THE GOOD GIRL - Q&A with Jennifer Aniston and Jake Gyllenhaal

Jennifer Aniston and Jake Gyllenhaal talk about their new movie THE GOOD GIRL at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles.


JAKE: You want to know what she wore?

She didn't exactly have the dream wardrobe.

JAKE: Come on you wanted it.

Did you?

JENNIFER: I didn't want it. He did. I wanted to burn it at the end. I had to wear it every day. I had three pairs of jeans, the Lee jeans, relaxed fit and the khaki and two shades of blue. And that was it and this green jacket.

So how come that's fun. I mean a lot of actresses don't want to - I mean it's hard for you to look dowdy, but you didn't look exactly glam.

JENNIFER: That's how I look, basically. Pretty right. You tell them, Jake. You've seen me before without any makeup. We're actors and that's what we like to do, play dress up and be these different characters.

How hard it is for you with your "perfect life" everyone tells us you have, to identify with that?

JENNIFER: That's an untruth. I mean, we all have lives that are relative. It's all relative. How did I relate to that?

Where do you go to find that character?

JENNIFER: You just... Our life... I mean dive into your own life at the moment where we were stuck, or self-complacent, or self-depressed, it was more an inspiration of depression. But I always thought, you know, I've always been more on the comedic side because it was a safe haven and it made me feel good and I love it - so, this was a challenge to me to go explore that side of myself, but we all do it. We all have to. It's sometimes sad and dark and depressed.

I say "perfect" in quotes because we see that on the cover of magazines all the time.

JENNIFER: I know. That's just untrue.

I mean is that tough to live up to from day to day?

JENNIFER: No, there's nothing to live up to. It's not real. So I don't feel that pressure at all. I know it's just fodder.

Have you ever had a job along the lines of the character in the film? Jake, this is for you too. I know you both come from parents who were actually within the industry, right?

JENNIFER [laughs]: He didn't do a damn thing. I didn't want this. I was a telemarketer. Jake, you were a stock boy.

Where? In a Wal-Mart?

JENNIFER: Not in a Wal-Mart, but I did spend - I made a movie in east Tennessee and there was a lot to do in the Wal-Mart. No, there's nothing to do besides go to the Wal-Mart. So I spent a lot of time actually, little did I know at the time, researching for my character. No, I was just a stock boy, mostly, because there were cut cashiers. But all in all...

Did you ever have an affair with one?

JAKE: I don't think that was working. It wouldn't be too lucrative to have a family or husband if you were a cashier, they were usually 15 or 16 year olds, but...

So there not really affairs?

JAKE: Not really affairs. Not much research except like slapping tags on can goods. That's pretty much it. But you'd be surprised what you learn, I mean, by stocking.

What was your telemarketing career like?

JENNIFER: It did not last long and I apologize to any of you if I called you and saying [that] I got yelled out and I was the worst telemarketer because I would just apologize and hang up. It was 1989 and I was selling time-shares in the Pocono's. It was awful, awful, awful.

Would that be the low point or is there one more?

JENNIFER: That was a pretty rough gig. No, because I loved every job I had before that. I was a receptionist - that was pretty boring though. I was at an advertising agency. I worked as a receptionist, lots of receptionist jobs. I was a messenger. That was the low point. That was a bummer. Because I had moved to LA and I didn't know anybody and it was just in the middle...

What happens when they call you now? Do you actually listen to their speeches?

JENNIFER: No. Actually I don't think I have, it's those empty eyes, more phone tapes that call you now that are all those recordings and you try to yell at them but they are a recording there's no one to hang up on and they just keep talking.

Were you on hiatus while you were shooting that?

JENNIFER: No, half and half I was. I did, I had about two or three weeks, I was doing FRIENDS at the same time.

Well, how gruelling was that?

JENNIFER: That was seven days a week. That was only for a couple of weeks though, but it was pretty gruelling.

How did you go back and forth from Rachel to Christine?

JENNIFER: Well, Rachel was, thankfully, such an old, comfy pair of shoes, that wasn't - it was a relief to go and it was like having a weekend. Going an' laughing. I can sort of do her. She's easy for me.

People have said in the past, sometimes critically of you, that they see Rachel every time they see you. How do you get past that as an actress?

JENNIFER: Well, just like I get a part, hopefully, like this comes along where I can have the opportunity to go deeper into some other character. The jobs that I've had so far haven't presented that opportunity and if I wasn't on the television show, I would just be another actor doing a job. I wouldn't have that comparison.

I know that's great for you. I know you had called this the "feel weird" movie of the year.
How does it feel to be, I mean, basically compared to the weird folks that surround you, your character wasn't that challenging to you. You were basically playing it straight, what was it like for you?

JENNIFER: I loved it. It was like anything that you get to do that, you know, you're not always allowed to do. So I had a blast and I remember Miguel saying, "Are you going to be okay? Because as **** you're going to be the center of this group of very funny characters, but you're not going to be able to do that." And I'm like, it's fine with me. And I'm thinking, do I have something written on me that says I must do comedy.

Well, you're good at it so that's why people want to pigeonhole you into it, is what I say.

JENNIFER: I love it.

Even physically, the way you moved as this character was different than Rachel, and your whole body language. And that jacket.

JENNIFER: And that jacket. You'll walk funny.

Is it a depression or actually loneliness?

JENNIFER: Both, I think. I think you can't have one without the other.

Question and Answer Text Copyright Twentieth Century Fox