Jennifer Garner credits Reese Witherspoon for female-led projects in Hollywood

Jennifer Garner stars in and executive produces the new Apple TV+ series The Last Thing He Told Me, which is based on Laura Dave's novel.

Garner, who has started doing more behind-the-scenes work in recent years, credits her friend, actress and producer Reese Witherspoon with encouraging her to create her own projects.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter the 13 going on 30 actress said:

“Honestly, Reese is behind that, she has really pushed me. She said to me a few years ago, ‘Nobody is sitting around thinking, what can I shoot in L.A. that’s going to have a 50-year-old woman in it?’ She’s like, ‘You’ve got to create your own stuff,'” Garner said. “All women in this town owe a debt of gratitude to Reese.”

The Last Thing He Told Me is notable for its all-female directing team and female-centric story, which follows a woman searching for her missing husband and forming a bond with her stepdaughter.

“Hannah and I are quite different but there was something about her that just really spoke to me. I feel like she is the ultimate hero of her own story, she’s fighting for own optimism and that is something that I could really relate to,” Garner explained.

“The idea also of becoming a parent and when you are a parent, you still have to fall in love with your kids over and over again; they keep changing, they shift, and you just find new ways to love them, new ways they expand your heart in new and different ways all the time. To watch Hannah go through that process in real time was really exciting for me.”

The show premiered in Los Angeles, and the first two episodes are now available on Apple TV+.