Let's imagine for a minute that the work/fun ratio at your job was inverted. That the eight hours with your nose to the grindstone and the 20 minutes goofing off with your coworkers (OK, maybe 40, assuming you don't work at a law firm) were flipped. In this alternate reality, you were paid to make your colleagues giggle like third-graders, let off some steam, and come up with outrageous schemes to oust your boss. Then, because this is fantasyland and we may as well go there, let's say that your coworkers were Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis of Saturday Night Live fame, and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia cocreator Charlie Day — three charming as hell guys who also happen to be some of the funniest men in Hollywood.
Essentially, what we've just described is Jennifer Aniston's current gig. As one of the stars of Horrible Bosses, the much anticipated new comedy in which three best friends plot to murder their employers, the golden-toned Ms. Aniston continues to live the dream. Though the character she plays — a sexually aggressive dentist who assaults her assistant — is far from dreamy, it's the perfect opportunity for the comedienne to break out of the rom-com cage and play a big, bawdy, outrageous role.
Today, the friends and costars have been hamming it up for the camera, shooting photos for four separate MC covers. Though Aniston's been on set, under the photographer's lights, for the better part of the day, when she exits the elevator onto the rooftop lounge of the photo studio, she's all smiles. The guys are casual in jeans, T-shirts, and flannel, but she's in trim black pants, a black knit tank, and black boots with a slim heel. Her newly lobbed bob is messy in that paradoxically precise way that only she and her hairstylist have mastered. Maybe it's just the light, which is dusky and pink enough to make even the gritty Hollywood surroundings seem uncharacteristically romantic, but Aniston, 42, almost looks airbrushed in person. And now she's ready to relax with a sip of tequila and fresh lime on the rocks ("Not all of the sugar and salt of a margarita, though I do love them," she says) and devour a bowlful of chips and guacamole with the guys.
"Poor Charlie," Aniston says of her costar, whom she repeatedly offends in the film. "He had to put up with me harassing him for two solid weeks."
"I play a dental assistant, and she is a dentist, my boss, who wants to sleep with me even though I'm desperately in love with my fiancée," Day says. "I won't do it. My character is not into it."
"It's a real testament to your acting ability," Bateman chimes in.
"Yeah, it's a tough concept to sell," Day laughs.
Read the rest of Marie Claire's exclusive interview with Jennifer Aniston and the male stars of Horrible Bosses in our July 2011 issue, on newsstands June 21.
My first job was: As an extra on my dad's [actor John Aniston] soap opera, Search for Tomorrow. When I was 12, I asked him if I could get a part on his show. I wore a yellow skating outfit, and I was kinda large. It's hard to look good in yellow, and I certainly did not. I remember I got a check for about $100, and I was blown away. Later, I waited a lot of tables, and I wasn't very good at that. I dropped more than one Alpine burger in customers' laps, and you just do not want all of that Swiss cheese and mushrooms in your pants. I wasn't a good waitress, but I was told that I was very nice and charming, so people liked me anyway.
My first job was: An educational video. I was about 10. A local college was making a film of a Ray Bradbury short story, and I acted in it. After that, I got the part on Little House on the Prairie, and worked pretty steadily.
I've never had a horrible boss, but: Most of the time I don't even know who my boss is. When you're making a movie, you don't always have the same boss when you finish as you did when you started. Studio heads, directors — they're shifting around all the time, fired and hired. And at the end of every project, as an actor, you're effectively fired. So you're out there looking for work again like everybody else.
Read the rest of Marie Claire's exclusive interview with Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman in our July 2011 issue, on newsstands June 21.
I've never had a horrible boss, but: I came close. When I was living in Chicago doing Second City, I worked at Banana Republic on the Magnificent Mile. I can't remember her name, but the manager had these beautiful blue eyes and she was always picking fights with me. She was all over me about "hanger integrity." That's what they say when they want all of the hangers to face the same direction. But I was good. I could fold a sweater, man. I got to the point where I didn't even need the special board they make for folding.
Read the rest of Marie Claire's exclusive interview with Jason Sudeikis in our July 2011 issue, on newsstands June 21.
My first job was: As a janitor for a health club in Rhode Island. I made a little money, got paid under the table, and got to burn off some teenage energy at the gym. Arnold Schwarzenegger worked out there while he was filming True Lies. So the owner had these giant posters of him all over the gym, which I'd have to clean. I essentially polished his abs for a living.
Read the rest of Marie Claire's exclusive interview with Charlie Day in our July 2011 issue, on newsstands June 21.