Jennifer Aniston has discussed some of the downsides of working in show business to The Hollywood Reporter this week.
Talking with her fellow roundtable attendees – Naomi Watts, Brie Larson, Anna Sawai, Jodie Foster, Nicole Kidman and Sofia Vergara – Aniston said she really did not like auditioning.
And testing to see if she had chemistry with a costar was especially bad, said the ex of Brad Pitt who has worked with many A-list actors including Ben Affleck, Adam Sandler, Jason Bateman and Owen Wilson, though she did not name who she had to kiss.
‘When you’re in an audition room, you’re already at a disadvantage,’ said the Friends veteran.
‘Maybe you’d have chemistry with this person if you were in a different environment, and not, like, “Create chemistry. Ready? Go!”‘
Jennifer Aniston has discussed some of the downsides of working in show business to The Hollywood Reporter this week
Talking with her fellow roundtable attendees – Naomi Watts, Brie Larson, Anna Sawai, Jodie Foster, Nicole Kidman and Sofia Vergara – Aniston said she really did not like auditioning
She added, ‘And I’m a terrible auditioner, always was. I waitressed forever before I could finally get something, which was a Bob’s Big Boy commercial.
‘So, if you’re a nervous auditioner to begin with, to then say, “Now let’s have you make out with a complete stranger,” it’s very uncomfortable.’
Aniston added it would be better if the casting directors tried to make the actors feel more relaxed.
‘Put some music on or something,’ the actress suggested.
Aniston did not say when the chemistry tests took place, but they were likely before she landed Friends in 1994.
Jennifer also talked working on dramas.
‘Well, living in that dark space as a comedian, ultimately, when I started, it’s really hard. That’s why I listen to SmartLess on my way to and from work [on Morning Show], just to laugh and get out of that [headspace],’ she said.
‘I don’t live in my character, which I know some people do. I choose to just get rid of it as fast as I can. And then I usually say, when I’m done [with the season], “I need a comedy right now.”’
And Jennifer also shared that she can get insecure about acting.
‘I was just going to say, every time I go to work, even when I start the next season of The Morning Show, I’ll think, “I don’t know how to do this.” It’s like I have absolutely zero memory of how to be an actor.’
The cake actress also said she is less worried about fame as she gets older.
‘I just think the older you get, the more “f**k it” you get,’ she shared.
And testing to see if she had chemistry with a costar was especially bad, said the ex of Brad Pitt ‘When you’re in an audition room, you’re already at a disadvantage,’ said the Friends veteran. ‘Maybe you’d have chemistry with this person if you were in a different environment, and not, like, “Create chemistry. Ready? Go!”‘
Here she is seen about to kiss David Schwimmer on Friends
Also in her HR interview she revealed she has leaned on her longtime pal, Nicole Kidman, in the past while reflecting on the importance of having female friends in their industry.
When asked who in their field has helped her navigate through ‘tougher or lonelier parts’ of life, the star recalled how the 56-year-old Oscar winner provided her support while filming their 2011 comedy, Just Go with It.
‘When we did that movie in Hawaii [2011’s Just Go With It], you helped me out on a lot of hard things that I was going through,’ Aniston told Kidman while participating in roundtable discussion with The Hollywood Reporter, alongside Jodie Foster, Brie Larson, Naomi Watts, Ana Sawai and Sofía Vergara.
She continued: ‘Just to have that community, it’s very helpful.’
Aniston did not elaborate on she was experiencing, at the time, but later, bonded with Larson, 34, over how ‘connecting with other women has been a game changer’ for her as an actress.
One of her costars was Vince Vaughn on The Breakup which led to dating; seen in 2006
‘It’s so true,’ Aniston said, after the Room star spoke about going out of her way to ‘to make friends with other women in the industry because there was usually just one woman on a job.’
Additionally, Aniston admitted to getting emotional as she listened to Kidman talk about feeling weighed down by some of the dark roles she’s taken on over the years.
Kidman, who played the role of an abused wife on HBO’s series Big Little Lies, admitted that it was tough acting out domestic violence for upwards of 12 to 14 hours a day on set.
‘But there’s a way in which we operate where the show must go on, and so you just keep going — you show up and you do it and do it and do it and do it,’ she said. ‘And there really isn’t the time to go, ‘I need to take care of myself.”
The Moulin Rouge star added that ‘it’s very tough on the psyche’ and after her film, Expats, she did a comedy because she ‘went crazy with’ her ‘own psychology.’
Vergara responded: ‘The body doesn’t know that what you’re going through [isn’t real].’
Aniston (R) revealed she has leaned on her longtime pal, Nicole Kidman (L), while reflecting on the importance of having female friends in their industry; seen in 2011
Kidman concluded: ‘It doesn’t. But the idea of being able to go and get a massage or a hot bath or even a pat on the back, just someone touching you and going, ‘It’s OK.”
Aniston, then told Kidman, that her words got her ‘a little teared up.’
In response, Kidman reminded her pal and the other actresses on the panel that ‘the reach out for each other is so important.’
Aniston and Kidman first met at a Golden Globes party in 2005.
While recalling the first time they crossed paths, Aniston told Harper’s Bazaar back in 2011 that it was a ‘typical Hollywood story’ and that they shared ‘an agent.’
‘I remember meeting this tall, beautiful woman who was there with her mom and dad. I was completely starstruck, while she was nothing but gracious,’ the Golden Globe winner gushed.
She continued: ‘I loved her immediately. We’ve run into each other over the years, keeping in touch. But it was Adam Sandler, of all people, who brought us together in Hawaii to film the comedy Just Go With It.’
