was quirky... maybe even a little weird,” confesses the 46-year-old who the Best Actress Oscar for her performance in Walk The Line in 2006.

“The film needed us to look like we were best friends for 20 years, so I needed to do something to make it look like we were.

“This is when we decided to start sending each other videos every day to get to know each other.

“This needed to be my best friend so I needed to know why he was.

“My kids would get into the videos and so would my dog and my dad was in some videos and it worked.

“Once we got to know each other this just felt like the right time for me and Ashton to do a movie together.

“We have both been in the business do a similar amount of time, but we weren’t ready to do this kind of movie in the 1990s. The world is ready for this now!”

At this point, Kutcher interjects to add a little context to these video messages that appeared to have the desired effect.

“They were great for getting to know Reese and what made her tick,” said the actor who turns in an enchanting performance as the career-focused Peter.

“We would ask questions like if you had pancakes, would it be syrup on top... the kind of stuff you would know about your best friend.

“So by the time we started shooting the movie, we were used to communicating like friends and it felt really natural to do the scenes in the movie as it we were great friends.

“The challenge here was we were not in the same room for a lot of the movie and we were acting against a video of the other person and that was not easy.”

Reese and Ashton play single mum Debbie and commitment-phobic Peter, who are are best friends for 20 years and total opposites.

She craves routine with her son in LA and he thrives on change in New York, so when they swap houses and lives for a week they discover what they think they want might not be what they really need.

A romantic comedy that is perfectly timed to flow into your Valentine’s weekend viewing, this is a movie that will be a big hit for Netflix as they work once again with some of the biggest stars in acting.

“My character doesn’t take risks in her life as a single mum, but she is excited about the opportunity to go to New York and get a degree... until her babysitter cancels,” explains Reese.

“So Ashton’s character comes to Los Angeles to look after my 13-year-old son why I take over his fancy apartment in New York.

“Things transpire and it is fair to say my character’s son has an interesting experience getting to know Peter.”

Kutcher, who was married actress Demi Moore in 2005, is a father two with his second wife Mila Kunis and he suggests decided to take the role in this movie as the lead character had a parenting style that reminded him of his own.

“If I’m being honest, this character is somewhat of a glimpse of how I am as a parent,” he says with a smile.

“Peter treats the child as if he is one of his business clients and while I don’t do that with my kids, I am very hands-on and get stuck in with everything they do.

“I just hope the audiences love this movie because I just love this romantic comedy genre and it was great fun to make this movie with an amazing cast.

“At the end of the day, what is more important in life than love? It’s all that really matters in this world.

“Having an optimistic and hopeful outlook on love is what we want to see in a romantic comedy and you get that and more in this movie.”

For her part, Reese admitted she decided to commit to the lead role in Your Place or Mine as she believes it portrays the story of how many singles mums feel as they chase love.

“I always look for roles that offer the audience a fresh take on what it looks like to be a woman today,” she added.

“Audiences really know the difference between fantasy and reality and they like to see the latter.

“This character is a single mom, looking to get an education and she has this best friend in Peter and she won’t dare to say how he feels about him because it won’t be practical.

“A lot of women are reluctant to take that first step these days and I hope this movie is a love letter to single moms.”

Your Place or Mine is on Netflix now.