Jennifer Aniston

INTERVIEW BY PIERRE DE VILLIERS

New Jen

A new year, a new life, a new direction. As Jennifer Aniston emerges into 2006, she sheds her girl-next-door image and makes a splash with gritty new roles.

After more than 10 years in the spotlight, Jennifer Aniston knows the drill all too well. As much as the former “Friends” star wants to talk about her acting career, most fans seem more interested in finding out who she’s dating, what her hair looks like and, of course, what she’s wearing. With that in mind, Aniston glances down at a small sweater she’s sporting when she arrives for the interview, and plays ball like the pro she is. “I’m calling it a shrug,” she says cheerfully as she takes it off. “A sweater over something.”

It’s a simple fashion tip that will inspire scores of women to head down to the store and try one on. Just like they stampeded to the hair salon in the mid-1990s to request the “Rachel” cut. Why? Because as nonplussed as Aniston is about the label, she remains one of America’s biggest sweethearts—a woman who, through grace, guts and down-to-earth sensibilities, has become a role model worldwide.

It’s a tag that’s seen Aniston unfairly pigeonholed, playing the quirky-but-lovable girl in romantic comedies like Along Came Polly and Bruce Almighty. If you’re the kind of movie actress who’s content to go through the motions and watch the money roll in, that’s fine. Not so good if you are a genuinely talented artist who, given the chance, could be challenging the likes of Hilary Swank and Nicole Kidman at the Oscars. Clearly not satisfied with being typecast, Aniston, who turned 36 this year but looks about 10 years younger, has signed up for a series of films that might just change the way we look at the woman who launched a million hairstyles.

In the thriller Derailed, she stars as a mother whose affair with a businessman (played by Clive Owen) descends into hell when a violent criminal starts to blackmail the cheating pair. Next we’ll see her in the comedy Rumour Has It, playing a woman on a voyage of discovery after she learns that her family was the inspiration for The Graduate. Then there’s that high-profile performance opposite Vince Vaughn in The Break Up; the two star as a couple who, having decided to go their separate ways, are forced to live together. And Friends With Money will see her play a pothead maid stuck in neutral while her friends are moving up in the world. Multi-layered roles, all of them, Aniston hopes they will help dispel the specter of her most famous alter ego: Rachel Green.

“Due to that persona, I have not been granted the opportunity to do other sorts of roles, like Derailed,” she explains. “So, before I did the film there was definitely a moment of: ‘Ooh gosh, I hope I can pull this off’. But then, I had enough people around me for support, and director Mikael Hafstrom really believing in it. Thank goodness for directors like him. He thought it would be interesting to have me play this part.”

Playing Lucinda Harris, a woman who suffers at the hands of a psychopath, meant getting through scenes more physically and emotionally taxing than anything she had experienced before. Unfazed, Aniston took it in stride. “I didn’t find it difficult at all to switch off after the emotional scenes because it was so choreographed, and so well thought out,” she explains. “Once you cut, you’re out of it.”

Despite her commitment, Derailed received a mixed response from critics, but her next two films, Rumour Has It, which also stars Kevin Costner and Shirley MacLaine, and in particular The Break Up, both promise to make a bigger impact. Reports from the Chicago set of the latter suggest that Aniston had the time of her life working on the film, and that the wonderful chemistry between her and Vaughn will be there for all to see. “I just loved it,” the actress confirms. “I absolutely loved filming there. Chicago has got a lot of wonderful culture and great museums and restaurants, and the lake is beautiful. The people are so kind and respectful and leave you to your job.”

For someone who is mercilessly pursued by paparazzi, being granted this sort of freedom is the sort of thing she can’t help but cherish. And it’s not only sinister snappers who get under Aniston’s skin. Tabloid newspaper journalists have dipped their pens in poison with relish over the years.

“I just don’t pay attention to what magazines write about me,” she says. “It’s toxic. I don’t know where people get the stuff. I’ve heard that I’m engaged and that I have a house in Scotland. And I’ve been pregnant so many times that I must have 12 children by now! But none of that stuff is true.”

Almost from the moment she stormed into the Central Perk coffee shop in the very first of episode of “Friends,” the world’s media wanted to know more about Jennifer Aniston.

They soon found out she was born in Sherman Oaks, California, and spent a year of her childhood in Greece. After relocating to New York City, her parents divorced when Jennifer was nine years old. Two years later she enrolled in drama club, and went on to receive professional training at the New York High School of the Performing Arts. After graduation she appeared in a few plays off Broadway and a number of shows on TV, before her 1993 film debut in horror flick Leprechaun. She returned to the small screen the following year after securing the role of Rachel in Friends.

The intense scrutiny that came with starring in a hugely popular sitcom effectively doubled when she started dating Brad Pitt in 1998, their July 2000 wedding adding to the impression they were a match made in Hollywood heaven.
What happened next has been documented from every angle.
Amid rumours that Pitt and Angelina Jolie, his costar in Mr & Mrs Smith, had fallen for each other, Aniston and her husband split in January last year. She filed for divorce soon afterwards. With the court of public opinion still undecided, Aniston recently poured her heart out to magazine Vanity Fair, coming across as a woman scorned, but resolute in adversity. While the interview won her a host of new fans, the actress balks at suggestions she is an example of how to deal with a messy break-up.

“First of all, I’m not a role model or poster child for how to do anything,” Aniston says firmly. “It was my first time at this particular picnic. I mean, this is nothing out of the ordinary, people walk through this stuff all the time. I have a great family, great support, great friends.”

Among her allies is Oprah Winfrey, who recently invited the actress onto her show to speak her mind.

“What makes her so special is her commitment to her authenticity,” says Aniston. “She lives her life with no apologies. I think that’s why she is unbelievable at giving. And she’s constantly a student. She’s never an authority on anything. I think that’s what makes her so accessible, and why people love her so much. You never feel dumb, you feel like we’re all figuring it out together, and she’s not above us, she’s with us.”

Oprah Winfrey and former “Friends” costar Courteney CoxArquette have been invaluable to Aniston as she deals with the stress of divorce and worldwide speculation about her love life. It’s the sort of invasion that may just force the actress to, sometime in the future, put her film career on hold in an attempt to escape the limelight.

“As far as what I’m doing next, nothing is definite,” she says. “I’m probably gonna take some time off. Unless, of course, something really wonderful comes along. I think you’re always just looking for good work—dramatic, comedic, whatever it is. For instance, Derailed came along at a perfect time. It was just fate.”

If Aniston does take a break from making films, expect it to be a short one. “It’s good to have a creative outlet,” she muses. “I loved having work to go to.”

One thing Aniston can bank on is the continual love and support of her legion of fans, who gobble up every magazine that has her on the cover. But being worshipped as a screen icon is clearly something Aniston is not too comfortable with.

“I believe the ‘America’s Sweetheart’ label gets put on a lot of people,” she says. “I don’t really pay much attention to it. I’m not trying to shake anything, I just sort of followed my instincts… I just keep on trying to do the best I can.” Whether doing her best entails breathing life into memorable big-screen characters, finally finding true love, or simply showing the world how good a ’sweater over something’ looks, Jennifer Aniston is fast going from the girl-next-door to an actress of substance you can’t help but adore.