Jennifer Anniston is Moving On and Moving Up

Sandra Kraisirideja
It’s been a rough year for Jennifer Anniston, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at her.

Appearing tan and fit in blue jeans and a sleeveless, black sweater top, Anniston was at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel & Spa recently to promote her newest movie, “Rumor Has It.”

Anniston plays Sarah Huttinger, an aspiring journalist who discovers that her family was the inspiration for the novel, “The Graduate.”

The romantic comedy, directed by Rob Reiner, opens Christmas Day and also stars Shirley MacLaine, Mark Ruffalo and Kevin Costner.

Anniston said she signed on for the role because she wanted to do something light and fun.

“It was the first job after ‘Friends’ so I felt it was a nice little delicate step out of the nest. It wasn’t that complicated and I also really thought, as far as these romantic comedies, go, this was interesting; to have ‘The Graduate’ as a backdrop,’ she said.

This year Anniston fell under intense media scrutiny when her marriage to Brad Pitt ended in divorce.

Anniston has stayed relatively silent about what has been written in tabloid and entertainment magazines and for the most part has emerged unscathed and with more public support than ever.

“I don’t think success has anything to do with making me secure with my life. I think my personal, emotional experiences give me the ability to be more secure with who I am,” Anniston said.

“I’ll tell you, at this point, there’s such a freedom in a weird way. You can just say, ‘Here I am. This is it.’ It was like I was saying to Shirley today, ‘Well, I might as well pull my pants down at this point. They’ve seen everything else.’”

Anniston was going through her separation during filming of “Rumor Has It” and her professionalism impressed MacLaine and Reiner.

“I gotta tell you I have never seen anybody with such grace under fire as Jennifer was. I mean I have such respect for her. I never saw somebody exhibiting the kind of strength that she had. There were times when what she was going through applied, in scenes and she would allow that to happen but for the most part, you have to separate those things and do your work, and so she was extraordinary,” Reiner said.

Added MacLaine: “She has come through what must be one of the most painful and difficult requirements of any human being, much less a young person; to live their life in a spotlight like this is so painful. Her emotional discipline is extraordinary and I really want to compliment her for that.”

Anniston credits her mother, who indirectly showed her how not to behave after a divorce.

“I watched my mother be very bitter and very angry throughout a divorce and never let it go and waste the whole second half of her life. So, I thank her for that unconscious sacrifice of what not to do. I think accountability, taking responsibility,” and not playing the victim are also important, Anniston said.

“That’s the real lesson that she’s teaching everybody,” MacLaine added. “She says so in public and certainly in private, ‘Where is my role in this? How have I contributed to this?’....in a very spiritual way instead of blaming and that’s a huge step and really hard.”

When it comes to choosing her next projects, Anniston said she goes by her gut reaction to material. “I don’t strategize and say, ‘Well, I’ve done this. Now I have to do one of these next’. If it’s good and I think I can do it well, then I’ll do it,” she said.

Anniston’s next movie is a smaller independent called “Friends with Money” in which she plays a pot-smoking maid who is the least motivated among her highly successful friends.

“I’m the youngest of the group and everybody’s sort of married and evolved in their lives and I’m pretty much the drifter…and it’s about how we deal with relationships and how money will effect friendships,” Anniston said.

The movie also stars Catherine Keener, Francis McDormand and Joan Cusack. “Friends with Money” is written and directed by Nicole Holofcener, who did “Lovely & Amazing” and will screen at Sundance next year.

“Nicole Holofcener is such a good writer. She captures the human spirit so well on the simplest level,” Anniston said.

Originally posted on ComingSoon.net