Jennifer Aniston And Reese Witherspoon: Inside Their Post-‘Friends’ Friendship And New TV Sitcom
Jennifer Aniston is reuniting with her Friends sister, Reese Witherspoon, for a new TV series. According to the Hollywood Reporter, dream team Aniston and Witherspoon will co-star in a new sitcom about TV morning shows and the New York media. The still-untitled project, which will be shopped to major cable outlets and streaming sites, marks Jennifer Aniston’s first major TV gig since her role as Rachel Green on Friends wrapped 13 years ago. Witherspoon recently earned an Emmy nod for her work on HBO’s Big Little Lies.
Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon have been real-life friends for years, ever since Reese memorably guest starred with Jennifer on Friends back in Season 6 of the NBC sitcom. Witherspoon’s two-episode stint on Friends came in 2000 when she played Jill Green, Rachel’s little sister who tried to seduce Ross (David Schwimmer).
A decade after co-starring with Jennifer on Friends, Reese praised her TV big sister for her “sex appeal and complete lovability.”
“You just want to get your nails done with her, and you want to make out with her at the same time… at least I do!” Reese said at the ELLE Women in Hollywood event in 2011, according to Us Weekly.
“First we get our nails done, then we make out!’ Witherspoon joked of Aniston.
“It’s totally awesome. That’s because she’s MY friend, not yours!”
Reese Witherspoon also explained how Jennifer Aniston helped her out when she got stage fright while playing her onscreen sister on Friends.
“In all my enthusiasm, I completely forgot something crucial,” Reese said of her Friends role.
“I had never been on television in front of a live audience ever in my entire life. And I panicked! I totally froze! I couldn’t remember my lines and the writers were yelling… I just stood there absolutely completely frozen.”
Witherspoon explained that Aniston came to her rescue, telling her she didn’t have to be perfect, even in front of a live studio audience.
“[She said], ‘You’re going to make a mistake and you’re going to flip your line and whatever – and the audience is going to love it. Don’t try to be perfect, just try to be yourself,'” Reese recalled.
“That’s the story that sort of captured Jen the best for me. ‘On one hand, she is this gorgeous breathtaking beauty that men lose their thought process and their speech patterns [over]. And, on the other hand, she is a woman who lets you in.”
Jennifer Aniston has long considered Reese Witherspoon part of her family, even if their sisterhood started out as fictional. At the 2015 Oscars, Aniston told Entertainment Tonight that Witherspoon is like a little sister to her.
“Look at [Reese], she’s so cute,” Jennifer said to ET’s Nancy O’Dell on the Oscars red carpet. “So pretty, she’s my little sister, even if she’s [just] my TV sister.”
The TV sisters also reunited earlier this year at the 89th Academy Awards. The Daily Mail posted a photo of Jennifer and Reese catching up at the 2017 Vanity Fair Oscar Party at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills.
Given her success on the big screen, Jennifer Aniston’s return to TV may be surprising to some fans, but her chemistry with Witherspoon is undeniable so this sounds like a perfect sitcom scenario. Aniston even teased a TV return earlier this year, telling Variety that she has been considering it for a while.
“I’ve thought about it a lot,” Jennifer said of a potential return to the small screen.
“That’s where the work is. That’s where the quality is. At this point in my career, I want to be part of wonderful stories, exciting characters, and also just having a good time.”
Indeed, TV has been good to Aniston, In addition to a million dollar per episode gig on Friends, the actress earned five Emmy nominations and won one for her role as Rachel Green on the long-running NBC ensemble comedy.
Take a look at the video below to see Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon working together on Friends.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_QGxXr2wTw
[Featured Image Eric Charbonneau/Invision for American Cinematheque/AP Images]
