***Special thanks to Mandy for typing this article
for the JAC***
In
her final season as a Friend, Jennifer Aniston has Emmy
prospects on the brain, for herself as well as her heartthrob
husband, Brad Pitt. Could she set history with an Oscar
nod as well for her stunning turn in The Good Girl? Given
her magnetism, approachable beauty, and ever-surprising
versatility, if anyone can, Aniston can. Nominated for
Best Actress in a Comedy at this year�s Emmy Awards, Jennifer
Aniston might finish her final season of Friends with
an award in her hand. And what better way to segue into
a full-time film career? With nine successful prime-time
seasons under her belt, a $1 million-per-episode paycheck
in her pocket, Hollywood hunk Brad Pitt on her arm for
keeps, and children on the horizon (�You can have a baby
on one arm and a script in the other.�), Aniston might
just be the luckiest girl in the world - and it only gets
better. Aniston, often confused with the ditzy character
she plays on TV, is quite the opposite. Intelligent and
versatile, Aniston�s most recent foray onto the silver
screen - her first dramatic role to date in Miguel Arteta�s
The Good Girl - has garnered her critical acclaim as a
serious actress alongside Jake Gyllenhaal, Jack Black,
Catherine Keener, and John C. Reilly. Aniston�s role as
Justine, a depressed 30-year-old discount store clerk
in Texas who is deeply unhappy in her marriage to a pot-puffing,
infertile husband, is a radical departure from her ebullient
Friends character. Currently at work on the final Friends
season and just about to start her comedy Bruce Almighty
with Jim Carrey, Aniston gets serious about her career,
family life, and the future.
Los
Angeles Confidential: How did you feel when you heard
about your Emmy nomination?
Jennifer Aniston: It was a great honor. I was thrilled
to be nominated. But, frankly, it was more exciting to
be married. While the award ceremony was exciting, it
doesn�t compare with my wedding day.
LAC:
Where were you and Brad when you heard about your Emmy
nomination and his for his episode of Friends?
JA: Sleeping. It was very exciting, giddy. It took him
a day to figure it out. He was a little shocked by the
whole thing. I don�t think he ever thought that that was
a possibility. I think he almost forgot. But it was great,
as we both had so much fun doing it.
LAC:
Do you know what you are wearing to the Emmys? Any favorite
designers?
JA: No. For big events, I hire a stylist. I�m not great
at pulling clothes together in the �proper� way. I remember
thinking �couture� was a designer. I thought, �Wow! This
guy is everywhere, on every label.� That�s how much I
know.
LAC:
Does being so famous come with drawbacks? Has life in
LA changed for you?
JA: When someone follows you 20 blocks to the pharmacy
where they watch you buy toilet paper, you know life has
changed. Aside from the fact that you go out and you have
these annoying pests that follow you every once in a while
on a Sunday afternoon, you get in your car, you go to
work, you stop at the Coffee Bean, you get coffee, you
know�
LAC:
You and Brad visit each other a lot on each other�s sets?
JA: Yeah. Absolutely.
LAC:
When you were filming Friends and the Good Girl back to
back, how did you juggle the two diverse roles?
JA: Well, Rachel was thankfully such an old, comfy pair
of shoes. That was almost a relief to go in, it was like
having a weekend, going in and laughing, and I can sort
of do her. She�s easy. But I was almost utter exhaustion.
I think that�s why I cried a lot on the set.
LAC:
How was it playing this very straight character in The
Good Girl?
JA: I loved it. It�s like anything that you get to do
that you�re not always allowed to do and I remember Miguel
[Arteta] saying, �Are you going to be OK, because just
know that you�re going to be at the center of this group
of funny characters, but you�re not going to be able to
do that,� and I said, �Fine with me.� I wondered, �Do
I have something written on me that says I must do comedy?�
LAC:
While reading the script, when did you connect with the
character and know you wanted to do it?
JA: On page three, just her opening monologue, feeling
stuck, even though I�m in a career. The first thing you
think of is, well, we all have wants, we all have battles
with sadness and depression. I grew up definitely squelching
that and becoming a funny person, which has a wonderful
source of survival and that I was lucky enough to be able
to make a living at it.
LAC:
But there�d seem to be nothing in common between your
life and Justine�s. How could you relate to her?
JA: There is that part of ourselves that becomes very
sad or depressed or dark and haunted. We all have our
haunts, I think, this was just a different backdrop and
different circumstances that they�re living in, but I
think everyone can relate to that.
LAC:
There are some very funny scenes too in the film, such
as the one where you have to help your husband give a
sperm sample in a cup?
JA: That was John�s first day at work, having to do the
sperm thing in a cup in a tiny bathroom with three cameramen,
and it was pretty hard not to crack up.
LAC:
You also have a hot love scene with Jake. Did you guys
look at each other each day on the set and think, one
day we�ll be rolling around in bed together, virtually
naked?
JA: You mean just anticipating the day? Jake said that�s
the only reason he did the movie.
LAC:
Are those your first love scenes since marriage?
JA: They�re my first love scenes ever.
LAC:
Did Brad give you any tips?
JA: Just �Be nice to the guy. He�s just a kid!�
LAC:
Do you ever feel that if your own life had gone in a different
direction, you could have ended up like Justine, living
and working in a small town somewhere?
JA: At the Retail Rodeo? Yeah, I could have. I was never
really sure that I�d ever make it as an actor. I never
had great expectations, so there was a part of me that
felt like, if I�m a waitress for the rest of my life,
fine, I�ll be a waitress.
LAC:
Do you want to work more in film now?
JA: Yes, I probably won�t do TV for a while, if at all.
Friends is a pretty amazing job, but it�s rare. So I probably
won�t dive back into that world again.
LAC:
You�re working on a comedy with Jim Carrey. This film
is more Rachel than The Good Girl. You�re not worried
your fans will want something different?
JA: Hopefully if I do the job right they�ll ride with
the story.
LAC:
When did you decide to do this movie?
JA: It just happened really fast. It was a very speedy
process, it came about and I said sure.
LAC:
Is there anything imperfect about you, perhaps strange?
JA: I sleep walk, yeah. I set our alarm off once, and
I was outside. It was very weird. The alarm scared the
shit out of me and I woke up, and I was out by the pool
equipment in the back. I heard this yelling at me because
Brad�s terrified, he hears the alarm and I�m not there,
and it�s just awful.
LAC:
Is that the only time that happened?
JA: No, I�ve done that twice through that same door, but
the alarm did not go off the first time. In fact, there
were a couple of times that my mom said that I would do
that as a kid. I�d walk into the living room and she�d
have conversations with me, and I would have no memory.
LAC:
How is it being back on the set of Friends knowing it�ll
probably be the last year? What do you want to do afterwards?
JA: Sad. But anything could happen. I want to do a lot
of things. I want to travel. There�s a lot of the world
I�d like to see, and I want to work more and have a family.
LAC:
Any future production projects on the rise?
JA: I have been developing a spec script for a TV pilot
based on the play Parental Discretion. My dad, John Aniston,
would star as this outspoken father who moves in with
his gay adult son. And Brad and I want to do a movie together
eventually.