Seth Gordon

Jennifer Aniston talked about straddling her costar Charlie Day at yesterday's Horrible Bosses press conference, but conversation also moved on to slightly more PG topics! She touched on the worst job she's ever had as a Big Apple bike messenger at just 19. Another of her leading men, Jason Sudeikis touched on a run-in he had with the law around the same age. Jennifer had more to share about accepting a role with such filthy language, saying she wasn't worried about affected her America's sweetheart status. They said:

Jennifer, what's the toughest job you've ever had and why did you change up your look for this role?
JA: The toughest job I've ever had was being a bike messenger in New York City. I was 19.
JS: That's hot.
JA: Not if you saw me riding a bike. My look for this? I knew I wanted her to look different. With the dark hair, I was doing a movie right before and right after, so we had this wonderful period of time that we called hair-gate because the studio did not want me to wear a wig because the studio's like, "No one will know who you are." And I'm like, "What do you mean? They'll know who I am because of my name on the credits." There's just no way I could be saying these words and playing this woman and not look that much different. It was really fun for me. I just felt such freedom.

What what your worst day as a bike messenger?
JA: Probably driving into a door that was open. I'm just very uncoordinated and extraordinarily klutzy. And I just never should have been allowed on a bicycle with cylinders.

Jennifer, did you think you were taking a big risk with this role? And if so, did you have to ask SmartWater?
JA: Yes, I consulted SmartWater (joking). [The risk] is the fun. You don't want to play it safe all the time. And I've never sort of had a script come to me that allowed me to go in this direction. So it was a great opportunity. I don't think I really cared if there was a bad reaction to it. I actually didn't think there would be. I thought it would be fun for everybody. I'd hope.

To read what Jen says about being sexually confident in her 40s, confronting sweet-girl stereotypes, and Jason's run-in with the police in Kansas, just read more

Jennifer Aniston looked hot in Tom Ford, Calvin Klein, and Michael Kors this morning on her way to do press for Horrible Bosses at NYC's Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Justin Theroux and Jennifer Aniston were together to visit Inside the Actors Studio last night, but today she had leading men Jason Sudeikis, Charlie Day, and Jason Bateman along with director Seth Gordon and screenwriter Michael Markowitz to chat about the dark comedy out on July 8. Jen joked about the less-than-ideal management and jobs from her past and confessed that she didn't really mind tackling the dirty-talking role of Julia Harris, a dentist who doesn't seem to respect the boundaries of workplace sexual harassment. Some of her funniest scenes are with Charlie, who didn't have to do much acting when it came to being shocked by Jen's character. They said:

Do you have any particularly awful bosses that stick out in your mind?
Jason Bateman: I've never had a bad one.
Jennifer Aniston: I had one that was inconsistent and a little complicated but not horrible.

Jennifer, did you have any hesitations about taking on such a filthy-talking role? And is there a shift toward gorgeous women saying dirty things?
JA: I know I had no hesitation, to answer that question. At all.
Michael Markowitz, writer: When I wrote the script — I always have actors in mind when I was writing. And Jason Bateman and [Jen] were the actors I had in mind. I never knew if it was like, rude, to tell you that I thought of you for that part.
JA: Are you kidding? It's a compliment!
MM: I broke my leg and was watching DVDs, and I watched Friends start to finish and I thought, Oh! She'd be great at this. Rachel was so much bawdier.
Jason Sudeikis: Oh! That's how I know you. You were on Friends!

Did director Seth Gordon encourage you to improvise or did you just go for it, Jen?
JA: It was on the page. So I was just doing my job. There was nothing that didn't happen that he wasn't getting so tickled and excited about. The raunchier the better. It was pretty easy. It really was.

Jen, was it fun to take on a role where a girl gets to play a stereotypically guy character? And how did you prep for the role?
JA: Well that's what I think was so fun about it — being a female who's usually a male character . . . and that's sort of what made it that much more fun. I did go to the dentist right beforehand though to see how they hold the tools. The rest was easy.

To read what Charlie says about being shocked by Jen, and her take on being one of the guys on set, just read more