Film, television and Broadway director Jason Moore knows that what’s old is new again.

The Tony nominee not only directed the first two episodes of Prime Video’s “Legally Blonde” prequel series, “Elle,” but is also directing the upcoming film adaptation of “Murder, She Wrote,” starring Jamie Lee Curtis as Jessica Fletcher, the role originated on television by the late Angela Lansbury.

I caught up with Moore recently from his apartment in New York City, where he just returned to the United States after directing a West End revival of “Avenue Q.” He earned a Tony nomination for the original Broadway production of the early aughts adult puppet musical for best direction of a musical.

In “Elle,” Reese Witherspoon lookalike Lexi Minetree stars in the lead role in the years before we met Elle Woods in the original two “Legally Blonde” films that began in 2001.

How did “Elle” come about for you?

I had met Reese years and years ago. He had been friends with (Legally Blonde) producer Marc Platt, so he had always been around people who had worked on “Legally Blonde.” When they first called me, my reaction was, “Oh my God, that movie is like canon to me, I’m not going to touch that.” That was my instinctive, honest reaction, but then I said, “Let me read the script.” The script was really good and that’s what influenced me. It was a lot of fun and it was a good way to show how she became the woman she became. And then there was Lexi. Reminds me of Sutton Foster and Lucille Ball. She has that level of talent and she’s fun. We all knew that the series wasn’t going to work without the right actress. Once we found her, we were ready to go.

When I look at Lexi, I think, “This is Reese.”

She’s a special actress in her own right, but she also really understands the character. I hired one of the best voice teachers on Broadway for her. He went to see her religiously every week for months. He caught every intonation, the little breaths. We had a code for which of the breaths I would do at different times. She really got it into her body. I directed “The Cher Show” and Stephanie Block won a Tony for playing Cher, so I got a real sense of what you have to do to make the audience think it’s the same character, but also make it their own. You don’t want it to be a caricature or a personification. Lexi really understood it. He arrived at the first day of the set having already memorized all eight episodes. She’s a Tracy Flick type, which works very well.

I love all the throwbacks on the show. It takes place in the 90s and things like Tab, “Melrose Place”, Heather Locklear, “Sybil” and more are mentioned or seen in the show.

Some people don’t really get it because they think things that happen in the ’90s are supposed to look more ’90s. My thing was to design it to be ’90s, but let’s shoot it like you would today. It’s Elle’s bedroom but photographed with today’s aesthetics. We did some tests where I put older lenses on, but they looked like things you’d seen before. But if you look at it, it’s very ’90s. Also, current fashion is very ’90s.

The cast is very diverse. There is a lot more representation on the show than in the movies.

You already know this, but the movie is often highlighted because it captured a certain version of the ’90s, especially sorority culture. I attribute all of that in the program to Laura Kittrell. She is the creator. It was an all-female creative team. I was the only male. I was in heaven. One of the things that surprised me when I did the research on “Legally Blonde” was how different the socioeconomic and racial profile of the people who admired Elle Woods was. In some ways, you might think she’s a privileged white girl, but the number of black women who were like, “Elle Woods is my hero.”

We need to talk about clothes.

They really lean even more into the clothing in Season 2. They’re cool in Season 1, but they get really bold in Season 2. The costumes from the original movie were made so that we had access to all these archival pieces. For season 1, most of it was created to look archival. Season 2 is all archival.

Was Reese on set much?

She came twice during my lockdown. She also arrived early. We did a table read with everyone so they could get to know her, break the ice, and let go of their nerves with her. Then he was there when we filmed the scene where Elle gets hit in the face and Miles (Jacob Moskovitz) takes her to the hospital. In fact, it was our most important day. There were 200 extras. It was packed with people and everyone was sweating. It was cool because Reese was just part of the group. There was really no place separating her from everyone. The cast quickly warmed to her and she is very generous. She is very generous artistically.

What was it like seeing Lexi and Reese together for the first time?

We’ve all seen the video of when Lexi found out she got the role. They have always been aware of how much they look alike and are the same height. I had to text Reese before she came to tell her how high Lexi’s heels were so she would wear them. But that’s also why Reese didn’t come for a few weeks. We felt it was important for Lexi to feel like she owned everything.

Let’s talk about “Murder, She Wrote.” Are you using the same theme song?

We’ll find a way to use that theme song. People may be surprised how it is used.

Will the new “Murder, She Wrote” be a hard-boiled crime drama or more of a lighter Who-Did-It feel from the TV show?

“Murder, She Wrote” was inspired by Agatha Christie. I would say that in some ways it leans more towards a classic, twisted Agatha Christie story. You’ll never see the killer coming. It has some comedic elements because Jamie is able to do that, but it’s a real murder mystery. It’s definitely true to the core of “Murder, She Wrote,” but in some ways it’s just a starting point for a great murder mystery with a great female detective.

Should we assume that the typewriter no longer exists and that Jessica Fletcher is typing on a laptop?

The typewriter is part of the story: the typewriter versus the computer because it takes place in the present day. On the show, they went from a manual typewriter to an electric one. But the typewriter is in the murder mystery.

Will there be an Angela Lansbury callback in the movie?

Of course. I did this with “Shrek: The Musical” and I did it with “Legally Blonde.” You always try to ask what people expect to see. Most people don’t know “The Murder, She Wrote.” They mainly remember seeing it with their grandmother. So the callbacks will mostly be Easter eggs that hardcore fans will receive.

“Elle” Season 1 is available to stream on Prime Video.

These questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity.