I went down a gossip rabbit hole when I was looking up information for this story. As we’ve previewed before, Jennifer Aniston participated in the Los Angeles Times’ Best Actress roundtable discussion this year, which the LAT did with EPIX. Aniston did the roundtable with Jessica Chastain (sure), Gugu Mbatha-Raw (absolutely), Shailene Woodley (what?) and Emily Blunt. Blunt was the one I got stuck on – I thought, “Wait, does she have some awards-bait this year?” I guess she’s there for Into the Woods? But is Blunt really trying for any awards for that? And Shailene isn’t going to be nominated for anything major either… although out of the group, Chastain is the only ones who have managed to get an Oscar nomination in previous years. Update: I always forget that Shailene wasn’t nominated! My bad.
Anyway, in the newly released videos, Aniston talks about the physical side of playing a character in chronic pain. Surprisingly enough, this sort of reminded me of some of Eddie Redmayne’s interviews, where he spoke about having to control his movements to a really precise level. At one point, Aniston says:
“I’m always trying to find the great small roles; the stronger sort of slice of life, complex. And I’ve been doing fart jokes for a long time, which I love immensely, but I think it does allow you to sort of take care of business and then you can also spend the time with these little labors of love which I’ve come to discover you sometimes have to create for yourself… I had a lot of empathy for her, well not Dr. Julia – she’s just god awful and just a horn dog. But I felt extreme… She’s extremely horny. But for Claire I just had a lot of empathy for her struggle and I think she is beautiful. And I think her problems and her choices and her journey is beautiful in the fact that we feel empathy for people going through pain.”
We’ve heard the fart thing before. It’s like she’s trying to follow the Jennifer Lawrence Path! Next she’ll be talking about Doritos, obviously. As for the rest of it… I think she’s telling the truth. She really does try to find smaller projects and interesting work in indies and dramas, but the thing is… very few people in Hollywood really want to cast her in those roles. They’re happy enough putting her in rom-coms or another Horrible Bosses, but no one wants to put her in a straight-up drama at this point.
Here are two videos from EPIX/LAT. (NSFW for one f-bomb in the second video.)
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Shailene Woodley was nominated for an Oscar? Weird.
Well keep searching hun, you might be successful at that one day.
Lol
Shailene surprisingly wasnt nominated for an oscar in the descendants. surprisingly because the movie was nominated for literally everything else. she only got the globes nomination (deserved imo)
JA always has the best purses. Always. This is all I’ve got.
If by slice of life roles she means taking a page out of her own autobiography in asking men to use her as a bathroom then, well done – you achieved your goal.
Now go away.
Urinal cake
Yes! I see it! Her role in “We’re the Millers” was totally an important piece of work! 🙂
I lIke Jennifer and wish her the best! Stop picking on her! !
For Pete’s sake, nobody’s picking on her. She’s a big girl, she can handle some honest criticism. If she can’t take any heat, she should get the heck out of the kitchen.
Yes, a nymphomaniac dentist and a broken down stripper are but two examples of the impactful, thought-provoking, every-woman roles this talented, insightful actress has given us. Brava, Jen! Brava!
Awesome. And seriously whose she kidding with this schtick. She hasn’t been in an indie movie in years. Anytime she tries to headline a movie on her own or co-lead it has failed miserably.
Wrong! I just watched Life of Crime. She held her own.
Held her own???
I saw the movie as well. She was stale in that role.
But her endless patting herself on the back gets her on this kind of panel – and listed as an “Oscar contender” in People magazine. Can you pay for that? It’s like she wished it into reality.
Her Oscar nom campaign makes me cringe with embarrassment for her. Sending baked goods to critics because the movie is called Cake? Egad.
What are her serious roles then because she’s been farting ever since Friends ended. The only serious role I ever saw her in was The Good Girl which, again, I love(d)!
“Just Go With It”, “Horrible Bosses”, “Along Came Polly”, aren’t those serious roles lol? I honestly don’t have strong feelings about Her but I’ve always felt she was a romantic comedy sort of person. I enjoy her movies but she’s never really been a serious movie person (with the exception of maybe two movies in her entire filmography).
Good Girl is the only one that comes to mind… Which was decent, esp compared to the rest of her output.
I wish actors were just honest – “yeah, I make dumb $hit. It’s what pays for my lifestyle.” The end.
If she would, finally be honest – “No I don’t want kids, never did; I like drinking and smoking and hanging out with my friends. I don’t care that Brad left me, I care that the attention I received as Mrs. Brad Pitt has left me. I like being famous and I make any movie I’m offered and manipulate the media as much as I can to stay in the public eye” – I would be the first to congratulate her, and I’d never snark on her again.
@epiphany – me too! i would def give that a “hell yeah!”
i remember “Derailed” with Vincent Cassel and “Rock Star”. Solid movies.
The rest is more TV or rom-com. I don´t think they want to cast her in serious roles… cinema-goers are used to see her in romantic comedies. Many “light” actors fail with “serious” projects. Look at some comedy actors (f.e. Jim Carey, Robin William) and american sweethearts (Meg Ryan). They all tried it at some point and the movies bombed.
i don’t know how “eternal sunshine of a spotless mind” did money-wise, but carey was excellent in it. it wasn’t an acting fail by any stretch. same with robin williams – “fisher king,” “awakenings,” “dead poets society,” and “good will hunting” come to mind off the top of my head. he was great in all those serious roles (not sure how any besides “GWH” did money-wise).
aniston will never come close to those two when it comes to serious acting. which is fine – not all actors are the same caliber.
@Artemis, who wrote: “What are her serious roles then because she’s been farting ever since Friends ended. The only serious role I ever saw her in was The Good Girl which, again, I love(d)! ”
Oh but let’s not forget “Derailed” with Clive Owen.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0398017/?ref_=nv_sr_1
To me, “Derailed” is a hard-core drama on a higher caliber than “The Good Girl” or “Object of My Affection” or “Management” or any of the other ‘dramas’ she’s been in. Or perhaps it’s just that she couldn’t hold her own with Clive Owen, who is no light weight. Whatever the reason, I think she fails horribly in the film. It’s as if she’s acting like she ‘thinks’ she should be acting in a drama role opposite Clive Owen instead of going deep inside herself to pull out a dramatic performance.
I heard she’s been trying to bribe critics with cupcakes.
If she makes some kind of grass cupcakes, the critics might end up seeing good acting.
and… where is Adriana Barraza? she was the best in the movie according to critics, but she seems disposable next to Aniston.
… oops I forgot, this is the “Aniston moment”.
That story made me curious how common it is for award voters to be sent little “incentives” to keep potential nominees on the forefront. Is it just a common PR practice? If so, she should have come up with something better.
http://thefilmexperience.net/blog/2014/12/5/monty-the-cat-pundit-smells-a-jennifer-aniston-surprise.html
I think it’s common though it’s not allowed by AMPAS.
Can you imagine any of us in the “real world” trying to bribe our employers in order to get promotions? That’s what this amounts to IMO. It’s pathetic and we would not only be laughed at but may be fired for our trouble. This just confirms that some actors are just insecure millionaires with monumentally fragile egos. SMH
IMO there should be no campaigning at all. Let the work speak for itself, I say.
I’m really curious what others have sent out. Who is the most creative and who spends the most on gifts? Really the members should be kept anonymous just to avoid ridiculousness. And the campaigning is so inane. Jen Aniston has a few rough edges that need polishing before she does these kind of serious sit downs. She just seems so inarticulate and crass. How many others that have joined in any of the round tables have slipped the word fart in? Really now? I hope she can slip it into her acceptance speech as well.
Good gracious. She’s was not able to complete a single sentence in that clip. One long, run-on, slurring crude mess. And she just can’t resist complaining about needing back-rubs.
The other actresses are looking at her and trying to hold in their “WTF, is she doing here?”
It was painful listening to her and watching the expressions of the others.
I don’t think she is terribly engaging or a terribly good actress or terribly attractive but she has great PR and management . But , good for her, it has worked for a long time.
I have agreed that she does have great PR and management, but they really failed her here. Where is the “campaign prep?” She has no talking points. If this was her audition to be taken seriously by her peers, well, it didn’t work.
She always stumbles and slurs her way through interviews. Her fans point to this as proof of how “cute” and “adorable” she is. 🙄
That video looked like sophisticated ladies having a party and inviting the village idiot for their amusement. The looks on their faces were priceless, especially the one in the suit and the one with the red dress
Emily Blunt was nominated for devil wears Prada. Sha is there because she will eventually be nominated. What Jennifer is doing there I have no idea.
She only received a Globe nod not an Oscar one. I had thought she received one for Young Victoria so had to go check.
I thought she was nominated for young Victoria also. They made such a big deal about it. She’s very talented. Favorite mean girl in Prada
Her publicity machine had something to do with it I’m sure.
Ugh, go away.
Not without feeding you UNWANTED CAKE lol
She’s fronting like she’s an indie regular!!!!
If she truly was an indie darling, she’d change her acting style and be a true thespian such that we could truly see a difference between each role, no matter how successful the film was and her blockbuster stuff.
If RDJ made this comment, I would be more inclined to believe him because the proof is available. JA saying makes me think she’s joking or she’s truly delusional as a result of living in her special bubble.
Yeah….she’s also fronting like she doesn’t have more money than everyone in that room put together…..so even if she couldn’t find anyone to hire her for those “great, small, slice of life roles”, then she could CREATE one.
The more I see of her, the more I see that she really is just content with life passing her by. Me and my godmother had this convo, as we’re very similar–both sort of introverted, both content to just do our work and go home–which is why my godmother isn’t married with kids (when she really wanted to be).
Jennifer says she wants all of these things, acts like she wants all of these things, but can’t front it. I’m sure that based on the attention that her name would give alone, that tons of directors with projects would’ve hired her in a heartbeat. But she probably would’ve had to help finance it and/or take a (big) paycut. Something she really didn’t seem to want to do.
I’m just wondering how her career is gonna go next year–especially if she doesn’t get nominated in any capacity for ‘Cake’.
If she flatlined with awards for this, with all her flops recently, I can see her sticking to rom coms but playing the mom or overbearing, comical MIL. Or more supporting roles in ensemble casts. Or if she wises up she’ll take a tv role and probably regain a lot of her Rachel popularity.
I’m not entirely sure what constitutes an indie movie, but she’s done 3 small films in 2 years. Life of Crime, Cake and She’s Funny That Way. None of which are the most amazing thing ever, but all of which got/are getting solid reviews. Life of Crime was really enjoyable and Aniston held her own.
She also broke out of the rom-com scene a few years ago with comedies like Horrible Bosses and We’re the Millers, so she is trying to change things up.
I never thought Jennifer Aniston had great acting chops. She’s ok and very likable in her films including Horrible Bosses. Hopefully she’s better than ok in Cake though.
Where is Justin? Why is there no mention of him? Have they split? They haven’t been seen together in a while.
she needs to say stuff like this because it justifies her doing smaller movies – life of crime and cake etc. because none of the so called big budget movies have been that great because of her- hb1 did well because of the guys everything else she hasdone have been flops regardless. HB2 another flop etc. no one wants her to front any big budget hw flick esp since there are so many better actreesses around
This is so much worse than I’d thought. She needed a *prop* to stay in character?!?
Kaiser, you buried the lede
All the spotlight to Aniston, wish Adriana’s performance received, which is the stronger performance on the film, some nominations on this year’s awards season
Oh, I’ve got so much secondhand embarrassment over her obvious Oscar begging- I’ve read several PR planted interviews that say she’s in “the thick of the Oscar talk” but… She’s not. She’s not on anyone’s predictions on Gold Derby, she hasn’t been nominated for a single critic award, she didn’t get an indie spirit nom (her best shot, imo). Maybe she’ll get a Globe nom, though even that seems less likely than it did last month. But an Oscar nom isn’t gonna happen.
CONGRATS JA for your SAG Award nomination for Cake. I’m sure this will confound / piss off all those who try to tear you down!