With New 'Friends,' Jennifer Aniston Is The Single Stoner
We've all been there, whether it's those awkward moments after a school graduation, a few drinks with some old co-workers, or an accidental encounter with an old beau. You've outgrown your friends, and the commonalities between you seem to lessen with each forced laugh and awkward silence. As you walk out of the room and leave them behind, you realize you could be closing the door on a stage of your life.
"As your life grows, it gets more and more complicated," Jennifer Aniston said about the theme that fuels her new film "Friends With Money." "You achieve more things and gain more things and get more money and have a kid and have a husband and all that stuff. It gets more complicated."
"I love that part of the movie because it's true," co-star Catherine Keener ("The 40-Year-Old-Virgin") said of the story line that has three desperate housewives wondering whether they've outgrown their single, stoner, housekeeper friend (Aniston). "There are valid reasons to maybe part ways as friends."
A tight bond was developed while filming "Friends With Money," a low-budget flick written and directed by Nicole Holofcener. In the months since the film's wrap, Holofcener, Aniston and Keener have shown up at events holding hands with co-stars Joan Cusack and Frances McDormand.
"You don't have to make $20 million every time you make a movie," veteran actress Cusack said, commending the decision by A-lister Aniston to lend her time to a smaller film.
With one successful "Friends" project in her rearview mirror already, Aniston certainly didn't need to make "Money."
"I think that independent movies always need to be supported," Aniston said. "They don't get a big wide release, they don't get as much attention, and they are really good most of the time. You know, these are where the stories get to be told that don't always get to be told in the big-studio system, because there's just more freedom."
"It does indicate something," said Keener, an indie veteran who has worked in smaller films alongside superstars such as Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz. "It indicates that that person of a large profile feels strongly about it ... and is then endorsing it virtually by being in it. I don't know if that means that everyone will like it or that it's better necessarily, but it means that that person you like, who's a big star, is willing to put all of this lifestyle that they're accustomed to aside for something they want to do, which is always good to me. I always would rather see something people want to do, as opposed to something that they should."
And the movie Aniston felt so passionately about just happens to tell the story of a tightknit group of women realizing there's more to life than money.
"We know that money does not buy happiness," Aniston said. "That's obvious."
This sisterhood offered the same core message as their film: Fight hard to hold on to the people who will always be there for you.
"I've reached [the moving-on point] and thought about it, but I don't alter friendships based on that," Keener said. "That's not a reason to check out -- just to be like, 'Oh, I'm different now. I don't want you anymore.' "
"My friends are pretty much still my friends since I was 20," Aniston said. "My best friend [has been the same person] since I was 15. Certain people you outgrow, that's definitely true. But that core group I don't like to change so much."
Check out everything we've got on "Friends With Money."
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