Aniston, Aniston, Aniston!!! Some of you have been asking why there are so many Jennifer Aniston stories this week. Um, she’s promoting Wanderlust. She’s giving lots of interviews, and there are tons of new photos. It’s not a conspiracy. So Aniston has a longish interview in the new issue of The Hollywood Reporter, and guess what she talks about? The national debt? The crisis in Syria? Campaign finance reform? Of course not (nor would I want to hear her opinions on those issues). She talks about Friends. And her hair. You can read the full piece here, and here are some highlights:
THR: If you could pick whose star [on the Hollywood Walk of Fame] yours is placed next to, who would it be?
Aniston: I would not balk at Lucille Ball!THR: Your boyfriend and Wanderlust co-star, Justin Theroux, is pushing more into writing, including penning the upcoming musical feature Rock of Ages. Does writing interest you?
Aniston: Oh God, no. That’s a bug I don’t even understand. I’m lucky if I write a letter. I’m more interested in the execution of what the writer puts down on paper.THR: Former Friends stars Matt LeBlanc and Lisa Kudrow are thriving on cable with Showtime’s Episodes and Web Therapy, respectively. What would it take to bring you back to series TV?
Aniston: It would probably take those five actors and be somewhere where we left off. I loved what I did for 10 years; it was pure joy and nothing but fun, and it’d be hard to top it. The way we sort of felt the excitement of what Friends was when it started, it would have to be something where you felt a similar charge. But I’ll never ever say never.THR: You’ve had success in both TV and film. Where do you feel the better opportunities for women exist?
Aniston: Independent film. But I also think, thanks to the Kristen Wiigs of the world and thanks to Bridesmaids and those kinds of female comedies, that it’s going to open up and change. It has to evolve; there’s only so much we can see of guys with guns and frat boys.THR: Looking back at your career, is there one role that stands out as what you’d most like to be identified for, that you’re most proud of?
Aniston: I really loved [2002’s] The Good Girl. Rachel on Friends, I owe everything to her. But I also loved Dr. Julia in Horrible Bosses [2011]. Those three mean a lot to me.THR: Your father, John Aniston, has been a longtime castmember on NBC’s Days of Our Lives. Has he, or anyone else in the industry, given you career advice that has really stuck with you?
Aniston: My dad’s advice has always been: “Don’t do it. Become a doctor. Become a lawyer.” He didn’t want me to be heartbroken because he knew it was a tough business. It compelled me to go for it even harder. Do what keeps you happy, and don’t ever let people box you in. There was a period when I was on Friends where The Good Girl came to me, or [2006’s] Friends With Money came to me. I thought, I’ve got to go for it now and try to not just be Rachel Green so I can get out of the Fruity Pebbles section at the grocery and explore the organic food. It’s a terrible analogy, but I had to get out there and do something different so they could see that I’m an actor, so I didn’t forget that I could do other things. I was lucky that happened.THR: Were you surprised when “The Rachel” shag haircut became so widely imitated and iconic in the mid-1990s?
Aniston: Of course. My hair has never been my greatest feature, so that was funny enough unto itself that my hair became so focused on. I have curly, uncontrollable hair! I didn’t love that cut; it was a haircut to clean up damaged hair. I’m really a long-hair kind of girl.THR: If Friends were still going, what would Ross and Rachel be doing now?
Aniston: They’re absolutely, 100 percent together. They have more kids! He’s probably still working, and hopefully they’re still hanging out somewhere. It would be really upsetting if they weren’t; it would bum me out.THR: LeBlanc said recently that a Friends movie isn’t something he could ever see happening. What are your feelings about that?
Aniston: I can’t imagine how you would do it, unless you did it years from now. Then it would be: “Who are these guys? What are we watching?” I can’t imagine what that would be. It’s not normal. Friends is in your living room; Friends is not in a movie theater. It doesn’t make sense to me. I think it would be going against its authentic self.THR: Your red-carpet style tends toward the classic little black dress. What is it about that simplicity that most appeals to you?
Aniston: The little black dress is just comfortable. It’s all about being comfortable, being easy and having you be able to wear something and not having it wear you. It’s classic. Every time I’ve tried to be bold and crazy, I feel like a Japanese animated cartoon character.
[From The Hollywood Reporter]
There are some questions about directing too, and Aniston says that she feels the push-pull of directing again, versus simply doing yet another comedy script that she’s offered. Is it wrong that I like her Friends talk? She’s not disrespectful about the show that launched her career, and she’s game for talking about it when she’s asked. And yes, I realize that she was ASKED about her hair again. Dear God, please stop asking this woman about her hair. Please.
Aniston is also on Ellen’s show today – there’s a clip too. Ellen asks her about the whole “sexiest woman ever” thing. Obviously. And they talk about Justin Theroux. Of course.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
Love her… I still watch friends reruns… but I can’t watch her on the big screen 😉
I’m the same, will watch all the reruns of friends, but if I watch one of her movies I find I get up and start doing something else about 15 minutes in. It is probably not just that she really isn’t a great actor but also that she chooses such shallow movies. I know they are comedies but they really don’t have to be so lacking in plot and character development do they. I don’t hate her, so please don’t throw stones, I just think she is really average. Maybe that’s her appeal.
Not a fan of this dress. She should have gone with a sheath dress. She looks really good in those.
She’s supposed to be this super funny actress, and it’s not that she’s not funny, but she’s no Tina Fey or Julia Louis-Dreyfus. I’m not really sure why everyone keeps pretending she’s funny.
I don’t blame her for her reserved manner, because she’s been under a microscope for a long time, but it really seems to affect her acting style. I think she could’ve been a better actress if she could shed all the emotional baggage and dropped the talking points (“My breasts! My body! I’m funny! I love my girlfriends! I do yoga! Hon-eeeeee! You’re so sweeeeet! I like saying raunchy stuff! Everyone thinks I don’t but I do! Mexico!”)
Yup. What you said. I do sorta like this interview. That she gravitates to her comfort zone is probably what resulted in her reliable fan base and constricted career.
She really should not make faces or is crying can’t tell but she not a pretty crier if that’s what she doing.
That was really a good interview & I liked Jens responses. She seems honest, humble & really likable. She also seems more confident than she ever has been.
keep spinning lol
Err…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7g0CFcA6ns
Jen’s interview skills leave much to be desired….
Um, did you actually watch that? Because to me, that short interview was fine. She was polite and answered questions from two different reporters at the same time while someone was yanking her along to the next interviewers.
The only part where she seemed tripped up was the last question and that guy had his hand around her waist and was pulling on her to get her move on while she was answering the question.
Thanks for the clip! Not too articulate is she? Who was that sloppy looking guy hovering by her? He was creepy and I was surprised she didn’t shoo him off!
That was a TERRIBLE interview. The questions balls-out sucked, and nobody learned anything new. It’s the interview equivalent of eating a Werthers Original for lunch.
That said, it’s really the interviewer’s fault for being so crappy.
@Zelda, i don’t think Heine or indeed other Jen stans accept that her print interviews are written by her PR team. Many, if not all celebs do that.
That is why there is always such a disconnect between the print vs live interviews.
Aniston is the prefect example of this because she always comes across very well in print and completely inarticulate in live interviews.
So true.
Everything about this woman just screams contrived, to me.
I used to be a writer for a magazine. I had to interview celebrities who are so rude and vacuous in real life, yet after careful editing, they shine on paper. Don’t believe everything that you read folks
Well, she’ll never stray from her talking points. She never really says very much. But you’re also right; the reporter can’t really ask any good questions. It sounded like he wanted to ask something original but it just sounded bizarre.
@LAK-I don’t see much of a disconnect between her print interview and what she was talking about there. She didn’t seem inarticulate until the very last question when she was being physically pulled in another direction and she got a tad flustered. I clearly see something different than you do-you clearly dislike her so anything she does you’ll see in a negative light.
I’m willing to admit that I don’t like some things she does but for the most part I think she’s funny and seems nice. Doesn’t make me a ‘stan’, I just don’t hate her. She might have her people write things but who cares if everyone does it? She sounds the same on tv and in print to me-her ‘um’s and pauses are just taken out.
Diane- I don’t believe everything I read but I believe what I see and hear and she seemed pretty nice and polite in person to those two interviewers who were asking questions at the same time.
I love me some JA, but girl you need to stop fussing with your hair!!!!!!!
Surely she’s wearing extensions? Didn’t she cut her hair to a bob just a few months ago?? Love the colour though much better than the really light blonde she was sporting with the bob that magically grew overnight. I thought she said she hated extensions and that they wreck her hair? I just don’t get this chick.
Her hair is all that is memorable about her.
At least it’s better than being homewrecker and maneater like the other one.
you must be joking right?
@CC …
Oh Gee … let’s ask Heidi Bivens how she feels about that, shall we?
Touché!
*yawn*
she is riveting….just kidding.
seriously. lukewarm plain oatmeal. haha
I agree with spinner. I like her interviews as of late. She seems more relaxed and confident.
And while they did ask her about her hair, I was glad that they also asked her about where the opportunities are for women in film and she had a great response. I think independent films are where all the juicy parts for women are as well.
It’s great that she also talks about female comedians and female-driven comedy.
It’s wonderful that she’s talking about way more than her hair and that she’s talking about subjects appropriate to the magazine. The Hollywood Reporter isn’t going to ask her about Syria, thank god. No one wants to hear that from an actress.
The Hollywood Reporter isn’t going to ask her about Syria, thank god. No one wants to hear that from an actress ahem ahem actress like her…she is air head
this women when she say 2 sentence right you guys sing praise the lord.
I like actors who realize their place in the world as entertainers. I think no American actor has any business talking about Syria especially when promoting a comedy.
I don’t think she’s an airhead either but that’s just my opinion. No one has to share it.
So you are saying that actors should not have an opinion on world’s issues but because they are actors. That is the most crazy thing I ever heard. You really need to think before you post.
islandgirl- That isn’t what I said in the slightest. Yes, actors can have opinions on world like any other person.
What I said:’I think no American actor has any business talking about Syria especially when promoting comedy.’
I do not think they should talk about Syria, specifically and especially if they are promoting a comedy. It’s out of place and inappropriate, in my opinion.
They have every right to have opinions, jeez. Talk about a hyperbolic nonsense.
oh Heine… i know you love her, but you realise it’s her PR team that writes her print interviews. You just basically praised the intern in Huvane’s office.
Oh LAK- I know you despise her so whatever you say about her I’m afraid I just can’t take seriously.
Good for that intern!
Actually, I will praise that intern – s/he managed to make JA sound like a normal person rather than a brainwashed victim of a shelf of self-help books. Huzzah Intern!
@Heine – i don’t despise her. i do point out every time any and all celebrities are praised as per their interviews because people should have learnt to take those with a big pinch of salt.
BTW – i was, once upon a time, such an intern. writing and editing celebrity interviews in a Publicist’s office, so i know what i am talking about.
It really is not a reflection of my opinion on Jen An or any other celebrity except may be Trudy Styler, but that’s a different story….
I watched Office Space recently and I had forgotten that she actually is a good comedic actress.
Oh please, your hair is your BIGGEST thing and we all know it. And it’s not even yours. Bleach and extensions have given you more fame than you would have ever had without them.
No, it’s the two things that must be pixelated.
what IS your greatest feature, JA? your sparkling wit? your amazing personality? what? WHAT???
I’ve always loved her hair styles. I never knew it was extensions. But I can’t hate on her for that.
And it’s so sad she’s delusional about the fact that she’s played Rachel in just about every role she’s ever had.
it goes to show, however, that you don’t have to be a great beauty to be successful in Hollywood. She’s done amazingly well for herself with actually, simple looks and a simple personality. give her kudos for parlaying that into enough money to be more than comfortable for the rest of her life. it’s too bad she never had a child…I think she would have liked being a mom..not that she still can’t but she had better do it soon if she plans on having one of her own. at this point, if she doesn’t get pregnant in the next year, she’ll be struggling by 45 to get pregnant naturally..although I realize nowadays, so many seek fertility help anyways since they seem to wait so long.
I really like her. I like her personality, her humor and how she seems honest about who she is.
Now for the hair comment – At first I said “Ya right” BUT her hair is pretty boring no matter what she does to it. Its almost always styled the same and almost always the same color. Its just kind of blah. To me I love her hair. As a matter of fact have had my color the same shade as her the last couple of summers. However, I could see that she would look in the mirror and just be “Ugh” over her boring, flat hair. So maybe to her its not her greatest feature.
I look in the mirror and see blah with my hair but am often complimented on it. LOL, to which I respond “Are you serious?”
And in my opinion her greatest feature is her bod.
She’s so good at being likeable. I love her for that, its not easy! Especially when part of her job is answering bullshit questions about her hair. How insulting!
All she has ever been is Rachel… and her hair.
I’m amazed by some of you who like her personality. What personality? She is pleasant and somewhat self deprecating. That’s about it. She does nothing and says nothing of interest. It’s a testament to her pr people that she still gets magazine covers.
Bingo… she does not have rich personality and she did not develop one and that effected even her carrier.
many of her fans thinks we hate her , in fact we don’t ..but we can’t keep loving her for Rachel!
art must be full of colors otherwise it will not be art.
I think people are allowed to like her for whatever reason they choose… Jus like those Who dislike her for their own reasons!! She does not have to share everything about herself with the press…. Questions are asked and she answers, jus like many other actresses she has been type cast to play certain roles….some play romantic, some play badasses…. Get over it people……gossip is just gossip!
Hey, wait–she’s quoted as saying she has “curly, uncontrollable hair”??? Color me confused.
Yup, that’s definitely what her hair is like under all the treatments. Hers is a less frizzy version of mine and like most people with naturally curly hair, she’d look much better if she embraced it.
The reason the “Rachel” and her other 90s haircuts were successful was because it was being constantly blowdried her natural wave was giving it extra bounce and movement.
In the past few years I think she’s being doing those permanent straightening treatments and too much bleach, which have basically wrecked it, hence some really dodgy extensions (check out the ones she had during promoting that Gerard Butler flick).
For someone who claims her hair is not her greatest feature, she seems remarkably obsessed by it. In every single interview she is touching her hair every five seconds.
She seems to be extremely self-conscious for a woman her age.
Her hair “styles” – Has she had more than one?
Didn’t she get her face in the rags again just by saying she was going to change her hair color? Her p.r. people should take the long view or the interviews will have even more contradictions.
Yes, she seemed relaxed and confident during the interview. But they are soft easy interviews with soft easy questions that some fans find ‘nice’.
I think ‘lite’ best describes everything about her. What’s strange is the ability for anyone to feel passion or anything above indifference about her.
That’s something I like about both Angelina Jolie & Jennifer Aniston, the ‘stick to your style’ thing. They get called out for being boring, but I can completely identify with the ‘this is what I’m comfortable wearing, I don’t want to change it up, deal with it’ idealogy. But then again, I’m not that into fashion.
Just to clarify, I’m referring to the little black dress response from the interview, not what she’s wearing in these pictures (I’m not crazy about it, but I think it’s the pattern that bugs me)
Does anyone else ever get an urge to go after her hair with a cuticle smoother… leave in conditioner… something? It’s always so frizzy and fly awayish – drives me nuts. Aside from that though, it usually looks pretty decent. ps Jen, I’m afraid your hair actually IS your best feature.
Well, maybe not her best feature, but for sure her ever present nipples were another friends character on the show. We sometimes leave the tv on on comedies reruns , and over time I have noticed that there is hardly a Friends episode where she doesn’t show her nips.
How hard it was to wear a padded bra?. Obviously that was on purpose.
Oh that’s right, I forgot about the nipples… I never watched Friends but I recall hearing about her ongoing nipple display – plus I believe paps caught a lot of nip shots over the years. It must have been her “thing”.
There are lots of episodes where she is letting her nipples see Action!
Over 50 of them! Probably more. Remember what that roomate said about letting the world see you as *uckable?
I forgot all about the jen’s nipple-fest on friends – never seen an episode but have both heard and read that if there weren’t a laugh track, you wouldn’t usually know where the ‘jokes’ were.
It’s hot under those lights, and sometimes ladies have a one-on one-off thing happening, she used silicone nips to get that consistent perfection we have become accustomed to.
Silicone nipples?! Are you serious? You cannot be serious.
I loved Friends when it aired and I remember the nipple incident. It was literally one episode. One. That crap about her nipples is yet another nonsensical half truth spread by folks who dislike her. You’ve never seen an episode but somehow you know that she used silicone nipples?
How long has she been doing the bleach and blow-dry and extensions? Her hair must be in godawful shape. She needs to give it a good conditioning treatment and let it alone for six months at least, or she is going to be bald as an egg.
i like her. shes funny
Jennifer sounds as if she’s ready, willing and able to get to work on a “Friends” sequel movie or mini-series.
@ sunny
i was discussing her art persona not her life , in fact shes the one known for promoting her movie on her new love life not us…go read critic (they say there is not much nudity in film as promoted ) its just PR despite what she was promoting in her interviews on Chelsea or GQ.
this is not art richness ..this is pure incompetence to advertise your movie on nudity factor were its not much of it there!!!!
this is also gossip
I was reading one of those movie web-site where they do the technical stuff on what a movie is slated to make wish I had the web-site, Wunderlust out of the the three movies that they analyzed monetarily is slated to make how much? Over the week-end 10 million, the movie is going to bomb! At the box office that is why they are all over the place Justin doing hand stands on Ellen show, JA talking about her hair, the walk of fame event, probably paid for in advance all were planned to boost attendance at their latest movie.
Aniston replied as she tossed her hair behind her shoulder.
You guys are all nuts!
Er, she talked about her hair because she was asked about her hair.
PLUS, why does everyone always go on about how she’s not a UN Peacekeeper, a volunteer for Meals on Wheels or doing something ‘meaningful’ with her life?
She’s a COMEDIC ACTRESS! Who gives a flying fuck whether she is interested in world affairs or not!
Sheesh. Crazy. Let the girl be. She’s not smoking crack, stumbling out of nightclubs, running over old ladies or not paying her taxes.
Whatevs. She seems nice enough!
^^thank you!!!^^ it’s like all of a sudden every actress needs to become mother Theresa and singlehandedly try to save the world……lol, I think that part is already being played by someone. Leave her alone….. She is fine the way she is and seems extremely happy & in love!
Calling people nuts for the reasons you advance is kinda….nutty too.
If people are overeacting according to you because she talks about her hair while they bring other considerations that have nothing to do with the subject, if they are totally out of subject, what should we call you for calling them nothing short but NUTS ?
@hypocricy. My apologies. I should have been clearer.
The nuts part of the equation is the constant to-ing and fro-ing on this site regarding her vacuousness, vapidity and shallowness versus her niceness, self-deprecation and girl-next-door qualities.
I say – ‘Who GIVES A FLYING F–K? She’s an ACTRESS! Cut her some slack!’.
She’s unapologetic about getting on the turps, having a fag, having a good time. She’s never flown to Kenya and had photo ops with dying orphans. She’s just a nice enough woman doing forgettable comedies.
What’s so wrong with that? I really don’t get why everyone wants to comment on how shallow she is. Most of the world is shallow : )
“saving the planet with Meals on Wheels” – Sorry, every time I see Meals on Wheels I think about that line from Doctor Who.
I like the way Ellen talks about Portia so lovingly and romantically. I think its good for America to see that side of Ellen. She makes everyone feel giddy and romantic and in love, everyone always spills beans on their own romance situation on Ellen. 🙂
That’s correct. It’s her ego.
Everyone knows that she is going to be asked about her hair in most interviews….that’s a given. Yeah, it kinda sucks for her and us.
But does she need to sorta backhand every fan who copied her hairdo? Like it or not that hairdo did help to push her even higher, because Courtney Cox was the bigger star. That hair style got her PR which turned into movie deals.
I was familiar with Jennifer due to comedy skit show, similar to SNL, on Fox, iirc. She really didn’t have much of a career to speak of before Friends.
So fast forward to her most recent hair cut, the bob, a deconstructed “Rachel” no less. And she backhands more women about not wanting to have a hair style connected to the “Housewives” or whatever she said. And yet, months later, here she is with the same damn hair style.
At the time, it seemed like she had damaged hair and didn’t want to admit that’s why she cut it. But why does she have to insult people/women about her hair? It helped to make her famous!?
And let’s be honest, “The Rachel” was due to her fuller face (at the time), with lots of chin. Yes, it may of been damaged, which required a lopping off of inches. But it was her face shape that dictated that cut. As well as, the cleaner lines of mid 90s hairdos, and getting away from the big hair of the 80s.
Fine, Jennifer doesn’t like the do. And she has said for years that she didn’t like the do. But it brought her fame, fans, movie deals, and a lot of women who copied it. And I could it let slide, because she is entitled to say a character’s hairdo wasn’t my favorite.
But like I said earlier, she did it AGAIN with her recent haircut. She backhanded women over the long hair she currently sports again. A hair style which she states in this interview she prefers.
Anyway, long way around to make the point. It seems like she has such a problem with her hair being famous that she keeps insulting other women as a result of it.
Jennifer always make sure one way or another over the years that the public remembers that she starred in ‘Friends’ (while the rest of the ensemble try to break away from the ‘Friends’ label) and that she was formerly married to Brad Pitt and Brad left her for Angelina…blah,(pity her) blah and oh, she has beautiful hair and a super body. Now Chelsea and her E! posse work hard with veiled “humor” to sell us on the name-dropping and the wonderful qualities and beauty of Jenny.
Jennifer and her PR Guru (just follow the Jen/friends-names and PR rep) should have been politicians, cause they sure have been shoving the same old talking points down our throats for years. All hat and no saddle, imho.
The dress is fine. The hair is fine. I like the color of it on Ellen a lot.
But sorry to see the effects of sun and smoking and maybe not such great genes because she is a very rough looking 43. There is no disguising that when you get up close.
Rough looking? Really? I don’t know what people look like where you live, but here in Australia, that’s what we all kinda look like by the time we hit late thirties, early forties.
Its only in HOLLYWEIRD that people are botoxed, plucked, waxed, dermabrased, lasered, peeled, tanned, scrubbed, lifted, highlighted, nipped, tucked, spanxed, depilated, rhinoplasted, augmented and pinned to within an inch of their life.
Everyone else, well, THEYRE the normal ones ; )
PS JA looks like she’s holding out on the botulism. Thats why you think she looks rugged…
yeah, but she HAS been plucked, waxed, dermabrased, lasered, peeled, tanned, scrubbed, lifted, highlighted, nipped, tucked, spanxed, depilated, rhinoplasted, augmented and pinned to within an inch of their life.
And she STILL looks like that. That’s why people think she looks rough for her age.
It’s possible to not have wrinkles, or look aged without Botox, and plastic surgery. My mom’s only just started getting wrinkles she’s in her early 60s, and I’m talking crows feet and smile lines, not deep wrinkles because she doesn’t have any of those. It’s genetics, and lifestyle, too much sun, smoking, and stress are all killers to good skin.
When my parents went to Australia they were told that the sun is much stronger there than in the US. When they came back, they both looked like cooked lobsters, but they had a lot of fun in your neck of the world, Snowpea! 🙂
Runs with Scissors- I agree. Having seen footage of JA from that star event on my HD TV the other night, I couldn’t get over how bad her skin actually is. She had a ton of makeup on to try to cover it, but there was no disguising how rough she really looks. ‘Looks good for her age’ my left foot!
It makes me wonder if the photo agencies do a bit of photoshopping on the pics from these red carpet events.
if her hair isn’t her greatest feature, then why hasn’t she change her hair style the last 1 decade or so?
if you have to remind us all the time about how you don’t curr about your famous hair and that you’re so over it and that you don’t think it’s your best feature blahblahblah then please explain why you keep fiddling with it every 2 seconds? god i can’t bear to watch it anymore. it’s like her hair compulsion is in the way of the monotonous, lifeless, stuttering voice every damn second arghh
*Yawn*
I wonder if she sat through the THR interview playing with her hair constantly *eye roll*.
And speaking of hair, the best she ever looked was way back on Friends when she had that ‘Rachel’ hairstyle. It suited her unusual/mannish features and softened her jaw-line. Its been a downwards boring ‘style’ spiral ever since.
@ Camille (The original) this sfm. every word. she should listen to her genius hairdresser, but she hates what he does for her *eyeroll*
Very good blog post.Many thanks again. Awesome.