Does Reese Witherspoon Speak Spanish?

Nominated for her work in Wild, there's no denying that Reese Witherspoon is talented. You've seen her take on a blonde-bombshell who smashes stereotypes at Harvard Law in Legally Blonde. You've seen her tackle iconic June Carter in Walk the Line, and now, you'll see her attempt take down drug lords and sexist cops in Hot Pursuit opposite Sofia Vergara. The film, which follows Witherspoon as clumsy cop Cooper, and Vergara as the widow of a drug lord, must team together to defeat the bad guys in this female buddy/road comedy.

While the Texas setting allows Witherspoon to indulge in an exaggerated Southern accent, one scene from the film shows us that a Southern drawl isn't the actor's only vocal talent. In an attempt to prove to Vergara's character that she's not as easily stereotyped and vanilla as Vergara suspects, she begins speaking flawless Spanish. So was this just a clever addition to the script, or does Witherspoon actually speak Español?

Thanks to an exclusive clip from behind the scenes of the film, we know Witherspoon struggled with pronouncing some of the Spanish words. But does she have any background in the language? In an interview with The LA Times, Vergara and Sofia spoke to the apparent language struggle. "That would be seventh-grade Spanish," Witherspoon revealed when asked by the interviewer if she's fluent. Vergara adds: "When I hear her speak Spanish I realize why I'm funny to Americans. It was one of the great scenes for me because I would see how she was struggling and suffering. It's hard to really be acting when you're translating. The emotion can't come. So I enjoyed this because she was feeling what I feel every day."

Vergara makes an excellent point, and it's fun to see the Spanish-centric film play out on screen. The pair went on Univision’s Despierta América and Witherspoon tried out some of the Spanish she'd learned.

You can watch the clip below:

Here are Witherspoon's hilarious outtakes from her attempts to speak Spanish in the film:

Catch Hot Pursuit in theaters May 8.