In her new movie “Life of Crime,” Jennifer Aniston's Mickey basically needs to barely-tolerate a revolving door of dum-dums.
“You've got one not so bright guy after the next. The beauty of her character is when she gets with the bad guys that aren't that bright… she finds her colors and finds her strength,” Aniston said of Mickey in our HitFix interview this week.
The role has her playing the smartest guy in the room, which makes way for some brutal and dark comedy since the other guys in the room are kidnappers, Nazi sympathizers, bumbling paramours and neglectful husbands. (Aniston described the man behind that “jerk-off” latter character, Tim Robbins, as a total teddy bear.)
But the former “Friends” star relishes in this sort of comedy. And any type of comedy, really.
“I love comedy… making people laugh has been medicine for me since I can remember,” she said, noting similarly edgy comedies and dark films like “The Good Girl,” and “Friends with Money.”
Some projects have gone the broad comedy route with big studio pictures, but Aniston said her heart is with independent film.
“Little independent films have been my favorite to be in, because you can stretch and you don't have to perform for the masses, you get to access part of yourself. The wonderful thing that independent film provides… is such a wonderful sense of feeling like you're creatively involved in others,” said the actress and producer, then talking about indies that come her way. “There's other stuff that I'm interested in getting more and more excited about exploring myself as the actor that I wanna be. With the independents, i have more ability to do that.”
Watch the rest of our video interview above, on Aniston's picks for her favorite women's roles lately (hint: Streep, Bullock, Cotillard…).
“Life of Crime” co-stars Robbins, John Hawke, Will Forte and yasiin bey, and hits theaters Friday (Aug. 29).