(l-r) Jason Sudeikis, Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jennifer Aniston star in HORRIBLE BOSSES 2. ©Warner Bros. Entertainment. CR: John P. Johnson.
By ANGELA DAWSON
Front Row Features
HOLLYWOOD—Jennifer Aniston reprises her sex-crazed dentist role in the comedy sequel “Horrible Bosses 2.”
Although her Dr. Julia Harris character is trying to overcome her addiction this time around, she still longs for her milquetoast former employee Dale (played again by Charlie Day), because he is the “one that got away.”
Their two worlds collide again when Dale and his pals (Jason Bateman and Jason Sudeikis returning as Nick and Kurt, respectively) decide to break into her office to secure a tank of laughing gas they need in order to kidnap the son of a flim-flam artist that ruined their fledgling business.
They figure if they kidnap the son, they will get the money they lost back. Of course, complications arise, not the least of which is that the good doctor, who is holding a sex addiction therapy group after hours, interrupts them. “Star Trek” star Chris Pine plays the willing kidnap victim with daddy issues and Christoph Waltz (“Inglourious Basterds”) is his ruthless father.
As Dr. Julia, Aniston is a sexy and almost predatory brunette. Back to her natural blondish hair color while promoting the highly anticipated sequel, Aniston says she enjoys playing such an aggressive character that is far from anything else she has previously played. Working again with Bateman, Day and Sudeikis also was a lot of fun for the former “Friends” star.[private]
Q: How does it feel to be in a sequel?
Aniston: It feels wonderful to be in a sequel, especially a really good one. I feel very very happy to be in a sequel.
Q: Doing the scene where you’re at group therapy session for sexaholics, did you ad-lib at all?
Aniston: The structure of it was there. And then we would throw in little things, as we did the little volley back and forth of what my demands were for his description for what he was admitting in the group. It took on little imitations from take to take.
Q: Did you ever break out in laughter when you weren’t supposed to? Are there some funny outtakes?
Aniston: There is so much. When we saw this cut, it was a fun surprise to see the lines they choose.
Q: What didn’t you say?
Aniston: I don’t remember. I remember that was the one line I didn’t say. I can imagine how bad it was because I said I couldn’t say it. Either it was so bad or I didn’t really understand (what it meant).
Q: We heard it had to do with gravy.
Aniston: That’s it! It had to do with gravy. Well, there you go, I can tell you gravy is not funny.
Q: How did you get yourself worked up to play this character again? When we see her in her sex addiction group, is she really there at the group to pick up guys? What was your motivation?
Aniston: You mean, “What was her motivation?” The intention was to seek help but what she ultimately found out was this is just chum for her. She found a way to get what she wanted. I’m sure she’d lost all of her patients; she’d done all of them. So maybe this was just a wonderful innocent way to find more prey.
Q: How did you get past the dirty dialogue?
Aniston: I find it extremely entertaining the way she speaks because, to her, it’s not inappropriate. She thinks of it as describing the ingredients to a wonderful soufflé. Or, “What are we going to be doing this weekend?”
Q: The scene where you’re looking at the security camera footage where the stand-ins are doing “the act,” was that odd?
Aniston: Yes, it was the most uncomfortable days on set I’ve ever had. And we’re just talking about it like it was one of the funniest TV shows I’ve ever seen. Charlie and I also had a wonderful surveillance camera moment that ended up not being in the movie. If he doesn’t remember that, I’m going to murder him because I had to get on top of him when he is in the hospital in a coma.
Q: It must have been fun to return to this character. Did you think about her much after the first one? For the sequel, how did you up the ante with her?
Aniston: Honestly, I think the writers asked me how far they could go with Dr. Julia. And basically I said to them, “Go as far with her as you can go,” as long as it’s in the realm of not insulting or offending too many people. It rose itself to the occasion: the dialogue was great, the situation where you meet her in the sexaholics group. I think those were all great situations that lent themselves to that humor. And yes, I’ve thought about her in all the films I’ve done since. She’s a hard one to let go of. I didn’t get enough of her. It was like a little In-N-Out burger.
Q: Did you watch the original “Horrible Bosses” to get back into character?
Aniston: I actually did. Yeah.
Q: You have the psychological drama “Cake” coming out soon, which is more of a dramatic role for you. Do you prefer comedy over drama, or vice versa?
Aniston: I love doing both. One accesses one part of my brain and the other accesses another. Anytime I approach any character—comedy or drama—it’s grounded in reality and coming from the truth. There’s comedy in drama and drama in comedy. I don’t find them exclusive of one another.[/private]
