Posted by Mr. Beaks

Hoping to deflect or defuse any potential trouble at last weekend’s Rumor Has It… junket in sunny, conservative Pasadena, Warner Brothers pulled the old trick of teaming the film’s star, Jennifer Aniston – who, you might have noticed, has been in the tabloids a bit lately – with one of her co-stars for the roundtable interviews.  Oftentimes, the press will just ignore the other actor and fire away at the beleaguered movie star.  Not so much this time.  I mean, when you’ve got a force of nature like Shirley MacLaine handcuffed to you, “ignore” just doesn’t enter into it. 

Jennifer did receiving her share of personal questions, but she handled them with the veteran aplomb of someone who’s been finessing reporters for years.  The conversation only occasionally brushed over the subject of the Rob Reiner-directed Rumor Has It…, in which Jennifer Aniston plays a commitment-phobe young woman who returns home for her sisters wedding and inadvertently discovers that her family was the inspiration for The Graduate (i.e. MacLaine’s grandmother character is Mrs. Robinson, while Kevin Costner plays the ladykiller model for Ben Braddock), but that hardly mattered.  For twenty minutes, these women did their thing, thrilling the gossip starved “Cabal” group of reporters who dominated the questions and kept me from asking about working with three nobodies named Sinatra, Martin and Minneli on the woefully underappreciated Some Came Running.  Ah, well.

There’s an audience for an interview like this.  By now, you know if this includes you.

Jennifer, you said Terms of Endearment was your favorite movie of all time.  Why?

Jennifer: It's one of those movies that you can turn on at any point -- if you're on an airplane, that's always embarrassing because you're sitting there bursting into tears.  Oh, my God.  It's so Pavlovian, you know?

Shirley: I think she just really wanted to sleep with Jack Nicholson.

Jennifer: (over laughter)  And it's really, really funny.  It's always a good combination.  Truly.  I just thought everything was so fantastic, the way it was written, everything that I love about a movie: It's got emotion, it's funny, it's heartwrenching and the acting is superb.  It's superb.

Shirley: Well, you should have been on the set.

Jennifer: I know.  The stories!

Shirley: Where you see chaos triumphs, something like the Bush administration.

Recent rumor is that you have baby news.

Jennifer:  Hey guys, you know what?  If all this [were true], I should have had 10 babies by now, married five times, maybe, I don't know.  Good gosh.  How about can you just say it, "I swear when it happens, you'll hear it."  But the worst is now.

So you're not adopting any children?

Jennifer: That's not me. (laughter)

Shirley, your life has been covered like Jennifer's.  You had an incident when you walked into the newsroom and slugged the guy for writing—

Shirley:  Yeah, I still feel the same way.  If I were [Jennifer], I would slug most of you.  The real truth, 'cause we were talking about this:  What is the real truth, as opposed to the rumors, 'cause all you guys for the last few days have been asking us what's the nastiest rumor.  Here's the truth:  Vince Vaughn prefers older women.   [Jennifer] is my beard.   I was the one in the car in that southwestern state.  And the truth is, I'm basically having a ball and she's taking all the gaff.

You're okay with that?

Jennifer: We worked it out a long time ago.

After the Derailed junket, did you just do a big sigh of relief?

Jennifer: Yeah, similar to this afternoon.

That was the first coming out, in a way.

Jennifer:  Yeah, and you know what?   People have been great.   People have been really – for the most part, knowing what people could do, where they could go ...

Well, people love you.

Jennifer:  Thank you.  It's been fine.  There's a lot of respect.  I really appreciate it.

A lot of people do love you. Do you feel that?

Jennifer:  I do.  I feel a lot love.

Did this movie help you understand the nature of rumors and the obsession with other people?

Jennifer:  This didn't help me understand it.  My life maybe helped me play it a little better.  No, I got that pretty much ... I'm good on that one.

Shirley, you’re always so witty.  How much of character's witticisms scripted or ad-libbed?

Shirley:  Oh, I made up all the lines. (Laughter)  None of them are in the script.  Rob is so grateful.  What would they have done without my lines?  I don't know.   Some of them I remember doing.  Some of them I don't.  I don't remember much of anything anymore.  There's a good idea.   You should all reach that state of bliss.

Jen, you must have had a great time working with her.

Jennifer: I'm not kidding.  It was an absolute ball.  It was a ball.

Shirley, Rob said you were an icon, a Hollywood legend and “a real pisser”.

Shirley:  That part's true.

How do you feel when they call you those things?

Shirley:  Oh, hell!  They’re calling Paris Hilton an icon.  (Laughter)  It doesn't mean a thing.  It's because I'm still walking upright and haven't fallen over and haven't succumbed to some disease or killed myself or ended up with some mogul.  So, I guess that makes me an icon.  I don't know.  I'm still around.  Does that make you an icon?  Icons are like statues. Icons are embedded in cement.  So, I don't particularly like that.

Jennifer, were you nervous about meeting and working with Shirley?

Jennifer: I was excited.  I mean, sure, I was nervous.  Yeah.  I get starstruck.  But she's immediately, right there with you on your level. And she talks to you as though you're a human being. (Laughter)  Amazing.  You never know.  'Cause I've kind of experienced this, where you meet your idols and you go, "Oh, I wish I had kept you up there. Stay up there. I'll eat the popcorn. You do the work."

Shirley: That's the way I felt about meeting Alan Ladd.  You don't remember him.  He was my favorite. I had him all over my walls, him and Maria Montez.  You certainly don't remember her.  I was at Mogambo, and I had just arrived in town, and someone said, "Alan Ladd just walked in. Turn around and meet him." I went, (turns around to shake his hand, gasps, and drops her hand down to his height) "Oh."

When he worked, he always had to stand on a soap box.

Shirley:  Or the women had to stand in trenches. Sophia Loren had to stand in trenches.

Jennifer:  There are a lot of them that still aren't very tall.

Are you worried that this film can't be summed up in one line?  Why did you choose to do this?  Did you see it as a risk?

Jennifer:  I didn't see this as a risk.  I just thought it was fun, really something.  I enjoyed it.  I loved the Graduate aspect of it, having that as the backdrop, having that story stem from something that was a universal, you know.  And with this right after Friends, my first job after Friends, it was something I felt like I could take an easy step out of the nest of Friends – nothing like rocket science here.

How did it change after they shut down and started up production again?  How did Rob help change the character?

Jennifer:  Rob definitely helped give her more of a point of views as opposed to being ... she was more reactionary in the original script.  All the characters that were sort of swirling around her.  She wasn't having as much fun; it wasn't as much fun to play.  But I knew it would get there.  That's never easy when a script isn't fired up and ready to go and you're kind of finding it as the days go along.  That's never fun.  But you never know.

Do you miss Friends?  Ever wish you could go back?

Jennifer:  No.  But I love it.

Do you ever see the girls?

Jennifer:  Yes, I see Courteney every week.  And Lisa I haven't seen in a while, but we're all still friends.  We will be forever.  Maybe.  I have no idea what I'm talking about.  But I'd like to think we will be.  I can watch [the show].  I much prefer watching it.

What about the guys?

Jennifer:  No, I don't like the boys. (Laughter)  I just saw Matthew last week, and LeBlanc I speak to. We all do. And Schwimmer—

Has Matt LeBlanc asked you to be on his show yet?

Jennifer: No.

Would you if he asked you?

Jennifer:  (Considers this)  Sure.

Have you decided what your next movie's going to be?

Jennifer: No, I haven't.

Jennifer, I am a big fan of The Good Girl. 

Jennifer:  Thank you.

I see a connection between that film and Rumor Has It…  Both films are about confused women who end up cheating .  Did you do them just because they were good scripts?

Jennifer:  I didn't actually see the connection truthfully of the two cheating girls.  I guess you're absolutely correct.  They do, they both – maybe I enjoy that kind of a flawed kind of character.

Shirley: Can I say something?

Jennifer:  Please. (Laughter)  Thank you.

Shirley:  What she really does well, and why the audience I think identifies with her, is that she's trying to find her identity, who she is.  The woman in The Good Girl and the woman in [Rumor Has It…] are desperately trying to investigate their background to find out how they got to be this way.  And when you do that investigation, you go off the track every now and then.  And I'm not sure it's off the track.  You go, "Maybe this is what I like."  It's experimentation while you're trying to discover.  Processing data, you know?

Do you think Derailed didn't do well because audiences didn't like to see you that way?

Jennifer:  I know that's true.

Shirley: What are you in Derailed?

Jennifer: People didn't like seeing me being pistol-whipped and raped.

Shirley:  Oh!  Is that what happened to you in that movie?

Do you see that as a mistake?

Jennifer:  No.  Never.  I'm so glad I did it.  Because I know I can do it.  I think.  I really know that I can pull it off.  I never would have regrets.  I never have regrets about any job.

Shirley:  Jesus, that's a huge statement!

Jennifer: Maybe one movie, but I don't admit to it anymore.  It's an old horror film I did like in 1912.

Do you think women will relate to your character's fear of commitment, since it's usually the men that have that trouble?

Jennifer:  I know.  I like that it's the girl, 'cause it isn't just men that do that.  Women as well have that. "Is it the right choice?  Is it not the right choice?  Is there something greener on that side?  Is there something greener on that side?"  It's all the same green at the end of the day.  It doesn't have anything to do with the person or what's better.  It's all here. It's stop "outlightening." You start enlightening. It's not that deep.

Shirley: Wait a minute.  I like that.  That works for me.

Jennifer: Enlighten it, don't "outlighten" it.

Is your production company Plan B gone?  Or is it Section Eight?

Shirley: What do they stand for?

Section Eight is the military code for being crazy.  Also governmental housing.

Jennifer:  Plan B was sort of ... Plan A, we did have a little company before that sort of changed when we teamed up with Brad Grey, and that became Plan B.

Are you still part of Plan B?

Jennifer:  No I'm not.  I've removed myself from that.  They're over there at Paramount, and I took a couple of projects from it that I loved.

Did you want to leave that company?

Jennifer:  No, no, no.  That's what I'm saying.  It kind of got bigger.  It grew 10 heads and became this huge thing, which is wonderful.  It took on this amazing life really fast.  I kind of sat back and sort of asked myself if it's something I'm interested in being a part of.  The whole corporate part of making movies – there's the development part, the creative part, but on that big corporate level it kind of leaves a crappy taste in your mouth.  And some people can really enjoy that stuff.  I’m still not sure what I’m doing.  I just know that I took, I have six or seven [projects] that I really care about from the company, and I will hopefully follow them through.

What’s next?

Jennifer:  There's Friends with Money, which will be at Sundance.

Which I saw, you pot-smoking, vibrating ... that was pretty wild.  I liked it a lot.

Jennifer:  Thank you.  And The Break Up.  The Break Up's good.  I think it's really good.  June 2nd or June 6th.

Did you like Chicago?  Would you go back?

Jennifer:  I loved filming in Chicago.  I would move to Chicago in heartbeat if I had someone else beside you that I knew. (Laughs)

And Shirley’s boyfriend Vince.

Jennifer:  And Shirley’s boyfriend Vince.

Shirley:  But he's stashed in Malibu right now.

Do you think the heat on your life will die down, or does it have a life of its own?

Jennifer:  I don't know.  There's so many new magazines now that I think that they're just desperate to fill, now that the demand is greater, so they're just going nuts with taking just anything.  Rehashing stories.

You see like something with Jessica Simpson getting divorced ...

Shirley:  Oh, that's over.  That's definitely over.

Will that take the heat away from you?

Jennifer:  It did. That's a terrible thing to say.  Isn't that disgusting?

Shirley: Maybe we'll get Elton John to divorce David Furnish.

What about that photograph lawsuit?

Jennifer:  I'm not going into the details of it, but you have to set a precedent.  There's never a moment ... I will go to every, all great lengths ....

What happened?

Shirley: They photographed her inside her house without her clothes.

Jennifer:  With a very big lens, from a very big, long distance away.

And he sold the pictures?

Jennifer:  No, he's trying to.  But he’s not going to.

Will women relate to this film with women forgiven by guy for cheating?  Would that happen in real life?

Jennifer:  I hope so!

Shirley:  Oh, really? (Laughter)

Isn’t there a double standard that guys can get away with this stuff, but not women?

Jennifer:  I'm sure there is.  I think there is.

After the end of movie, do you think the characters will stay happily married?

Jennifer:  I think they will.  I think they'll have some history that will come up in a couple arguments over the holidays every couple of years. You know, a little egg nog will bring up any kind of [unsettled issues].

How was working with Kevin Costner?

Jennifer: Really good.

Richard Jenkins?

Jennifer:  One of the best. Underrated, one of our best.  I love him.  I just love him every time I see him.  When I tell you he's one of the funniest human beings on the planet.  He's so underrated.

Shirley:  Who is?

Jennifer:  Richard Jenkins.

Shirley:  Oh.  He is.  I thought you were talking Kevin Costner.

Shirley, what's next?

Shirley:  I'm going to do a feature with Richard Attenborough in March.  Ireland and Canada and Toronto.

Rumor Has It… opens all over the damn country on Christmas Day.