Jennifer Aniston is one of Elle’s Women in Hollywood honorees and cover subjects. It feels like Aniston has been honored with various “women in Hollywood” awards for two solid decades, but here we are. Sometimes you get rewarded simply for surviving in an industry which was not built for you. What makes this profile unique is that this is the first time she’s really talked about her boyfriend Jim Curtis, the hypnotist. Jen and Jim started dating earlier this year, from what we can tell, but they became more official in recent months. Jennifer was also asked about Matthew Perry, and at this point, I wish they would stop asking all of the Friends about Perry – it becomes ghoulish after a while. Some highlights from Elle:
Her next projects: She’s developing a new version of the 1983 classic The Big Chill with her longtime producing partner and longtime friend Kristin Hahn; set to star in a new Apple TV series inspired by Jennette McCurdy’s memoir I’m Glad My Mom Died; and in talks with frequent collaborator and unofficial onscreen husband Adam Sandler about what a Murder Mystery 3 could look like. “My main mission now is doing projects that really inspire me and get me excited,” she says. “The goal is quality, not quantity, and time spent with people you really, really care about and want to work with. And I happen to be very lucky that my friends are very talented.”
Jimmy Kimmel’s show being suspended for a week: “Unthinkable things are happening. It’s very dangerous and very unfortunate. But at the end of the day, we’re the viewers. We subscribe to these networks and streaming services, so it really comes down to the people and their voices. All those subscription cancellations spoke volumes.”
On Jim Curtis: “Hypnotism is one of the many things that he does. He’s quite extraordinary, and helps many, many people. He’s very special, very normal, and very kind, and wants to help people heal, move through their trauma and stagnation into clarity. It’s a beautiful thing to commit your life to.”
The projects that taught her the most: “The Good Girl and Cake. Those projects just remind me that I’m capable of more than what the industry saw me as, and typecast me as, so I was grateful for those jobs because enough times you’re not invited to those kinds of tables, you start to think, Oh, maybe they think I can’t do it. Maybe I can’t. But then those jobs come along and it’s just nice to remind yourself, challenge yourself, and also show yourself that you’re capable of more than a good tagline.
The highs and lows of being a woman in Hollywood: “The best part about being a woman in Hollywood is that I’m a working woman in Hollywood, and that I get to continue doing what I love. I’ve worked really hard and I love what I do. And also that we get to create projects that are making a difference and bring in female voices—that’s a really wonderful thing that we get to do now that we’re allowed a seat at the table. Which, bringing up the lows: There was a period where we were not allowed at that table. It was thought, How adorable that you think you could be a producer or run a production company. It was a very male-dominated industry, and we still have a long way to go, but women in Hollywood make moves. We get sh-t done.”
On losing Matthew Perry: “It was so alarming and shocking, yet not shocking. [The Friends cast and I] always said, “I hope I never get that phone call.” We miss him. He’s missed. He was a brilliant human being and an extraordinary talent, loved deeply, and wanted happiness more than anything. It makes me sad that he never really achieved that, because he deserved it.
The rise of conservative male podcasters: “It’s like kale or quinoa. It’s the new thing: the manoverse. Someone said to me recently, “The good news is anybody can do a podcast, and the bad news is anybody can do a podcast.” We all need to listen to both sides. That’s what we’ve lost. We’ve lost communication, we’ve lost sitting across a table and having a discussion that is productive, learning from each other. It feels like everyone is sort of stuck in their positions and it’s my way or the highway, and that’s just not how the world works.
I really hope her remake of The Big Chill goes nowhere – that film does not need to be remade, especially not by Aniston. Her comments about the manosphere are not great, but I also get the feeling that she’s not super-engaged with the issue and she doesn’t understand that many of those “manosphere” guys are rampant misogynists infecting several generations of boys and young men with hate and ignorance. People don’t have to sit at a table and listen to that point of view and give any of those douchebags the time of day. As for what she says about Curtis… eh. As I’ve said, I could never date a hypnotist! It would freak me out too much. Of course, I don’t think I could date a psychiatrist either.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid and Aniston’s IG, cover courtesy of Elle.
