Jennifer Aniston has been giving her career a handbrake turn of late, moving away from the sweet, dippy ingenues with which she made her name and fortune, and putting in performances either harrowing ('Cake') or predatory ('Horrible Bosses'). In the latter, she plays a let's-say-enthuiastic dentist very much abusing her position.
And she's back - for more, with the sequel, costarring once more with Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis and her old friend Jason Bateman...
Jennifer Aniston on feisty form as Dr Julia Harris
So Dr. Julia Harris is back.
She's back.
Were you excited to come back and play her again?
Oh God, I couldn’t wait to come back. I couldn't wait. I think I was there--I was probably sitting on the lot in costume the year before just sort of panhandling going, "Come on. Let's do another one." I love it.
Julia's even more outrageous than she was in the first film that one was pretty outrageous. Were you intimidated by that at all?
No. Not at all. Are you kidding? I was excited. The thing with Julia is you can go far with her and its all fair game. There's nothing that she will not do. Obviously.
Is it fun to play those scenes, this time with Jason Bateman?
Yeah.
Because in the last film the scenes were mostly with Charlie Day.
It was with Charlie and a little bit with Sudeikis, but this time with Jason. Especially because Jason's like a brother to me. I've known him for 25 years. We've practically grown up together. You know, his wife is one of my best friends. So it was just a little--there was that moment of like, "Oh this could be awkward. This could be awkward. This is my brother." So yeah, that was fun.
Reunion for the original crew of Jason Sudeikis, Jason Bateman and Charlie Day with Jennifer
Was there anything that was just too hard for you personally to say?
There is one line. It was the only one that I remember saying, "I can't say it" when I came to the moment to say it. And I don't remember what it is.
You're a comedy pro. I mean you were on 'Friends' and done many comedy films. Is it still a challenge to not laugh when some of these outrageous things are happening?
Oh yeah. If there ever comes a day where that is an easy thing then I quit. There's nothing more fun than knowing the giggle is going to happen so you;ve got to hold it together. And sometimes you just can't. That's the fun of it. That's what we do.
When you put on wig and the make-up to play Julia you look very different. Does that help free your inhibitions…
Absolutely. It's part of the costume. [The wig] was like her hat, you know. And it just made it--all of it, her clothes, the make-up--all that costume just adds to the fun of the behavior of her. You notice that my necklace in this sequel is a cock ring. I don't know if you noticed that.
I did not notice that.
Look that up.
'Horrible Bosses 2' is available on DVD from today 30 March. Watch the trailer below...