THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 119 NOVEMBER 6, 2019
The One Where They Were
Sisters Reese and Jen first
co-starred on a Friends episodeANISTON One of the wonderful
things about Alex’s character is
the layers I was able to access —
the human being and the woman
who has to pull it all together and
say good morning to America.
You have such a deeper apprecia-
tion for these anchors because life
is happening and they’re there for
us. They’re our constant.
WITHERSPOON There’s something
about being on live TV, too, that is
terrifying. Because you can make
so many mistakes.
What was the most surprising thing
you learned about their world?
WITHERSPOON The way that they
synthesize information and
[report] something terribly
tragic then transition to some-
thing really upbeat is so weird.
“There was a train crash. And
also, vitamin D!” And I remem-
ber walking on set, and Jen, she
had her newscaster voice, and I
was like, “I don’t have my news-
caster voice yet. How did you
get that newscaster voice?” She
was like, “Well, I watched a lot
of newscasters.”Bradley and Alex are being set up
as competitors in the first couple
of episodes — but it’s not clear
whether they’ll play that game.
How did you go about upending
notions of women and competition
in the workplace?
WITHERSPOON We felt strongly it
wasn’t this adversarial relation-
ship. It was just two women with
different ideologies having to
exist in the same space. But there
aren’t a lot of references for two
strong women in the same space,
right? This is a new thing that’s
happening now in dramatic pre-
mium television. So it was kind
of the wild, wild West. Whatever
we wanted to make it. And our
relationship goes up and down.You are on your phones a lot in this
show, which is true to life in media.
WITHERSPOON Media people
are on their phone constantly
because you can’t be a min-
ute behind. If you’re a day late,
you’ve lost the story. I learned
so much about how competitive
it is between networks because
you’re talking about a $500 mil-
lion enterprise. If you drop in the
ratings to second, you lose about
$100 million in advertising. It’s a
high-stakes world.Jen, you and Steve Carell share an
intense scene in the first episode
when Alex goes to Mitch’s house to
confront him about what he’s done.
ANISTON It was my first day shoot-
ing: “Steve, we’ve met twice.
OK, 15 years of partnership and
betrayal. Let’s go.”
WITHERSPOON Through the season,
you get to see what Mitch’s life
becomes, which I really like about
the show. It helps show what
his inner life is like, what hap-
pens to his wife and kids and his
reputation. Steve does such an
incredible job grounding that
and making you care for him as a
human being.
ANISTON Who really does not
understand what happened:
“What did I do?”WITHERSPOON One day, he woke up
and the rules changed and no one
told him.
ANISTON That’s the charming
narcissist. He’s like, “Everybody
wants to be with me, right?” So
it’s a rude awakening.Jen, after staying off of social
media for years, you recently joined
Instagram. What convinced you to
join? Was it because of the show?
WITHERSPOON “It’s not my fault. It’s
Courteney [Cox]’s fault.”
ANISTON I blame all of you. I sort of
just felt — listen, this isn’t going
to go away. So you know, why not?
Can’t beat them? Join them. Now I
really want it to be over.
WITHERSPOON No!
ANISTON I’m kidding. It’s actually
quite fun.Reese, have you had any bad social
media moments?
WITHERSPOON Yes, of course! You
realize that everybody has it and
it’s like white noise, right? You
can’t remember it three minutes
later. We all mess up. You make
mistakes. You say sorry in a genu-
ine way and move on.
ANISTON So, “sorry” ahead of time.Interview edited for length
and clarity.Left: Jennifer Aniston co-stars in Apple’s
first big original series, The Morning Show,
with Reese Witherspoon (below). On Oct. 24,
the stars discussed female competition
in a workplace that is reeling from #MeToo
accusations against a Matt Lauer-like anchor
played by Steve Carell.N
ineteen years before they joined forces for Apple TV’s
The Morning Show, Witherspoon locked horns with Aniston
on NBC’s Friends — she played Rachel Green’s sister Jill, who
(gasp) goes on a date with David Schwimmer’s Ross. Where would
the Green sisters be now? “Making The Morning Show,” jokes
Aniston. Starting in May 2020, you’ll find Rachel and Jill on HBO
Max; the WarnerMedia service locked down domestic stream-
ing rights to Friends in a $425 million deal amid a library arms race
that continues to escalate. — A.B.