DVD Feature - The Good Girl Miguel and Mike's commentary for The Good Girl, 2002

Commentary by Miguel Arteta and Mike White (only the parts where Jennifer's concerned)

Miguel Arteta: Miss Jennifer Aniston. How awesome has the whole trip been with her?
Mike White: It's been great. Who knew?
Miguel Arteta: Uh, we knew. Yeah, she was... The good thing is, when she came to the set, she really just gave herself to the whole thing. I didn't feel as though we were dealing with a super-celebrity, or anything like that, she was just part of the ensemble.
Mike White: She was the coolest. She was less high-maintenance than I was.
Miguel Arteta: That's for sure.

Miguel Arteta: She really gave more than I was seeing on the set.
Mike White: I was there that day. I remember sitting there and they [Jen and Jake Gyllenhaal] were talking so softly. There's something really hypnotic about the way they were delivering the lines. It put me in a real weird trance. I really like the quality of both their voices.
Miguel Arteta: They're subtle actors. They're great. They're amazing.
Mike White: You did a great job getting them out of them too, Miguel. It's true, though. The music, the tone... Somebody else could have made this like a really ridiculous comedy. The script could have gone down the road. You've made it more of a mindfuck.
Miguel Arteta: That is why you gotta cast Jennifer Aniston in this part. To hear her deliver a line like that. Yeah, she's awesome.

Mike White: What's great about Jennifer is that she uh, ...she really reins her character in so she's much more saner than she could have been. She's definitely saner than she's on the page. And I think it adds to a more complex character.
Miguel Arteta: She had all these funny people around her with funny stuff to do around her, and she's such a comic genius, she could go head to head with you guys. But she was really restrained.

Miguel Arteta: She's not harsh in real life. This was pretty intense, talking about 'who needs a fucking baby anyway.' It was pretty intense.

Miguel Arteta: It's not easy to upstage Jennifer Aniston, but some of us can do it. This is our fanciest shot in the whole movie. [the one where she sits on the toilet and reads Holden's letter] I like it.

Miguel Arteta: These guys [Jen and Jake Gyllenhaal] had never done a full-on love scene before. They were both screen virgins. I'm really grateful for their trust to go ahead and really put themselves into this. I can't imagine being an actor. It must be insanely absurd and hard.

Miguel Arteta: They [Jen and John C Reilly] were very comfortable. They shot this scene at the end of the schedule. They were, like, 'This scene is going to be a piece of cake.'

Miguel Arteta: She's really into it, as a performer. She's really amazing. It was really amazing that she got how restrained this part had to be. There wasn't much discussion about it on the set. She just came prepared in a way that just seemed to make sense.

Miguel Arteta: I regret taking the line out of this one.
Mike White: Oh, God. You took that one out, too? This is why we've got some bad reviews.
Miguel Arteta: What a difference a line makes... to a screenwriter.
Mike White: Well, you don't need the line. Her face [Jen's] says it all. People get it.

Miguel Arteta: This was the last thing we shoot. Last day of our shoot. Remember, Jennifer was so so sick at this point. She had a cold and was worn down. It was pretty intense.
Mike White: 'She's so professional', is an understatement. She's such a trooper.
Miguel Arteta: A pleasure.
Mike White: Always giving her energy on screen and off.
Miguel Arteta: Yeah. She's really an incredibly kind person.

Miguel Arteta: I love this close-up, the way she does it. She's having a really bad day.
Mike White: I figured a way that all the men in her life would be on her within a few minutes of each other.

Miguel Arteta: I definitely want to formally apologise to Jake and Jennifer for putting them through this on the first day. Something so intense. There's a lot to jump right into, but...
Mike White: That's how you gotta do it. Can't let the actors feel comfortable, right?
Miguel Arteta: Right. I remember you visited this day on the set. It was the first day. I think you were almost teary-eyed. You were saying: 'I believe Jake's sadness.' If you get tears from the writer, you're in as a slam-dunk.

Miguel Arteta: I love the walk she made for the character. She came to the set with all these ideas, and it was great.

Miguel Arteta: It's amazing what she got across with this close-up, here. It's like you almost get it all from just this look, here. Directing is weird, how you get these people to act things out and they don't seem like part of you.

Miguel Arteta: You do want her [Justine] to get caught, but you're also, like...you know, because of Jennifer's performance, you're hoping that she gets what she wants. This was a very intense day on the set. We did this scene and the next one, where they're crying. They spent the whole day crying. All morning. All afternoon. We shot close-ups for this scene, but this was an instance where they're worn out and you're just...The two of them [Jen and John C Reilly] are really great. It's a two-and-a-half minute take. They go from comedy to drama. Back and forth. All within this take. It was great. It was a treat. I remember, my lawyer was on set and her cell phone went off in the middle of this scene.
Mike White: Oh no, really?
Miguel Arteta: Yeah. John was, like, 'My God, how could you do that to me?' I felt so bad. She felt so bad. I'm really proud we were able to do it in one shot.