Jennifer Aniston: The Price of Being an Actress (from ET)
JENNIFER ANISTON drops by "Movies 101: With Professor Richard Brown" for an in-depth interview with the prof, airing Friday, Oct. 14, at 10:30 p.m. on AMC. "Movies 101" is a half-hour series based on a course taught by Brown at New York University, and each week features a half-hour interview with a film industry mover-and-shaker.
"This is what I do," Aniston says when asked if she would do it all again, considering the high toll her fame has had on her life. "This is what I love to do. I love my job. That stuff is a pain in the a$$, but it doesn't outweigh what I do, how I get to spend my time, the wonderful people I get to meet and the wonderful experiences that I have."
Aniston will be seen next in Miramax's thriller 'Derailed,' co-starring CLIVE OWEN, scheduled for release in November. But she also has several other projects in the can, including ROB REINER's 'Rumor Has It,' which will be released in December, and also stars KEVIN COSTNER and SHIRLEY MacLAINE; and the romantic comedy 'The Break Up' with VINCE VAUGHN, due out in spring 2006.
It is hard to imagine considering her current credits, but when Aniston was starting out in New York, she couldn't get arrested.
"I was tired of waitressing," she recalls. "As much as I loved it, and I did enjoy being a waitress, I couldn't get hired. I couldn't get a commercial to save
my life. I couldn't get a job except for theater. Let's face it. [Theater] is great, it's artistic, it's a creative outlet, but it don't pay no rent. So I basically decided to move ... I didn't decide to move, I went to visit my father [JOHN ANISTON, "Days of our Lives"]. I had this stuck-up idea, I couldn't be one of those who moves to L.A. to make it, so I thought I would be on a long vacation."
As happy as her father was to see her, he had reservations about his daughter following him into the acting profession. He had hoped she would become a doctor or a lawyer, something that would bring her joy and happiness.
But Aniston was determined, and even though she had very little success until landing the role of Rachel on "Friends," she persevered. And even after landing the role of Rachel, although she reveals she initially read for the part of Monica (
COURTENEY COX), she had no idea what a hit the show would be.
"I thought it was going to go for 13 episodes," she recalls. "That is what all the other [series] did. That is what I do. I do 13 episodes of a show and then go wait for something else. I was baffled when they gave us the announcement that we were picked up for the back nine. I was, 'What's the back nine? That is incredible.'"
For more on Jennifer Aniston's revealing interview with Professor Richard Brown, tune in to tonight's ET. Then catch the complete conversation when "Movies 101" airs Friday night.