by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent
With Jennifer Aniston in the house, the red carpet threw off sparks last night when she blew in town to receive the Montecito Award at the 30th Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF). To put this award in perspective, fellow honorees include Daniel Day-Lewis, Geoffrey Rush, Julianne Moore, Kate Winslet, Javier Bardem, Bill Condon, Naomi Watts and Oprah Winfrey.
And to put her star power in perspective, the CEO of SBIFF noted that he had never seen such a full house, with 2200 people with standing room only toward the exits.
Generations of “Fanistons” were outside the venue, The Arlington Theater, literally creating a sound wall that reached peak pitch when their idol would get even remotely close to the barriers, and hit a deafening wail when Jen as she is affectionately known, stopped to sign autographs.
These are the people who minted, made, and own Jennifer Aniston, and will never forget she was there with them, growing up, shaped their lives via television.
Because for 238 Episodes, Jennifer Aniston was Rachel Green.
Meaning for 10 years (1994-2004) she literally lived a double life as her TV doppleganger on “Friends” became a worldwide sensation along with the ensemble cast of David Schwimmer, Lisa Kudrow, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry, and Matt LeBlanc.
The TV show made sense since her father, actor John Aniston, was known for his television roles. Aniston recalls seeing him on the Marlo Thomas classic “That Girl” as a kid.
“My father was in the television set,” Aniston joked. “I still remember that.”
Being from a show biz family, the future phenom was ironically not allowed to watch television in the Rudolph Steiner Waldorf education tradition.
Jennifer sums up the experience in relation to her run with Paul Rudd in Wanderlust. “It was just like that commune! God’s eyes, knitted clothes, ponchos. And the beads.”
Her finance Justin Theroux, who played the commune leader in Wanderlust, is in the house. Head down, he flashes lovingly glances once in a while as she speaks, in a cautious professionally charming “Don’t call me the new Mr. Aniston” kind of way.
From Sherman Oaks, she ended up in Manhattan at the Performing Arts High School that was front and center in the movie FAME.
“I was thinking we’d all be dancing on tabletops and taxi cabs, that didn’t happen!”
Listening to Jennifer you can hear the comedic timing that has come with years of deadline pressure for TV tapings. Not a moment of white space goes by that she can’t dress up with a killer comeback line. She is a team player in her bones, having spent so much time as part of an ensemble.
And this is why the diminutive beauty has to fight to be recognized as a film star, rather than a TV punchline.
So when the Academy not snubbed, but overlooked, her best work on screen to date in CAKE, you almost have to forgive them for not seeing the sea change that has washed over Jennifer Aniston 2.0, the cinematic reboot.
They were thinking raunch-coms, for her work in Horrible Bosses, Horrible Bosses II, We Are the Millers, The Break-Up, Picture Perfect, not Friends With Money, the 2006 Nicole Holofcener movie that definitely proved Aniston has depth as a dramatic actor too.
CAKE, the story of a woman whose upended life is headed for tragedy after the death of her grade-school age only son, makes Friends With Money seem like a warm-up.
Here the TV icon is literally unrecognizable from Rachel in CAKE.
“I really had to lobby for ‘Cake,’” she admits. “Usually I am not put on those (dramatic actress) lists.”
She has heard Them, the proverbial powers that be in Hollywood, say “too much baggage (read: tabloids), too known, won’t be able to disappear.”
“God knows it is really hard to be a working actor in this industry,” she adds, not to mention the ageism where women are concerned.
Aniston will use the word “disappear” several times during her Q & A with Deadline’s Pete Hammond. It’s like she speaks in code, having lost the ability to express herself bluntly since her anonymity was stripped away years ago when the worldwide global smash hit that is still “Friends” was translated in umpteen countries.
Outside earlier, a hardball question gets flung from the red carpet. “How come you have become so outspoken lately?”
Jennifer Aniston’s screaming hot body guard almost makes a move. But Jen does a deft deflection.
“Outspoken? I was always outspoken,” she says, punctuated with a blinding ‘up-yours’ smile.
Even Pete Hammond plays into the shades of pop-culture media shadows that have stalked her.
“Tabloids,” he even says the word out loud. Meanwhile Taylor Swift’s “Shake it off,” anti-haters anthem is the track played to Jennifer Aniston’s clip reel.
As for the paparazzi, who are not like us regular rank and file journalists, she flat-out calls them “animals.”
“It’s really distracting and a real hassle,” Aniston relates of being papped while shooting. “You just hope you get through a scene without them screaming something. Or ruin a night shoot with their flashbulbs.”
How does she react to it, when it happens?
“‘Oh crap, this is happening.’ I still have to do my job.”
Everyone in the industry knows about her work ethic, how she dives 110 percent into her “job.”
But still, the respect for her acting chops is tough to come by.
Its not that she doesn’t wear flattering make-up or hair in CAKE, it is that Jennifer Aniston disappears as this accident survivor who suffers from chronic pain and is intelligent enough, being a UCLA-trained lawyer, to make everyone around her miserable. Anna Kendrick, Sam Worthington, William H. Macy, and Felicity Huffman, just bounce off her character in an elegant exploration of human pain.
When she comes up to you, flashing all that inner glow, you almost forget what questions you wanted to ask. (e.g; Forgot to ask her about the woman who plays Silvana, the co-lead as caretaker, who is actually an acclaimed director from Mexico named Adriana Barraza.)
The best you can do in a Jennifer Aniston encounter is block out the screaming wall of fans flanking you on every side.
Jen, all glittery and sparky tonight in a 180 from the tortured and vicious brunette in CAKE, smiles in silent acknowledgement of the extraordinary life she has lived, behind the scenes and on the front pages, above the scroll, for decades.
She wanted to make “a movie that helps people.” And is glad if you like it.
“Oh thank you,” Aniston tears up at the legitimate praise. Hands on her face, you can feel that she needs that, the professional compliment. When her be-jeweled fingers go up, you get the sense that they make a momentary barrier for her private grief.
But the pro Jen Aniston gets the last word later, having recovered her stunning emotional armor.
“Cake tops my list of experiences. And I’ve had some extraordinary ones. That takes… the cake.”
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