Reese Witherspoon faced difficulties in playing a drug addict in 'Wild'

London: Actress Reese Witherspoon found it hard and confusing to play a drug addict who embarks on a life altering journey in 'Wild'.

The actress, who has never used drugs, said she took on the role because she knew it was going to be special, reported UK's Harper's Bazaar magazine. The film is based on Cheryl Strayed's best-selling book 'Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail'.

"I've never done drugs. I was really confused. I didn't know what I was doing," Witherspoon, who appears on the cover of the magazine, said. "It just required being in a really raw emotional place that didn't feel good," she said adding the intimate scenes in the movie were equally challenging. "(Sex scenes were), like, three percent of the movie, but it took up a tremendous amount of fear in my mind because it's daunting. Sometimes I was just terrified. Like a cat on a raft...'You can't make me do it'."

The 38-year-old actress, best known for her comedies 'Legally Blonde' and 'Sweet Home Alabama', found it interesting to play the character. "It wasn't as if there was a lack of roles being offered to me. It was the dynamic aspect of playing a really interesting, complicated person that was not readily available. It's strange that you don't see many complicated women on film; complicated meaning complex, I should say." But the experience of being in that raw emotional space was not always easy.

"(Dramas are) always going to require something that doesn't feel good, some sort of challenge or emotional gutting. It's not a fun space to live in a lot of the time.

It's why I enjoy doing comedies. It's much easier, thinking of what rhymes with truck."