ANISTON. Earning rave reviews for her portrayal of a troubled woman in “Cake.” RUBEN V. NEPALES
LOS ANGELES—Jennifer Aniston, fetching in a gray top and skirt one recent afternoon in LA, spoke lovingly about her fiancé, actor Justin Theroux. “There are so many qualities in Justin that I find incredible—his kindness toward others, honesty, talent and extreme empathy,” she said. “He’s got an extremely wicked and fun sense of humor.”
“We’re of course planning that (to get married and start a family),” Jennifer said in reply to a question. “But, we don’t feel any rush. We don’t feel less ‘partnered,’ because we don’t have a piece of paper—there’s a lot of pressure on that. We try not to pay attention to it and just live our lives.’
“Yeah,” the actress answered when asked if she was looking forward to having children. The couple got engaged two years ago.
On whether lessons from past relationships help make this one with Justin a better one, Jennifer pointed out, “They’re life lessons that allow you to grow. You keep growing. I might be a late bloomer in terms of all that. I just met my best friend.”
Jennifer and Justin live in a Bel-Air mansion that she actively took part in renovating and decorating. “I’m taking a break from decorating, or at least I’ve been told to,” she said with a laugh.
When they moved into their Bel-Air digs, Jennifer, who loves to decorate homes, said no to some pieces of Justin, who likes to collect medical ephemera. Justin comes from a family steeped in journalism—mom Phyllis is a writer who worked for The Washington Post; several of his uncles and cousins are writers, including Paul Theroux.
“Justin’s got an eclectic sense of (decorating) style,” Jennifer explained. “He has pieces that he collected many years ago. So, these wax figures of syphilis mouths aren’t featured in the living room.” Apparently, those are wax museum pieces from the 1800s—handmade open mouths showing different stages of being ravaged by diseases. Eclectic, indeed.
Similar tastes
Other than Justin’s taste for curiosities, Jennifer stressed, “We actually have very similar tastes. We love doing that together. We got through rebuilding our house. Most people say it can destroy a relationship, but we had so much fun doing it.”
She gushed about Justin’s HBO series. “I’m a huge fan of ‘The Leftovers.’ I respect him so much! We have real and beautiful respect for each other, which is great!”
In Daniel Barnz’s “Cake,” Jennifer is earning good reviews for her portrayal of a troubled woman in a dubious relationship with a widower (Sam Worthington) while confronting hallucinations of his dead wife (Anna Kendrick).
“It’s hard to even put words to,” Jennifer remarked about the film’s favorable notices. “It’s exciting! It’s so flattering, humbling and overwhelming. We all poured our hearts into this little gem of a film, so that even getting this kind of discussion about the film is satisfying to us. We worked really hard and tried to be truthful to this woman’s story. That in itself is enough and wonderful.”
“Cake” essays the frustration of Jennifer’s character who’s in pain, physically and emotionally. “I try to pause whenever I feel anger” in real life, she explained. “I’m not a yeller. I’m not someone who loses control. That’s maybe because I grew up with people who lost control. I learned from that—what not to do. I feel that there are better ways of communicating, to be heard when you’re angry.
“I can’t fathom going through the loss that she has gone through. I would be pretty pissed off and angry at the world.”
On what sets her off, she said, “It’s too long a list—liars, fabrications, false stories—that stuff.”
Sense of loss
Jennifer shared that the film’s theme of sense of loss resonated with her, “I’ve lost people to death. I had one pretty big loss—it was excruciating! I understand that person is not ever going to be in front of you again, or on the phone when you need him/her. It’s terrible!
“Time heals. All of us have gone through loss of a parent, brother, lover or partner. It’s time that heals. It’s our decision to move forward and keep living, and not let the loss bring you to your knees.”
On her cast mates in “Friends,” which celebrated its 20th anniversary last September, she said, “They are my friends forever. They’re extremely important to me. Those 10 years were probably the most important 10 years of my career. I’m so grateful for it! We had so much fun together.”
The much-anticipated “Friends” reunion did not materialize. “We tried really hard for all of us to get together last September, when we were trying to have the reunion,” she shared. “Unfortunately, some of us are living in New York. Some of us were working. Some of us were in London. It wasn’t an easy task—so, sadly, it didn’t happen. But, we did have a wonderful few days of e-mail exchange among all of us.”
“Courtney (Cox), Lisa (Kudrow) and I have dinners quite regularly, so it’s family,” she added. “We grew up together.”
In “Horrible Bosses 2,” Jennifer reprises her randy dentist character. “I love Dr. Julia a lot,” she said. “She’s fun to play. I approach her as I approach anything—from the truth and who this character is. She happens to be a sex-addicted dentist.
“In her mind, there’s nothing wrong with that. She’ll carry on a discussion about something that she did to herself last night, as though she was just describing a meal that she had. It’s fun to disappear in characters. When I say disappear, I mean just boldly go where I have never gone before!”
As for her inspiration in her life and career, she said, “Shirley MacLaine is a dear friend of mine. Her career is extraordinary! She’s a huge inspiration!”
Does she plan to go behind the camera and direct someday? “There are moments of opportunities that have come up.” She added with a laugh, “But, my representatives won’t let me!”
E-mail rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com. Follow twitter.com/nepalesruben.