Jennifer Aniston: ‘I really do want to be a superhero, wouldn’t that be fun?’

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Jennifer Aniston is still shilling her Cake. She’s already gotten Golden Globe and SAG nominations, now she’s got to hustle for the next four weeks to see if she can get an Oscar nomination. And if she does, then there will be even more hustling. This week, Jennifer attended a “VIP screening” hosted by Wendy Finerman and Liv Tyler, then Jennifer got a special luncheon thrown by Marlo Thomas (her Friends mom) and Arianna Huffington. Aniston also did a Lincoln Center screening and Q&A session with Anna Kendrick, which THR covered.

Seated at the front of Lincoln Center’s Francesca Beale Theater, Jennifer Aniston and Anna Kendrick reflected on the joys of making independent film, particularly amidst the big-budget projects in which they frequently appear.

“We approach our work the same, by doing as honest and true of a job to what the character it is,” said Aniston to an audience that had just seen her turn as pain-ridden Claire in the upcoming Cake. “If it’s playing a sexually-addicted deviant dentist [as in the Horrible Bosses films], then I will play that with all my heart, or someone who’s in a different kind of support group.”

For Aniston, an independent film like Cake allows for more creative freedom and, in turn, greater self-expression as an actor. “We have thousands of crazy characters in our heads, just banging to get out of the closet; it’s just whether or not we’re given the opportunity to do it. Sometimes we are, and sometimes you have to bang your drum a little louder and take bigger risks. I find that so fun.” She aimed to demonstrate the kind of emotional range and physicality that she “hadn’t been able to do in a long, long time, really, if ever.”

When asked by moderator Annette Insdorf about further involvement directing and producing, Aniston answered emphatically. “That’s a bug that gets you once you do it. We’re just waiting for the proper window of time and the proper piece of material. There has been a beautiful project that was about to happen that ended up falling apart for all sorts of reasons. … Maybe it’s being a control freak, I don’t know, but wanting to be a part of a seed and seeing it turn into something wonderful is exciting. It’s fun to explore other areas of our industry other than being an actor-for-hire. It’s quite fulfilling.”

As the THR-sponsored evening concluded, the final audience question asked which characters Aniston and Kendrick would most like to play. “I think what we really want to do is work with great people, tell great stories about extremely wonderful, complicated human beings and the human experience.” Aniston said. Yet she still added, “I really do want to be a superhero, too. I’ve said it! But wouldn’t that be fun?”

[From THR]

Jennifer as a superhero? Um. I mean, I get why she’s throwing that out there – she wants what Gwyneth Paltrow has, which is a high-profile, high-paying gig in a superhero franchise without having to carry the project. That’s Aniston’s goal. As for the rest of it… pretty typical Oscar campaign shill.

What else? Time Magazine has an essay “thanking” Aniston for her words about being childfree – go here to read. And Us Weekly apparently has a story this week about Jennifer and Justin Theroux having a “bad fight” over Thanksgiving. Aniston allegedly “had too much to drink” (of course she did) and told Justin’s parents that Justin had become a “bore”. Jennifer was embarrassed when she sobered up the next day and Justin was “livid” so Jennifer is going to take him away to Cabo for Christmas as an apology. Gossip Cop says it never happened though… but I don’t know. I kind of believe Us Weekly.

Photos courtesy of WENN, Getty.

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78 Responses to “Jennifer Aniston: ‘I really do want to be a superhero, wouldn’t that be fun?’”

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  1. QQ says:

    yeah.. her superpowers would be Misdirection and “Hair”

  2. Tateru says:

    Her timing is fantastic. No one is bored with superheros or nuffin. Keep em comin’

    • mimif says:

      She has a solid foundation of experience to draw from, for your stripper superhero franchise you were just talking about. We’re The Millers was just method acting.

  3. aims says:

    OMG! Can you imagine getting so sh*tty drunk at your boyfriend’s parents home that you filter goes off and you let everything out?!?! I bet it was hysterical.

    • Square Bologna says:

      That’s her superpower. The power of truth. She’s Boozegirl! 😉

    • Janet says:

      The really funny thing is that his family probably thinks she’s the one who’s boring. His family is quite literary and she talks like she has vacuum between the ears.

  4. Abbott says:

    The Aniston-US Weekly rivalry is my favorite. I was wondering when they were going to drop an Aniston story.

  5. starrywonder says:

    Jesus no. I doubt anyone is looking her way. God if someone even mentions her and Carol Danvers I will burn the damn internet to the ground!

    • Amy Tennant says:

      Carol needs to be someone like Katee Sackhoff.

    • fritanga says:

      Well, if Paltrow can suggest that someone should put her in a movie in which she flies around saving the world (yeah, Paltrow – not Scarlett Johansson, not Emma Stone, not Anna Kendrick – PALTROW), I suppose Aniston can suggest it too. I’m sure Hollywood will be queueing up to put 40+-year-old women in superhero costumes, you betcha.

  6. tracking says:

    She called him a bore? Wow, that’s a pretty tame fight. Did he run out of the room crying? The superhero thing is silly–as great as she looks, she’s aged out for sure.

  7. scout says:

    She can be a Superwitch Sandwich superhero, drink lot of potion, get on the broom, chase Angelina and Brad all over the World to be a sandwich superwitch! I had too much coffee today 😀

  8. sophie says:

    I wonder who from US Weekly was actually at her Thanksgiving dinner with her family that made up this story. Just like when the tabs are there to report on supposed telephone conversations.

  9. kibbles says:

    I’m not a fan of Gwyneth Paltrow but she is way out of Jennifer Aniston’s league. Aniston would have never been able to pull off the role of Viola in Shakespeare in Love. She would be even more boring than Paltrow as Pepper in Iron Man. Aniston is a very one dimensional actress. There are some independent roles that she pulls off like in The Good Girl and Management. She’s a B-list talent and comedian better suited for television roles but who happens to receive A-list publicity. I just can’t take her seriously in a major movie role even as a love interest in a superhero franchise.

    • perplexed says:

      She has the body type for being a super-hero…I think. Maybe she’s a bit short by super-hero standards (i.e Jennifer Garner?), but she’s fit. Isn’t that usually what’s required?

      Did Gwyneth actually play a superhero, or just the girlfriend?

      Aniston has complimented Gwyneth so she’d probably agree that Gwyneth is out of her league. The weird thing is that I think Aniston would make a better super-hero than Gwyneth because she doesn’t look quite as worn out. Gwyneth always looks tired from her dieting and hanging out with Tracey Anderson.

      • Amy Tennant says:

        Goop played a girlfriend, but a strong girlfriend who actually got to put the Iron Man armor on once. Her character did become a superhero in the comics, called Rescue, but she wasn’t Rescue yet in the movies.
        I’m sure I can come up with a decent superhero identity for Aniston, but it will take some thinking.

  10. OhDear says:

    She and Cumberbatch can do a superhero romantic comedy together!

    /runs away

    • annie says:

      She is too old for cumberbatch and she is too old to play any superhero. maybe she can spoof one in one of those spoof comedy films. ha ha

  11. minx says:

    She can’t do a superhero for the same reason she can’t do period pieces–she has a strictly contemporary look. Her hair has to always be arranged a certain way to hide her ears; she has to be tan, have waxed eyebrows and contact lenses.

    • FingerBinger says:

      If Winona Ryder can do period pieces then Jennifer Anniston can do them too.

      • cibele says:

        Haha, thank you so much. I just pictured Aniston in settlers’ garb yelling at John Proctor, like in the Crucible. Too funny.

      • perplexed says:

        Winona is a pretty bad actress. She’s beautiful and has amazing skin, but a bad actress. Even when she guest-starred on Friends, she wasn’t that good.

      • The Original G says:

        Winona is a very good actress.

        Lol, that being “good” on Friends is some kind of acting standard.

      • perplexed says:

        A lot of people think Winona is a bad actress. I don’t know why that’s hard to believe. It’s difficult for her to play a fully realized adult, and a lot of people have acknowledged that. Even reviewers who find her very beautiful have conceded this. Everyone thinks her career tanked because of the shoplifting scandal, but the other part of the equation is she can’t play above 21 years of age with her girlish speaking voice. There’s a reason Aniston’s nemesis, Angelina Jolie, managed to snag attention away from Winona during Girl, Interrupted. She peaked in her teen years. She may try hard and try to diversify her roles, but trying isn’t the same as actually being good. Her performance in Dracula was pretty dreadful. And the reason I referenced Friends is not because it’s a standard for acting, but because even next to Lisa Kudrow and Jennifer Aniston and the rest of the people on that show (who are not considered master thespians), she still couldn’t measure up as well. You can laugh at the reference to Friends all you want, but if you look bad next to the other Friends actors, I would suspect that means you’re not that good.

        I can see the characterization of Kate Winslet or Cate Blanchett as being a bad actress as sparking a lot of disagreement and an lol, but saying Winona Ryder is a bad actress really isn’t a controversial opinion. Like Natalie Portman, Winona has a face that’s easy to stare at on film, but once she actually starts speaking….

      • cibele says:

        I like Ryder as an actress. I also like Portman as an actress. I think Aniston in a corset would be hilarious.
        It’s just a matter of taste, and there can be no disputes.

      • perplexed says:

        That’s fine; you’re right — it is a matter of taste. But I think my overall point is that it wouldn’t necessarily be weird that some people might consider Ryder a bad or less than good actress either. In that sense her overall reputation, at this stage in her career, is a little similar to Aniston’s. She doesn’t have the untouchable reputation of someone like Meryl Streep or, heck, even Jennifer Lawrence!. Compare Meryl Streep or Judi Dench or whoever to Aniston, and, yeah, people have a much bigger leg to stand on in saying the two aren’t comparable or that Meryl Streep is a “real actress” compared to Aniston. But Winona? They’re at the same level reputation-wise for their acting (i.e having their acting scrutinized for not being that good) at this point in their careers. Twenty years ago, this would have been unthinkable, and unheard of to say with respect to Winona. But Winona hasn’t maintained her reputation the way other actresses in her age range have. Even Julia Roberts has managed to get some respect while Winona seems to have gone adrift reputation-wise. People blame the shoplifting scandal, but she seemed to be overshadowed by other actors, including Angelina Jolie, long before that.

  12. DenG says:

    Do you think she’ll do a “For Your Consideration” blast like Melissa Leo? I really want to see Julianne Moore ramp it up, but maybe she doesn’t need to.

  13. Rena says:

    She has aged out of superhero film roles at almost 46 years old unless she wants to play minor roles like Superman’s mother or Alfred’s spinster sister in Batman or Spidey’s older aunt or a terrified bystander in Transformers or in a Marvel film. She does not fit into the narrow criteria for almost all women except for maybe GP in major roles in superhero films as written today. Well maybe Groot’s tree wife-e is possible.

    I guess that is the type role and paycheck she might be going after next. She can produce it like she has done with cake.

    • lrm says:

      RDJ is over 50 and Affleck is in his 40’s. Ruffalo played hulk in his 40’s not that long ago. Renner is 40 something. If there ever were a movie made about a female superhero [not just eye candy scarjo alongside], a 40 something actress would be great. Sandra Bullock would be fabulous in that-she has screen presence and comedic timing and can do over the top pretty well [even though she’s not ‘the best’ actress]. I’d love to see an ensemble: Bullock with her fellow superhero sidekicks-Emily Blunt could be one, who else? Winslet? No, she’s probably too heavy hitting on the screen for that. Emily is really talented and she also has the unique gift of being able to give those less talented the space to shine, at the same time. She elevates them rather than overtaking them. Anyway, who else? I don;t see Aniston playing this role, but I like that she said it here. She does have influence in hollywood and people listen. So….maybe she’s putting it out there and it will get some traction?

      • tracking says:

        lrm, of course you’re right in principle, but Hollywood is notoriously unkind to women over 40. I really can’t think of a 30ish woman who could sell a superhero(ine) role…maybe Rosamund Pike?

    • perplexed says:

      I could see Sandra Bullock being a super-hero even though she’s 50.

  14. minx says:

    Why not a David Mamet play, or something Shakespearean? The sky’s the limit!

  15. lrm says:

    But why would she want ‘high profile and high paying’? I think she wants the ‘carrying the movie’ role, tbh. She’s already very famous and wealthy. She is a savvy businesswoman. So, I don’t think she wants what Paltrow wants at all. I think she wants to be taken seriously as an actress. I still think she would have been a better comedic actress a la Steve Martin, etc. if she’s honed that skill further. She is funny and has good comedic timing IMO. But people don’t respect comedy as much-or it gets lumped in with romantic comedy anymore.
    The story about thanksgiving sounds strange and likely made up. It’s too specific in terms of conversation to have been ‘leaked’. lol. Also, if it was an AJ story, I bet this article would have ended with ‘well, it’s US Weekly, don’t believe it.’ (: lol

  16. Emma - the JP Lover says:

    I like how some people only say something like this when the thread is about Jennifer Aniston. Of course a ‘source close to Jennifer’ confided to “US” magazine. Why would ‘this’ sourced story be any harder to believe than the other ‘sourced’ stories reported here?

    • Jadzia says:

      Yeah, Marlo Thomas was SUCH a beautiful woman. A haircut, a better bra, and a more-flattering dress would do wonders.

      Edited to Add: This comment didn’t nest right! It should have been in response to Esmom.

  17. Carrie says:

    No. A Jennifer Aniston superhero movie is one movie I absolutely DO NOT want.

  18. gio says:

    Not gonna happen jen, not gonna happen

  19. kri says:

    AJ , look no further!! Here is your new Cleopatra!!!! Just think about how Neil Degrasse Tyson and Michio Kaku could have fun explaining how the ‘Vers MELTED down because AJ and Ja teamed up and camped the hell out of Cleo! Actually, F you Scott Rudin, That might be awesome.

  20. Nicole says:

    Haha nobody wants that. She’s just not fun. At all. She’s very charming and sweet and she can even do a sort of dark, serious, sociopath ok. But NOT a superhero.

    • doofus says:

      well, I disagree on the “fun” part. this is a woman who (allegedly) has a margarita fountain at her house, so I think she’s probably a lot of fun…

      …but I agree on NOT a superhero. unless it’s something like “My Super Ex-girlfriend”, that Uma Thurman movie.

  21. Nicole says:

    Oh! Um… trash? Bit harsh. I’m not even a fan but she doesn’t seem like trash to me.

  22. Esmom says:

    Yeah, I almost didn’t recognize Marlo Thomas either. That doesn’t look like natural aging, eek.

  23. Sean says:

    Maybe they could make a movie out of Garth Ennis/Amanda Connor the Pro. She might be too bad at that.

    • susannej says:

      You mean … this Comic-Superhero?
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pro_%28comics%29
      “Plot

      A parody of mainstream superhero comics, it details the brief career of a prostitute given superhuman powers by the Viewer. She reluctantly joins the League of Honor, composed of the Saint, the Knight & the Squire, the Lady, the Lime, and Speedo.

      Together they fight an array of lackluster villains such as The Noun and The Adverb, until her coarse language and actions, violence, bloody retributions, and her fellating The Saint result in her being expelled from the League. She rejoins them to fight a terrorist attack, flying into space holding a nuclear bomb and facing death (more in an effort to save the life of her young child than anyone else in the vicinity).

      Later editions feature an additional eight-page story entitled “The Pro Vs. The Ho” in which the Pro squares off with a 12-armed prostitute. In the story, the Ho receives powers in much the same way that the Pro does via the alien “Viewer” that orbits the Earth in a cloaked ship. Because the Pro has superpowers, she is able to perform sex acts using superspeed. The problem arises when several of the Johns complain that by the time they relax enough to enjoy themselves, their “job” is over. The Ho then appears and confronts the Pro, who knocks her into the river and eventually saves her from drowning. Subsequently the two women get to know one another. The Ho explains that she never wanted superhuman powers, and all she ever wanted to do was work with small animals as a veterinarian. The Pro resolves to take the Ho to animal husbandry facility where she uses all 12 of her arms to “service” the animals for breeding.”

      mmmmmkay.

  24. perplexed says:

    To do a super-hero role, isn’t the big criteria working out a lot? (that’s all I’ve gleaned from Jennifer Garner’s discussions about Ben Affleck’s Batman body). If Scarlett Johannsson can be cast as some kind of super-hero, I figure it’s a possibility for anybody who puts in the time and effort to exercise, which Aniston does a lot, to get cast. I don’t think of acting talent as the biggest criteria for getting a super-hero role (is Ryan Reynolds considered that talented?). I figure that’s why Chris Pratt got cast as a super-hero (he completely transformed his body). RDJ and Christian Bale are talented (though I consider that a happy coincidence in their willingness to take on those roles) but the rest of those guys? Talent doesn’t come to mind right away for a super-hero role. So I actually think Aniston’s aspiration to be a super-hero isn’t that weird.

  25. buffylover1234 says:

    Yeah, but fun for who, Jen? Certainly not for movie-goers.

  26. Alma says:

    Superheros are young, shes almost 50, no matter how short her skirts are!

  27. Pandora says:

    It reminds me when Jen said she wanted to be a Bond girl. I googled it: ‘I get offered funny, quirky, pretty roles. I’d love to do an action movie. James Bond. Glamour. Daniel Craig. S**t-loads of fun.’ Lol, yeah right, keep dreaming. She tries so hard to stay relevant or somebody she is not, she seems almost desperate. She is cute but she is no Monica Belluci (who ended up being the “older” Bond girl).

    The worst is that her campaign for her oscar is working. There was no buzz about cake, but now she kept getting nominations instead of Amy Adams or Gugu Mbatha-Raw. I wish Gugu would be more present during the award season, she is so lovely and she is the one deserving more award buzz and opportunities. She had a good year, I hope we will see more of her.

  28. Sunnnn says:

    Come on Jennifer.. Don’t you missing something? Earn yourself a street cred first.
    It’s so annoying to watch her complaining about the fame one day, and use it as a ladder the next day, so annoying.

  29. June says:

    Come on Jennifer.. Aren’t you missing something? Earn yourself a streey crd first.
    It’s so annoying to watch her complain about the fame one day and use it as a ladder the next day.

  30. sunny says:

    Come on Jennifer.. Aren’t you missing something? Earn yourself a street cred first.
    It’s so annoying to watch her complain about the fame one day and then use it as the ladder the next day..

  31. melain says:

    Lol. Yeah right. You’re super delusional.

  32. Amy Tennant says:

    Found it– can she do a British accent?
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godiva_%28comics%29