TVG:In this movie, you're pregnant, you're single and you fall in love with a gay man. Will this shatter the audience's illusions created by goody-goody Rachel on Friends?
Jennifer:You mean are they gonna think, "Ooh, what's she doing?" Well, I would hope not. I would hope the concern as an actor always is, if I branch out what are people gonna think? Are they gonna still accept me? And I think celebrities I mean, I can only imagine once they get into that place of having such a position in the world and in the eyes of their fans that they become scared to take chances because of that, and forget that they're an actor. What we do is play characters, and as hard as it can be, because it is so important that you have the validation and approval of the people that got you here you also have to stay true to yourself and remember that you're doing this 'cause this is what feeds you and what drives you. And to explore different parts of someone else is why we're doing it in the first place. I just hope that they will — I just hope they like it, and God knows we're not, as a society, as evolved as we would hope we would be, so there will be people, I'm sure, that will e shocked to see "Rachel" all of a sudden pregnant with a gay guy.
TVG:Do you ever feel trapped by your Friends success?
Jennifer:How trapped do I feel? I don't feel trapped, actually. I feel really lucky. So far it's worked out really well. This all wouldn't be happening if Friends wasn't around, and the opportunities I've had have been great in those that little window that we get. So it's been working out really well so far, and yeah, I'm sure there are movies that I'm missing out on because they shoot in the middle of the year or whatever. But our producers are great in that way. I mean, when I did She's the One, I did that during production of Friends, and they just sort of flew me back and forth.
TVG:What's it like working together as a cast when you all experience varying degrees of success on the big screen? Do you end up kidding each other about it? For a while, when you had disasters like Matt LeBlanc's Ed, the perception was that the cast was cursed when it came to movies.
Jennifer:That was created by the media. That wasn't actual fact. Unfortunately, that's a good story. And it's sort of like, you know, Friends, "Oh yeah, they're trying to have a movie career." And the fact is, is that if we weren't on these shows we would just be actors being given an opportunity to do a movie and we wouldn't be sitting under a microscope getting ripped apart for taking a chance. That's the hardest thing to overcome, is not us teasing each other, but the actual people writing the articles. Those are the things to overcome.
TVG:Have you come up with a post-Friends career plan yet?
Jennifer:Well, I'm hoping to continue to work. Every actor hopes that their career will have legs and last and that's why I think it's very, very important to just be careful about the choices you make.
TVG:Do you think the media's been kind to you overall?
Jennifer:Yeah, they have been kind to me. I mean, they don't... you know, there's... they try to pit the "Friends" against one another, like Courteney and I, and they'll make up stuff about all of that. They love that stuff. That's a good story. And the truth is we're just not that interesting.
TVG:There is a staggering number of web sites devoted to you. Do you ever take a look at them?
Jennifer:I don't. I mean I have. I've been [there]. I've done it. It's a little creepy to me, truthfully. It's a little creepy to actually go there.
TVG:Do you ever think about the role-model question that women like you may represent an unattainable ideal to kids who are watching?
Jennifer:Yeah, it's a great responsibility. It's also really frustrating, because it is a fantasy and it is not realistic. We do our best as actors to present as realistic a situation as possible. In terms of physical [ideals] and all of that, you know? I mean, I remember being a kid and watching One Day at a Time and thinking, "Oh, my God! If I could just be Valerie Bertinelli. I mean, I would be like, you know, the happiest person in the world!" And those — you just have those as a kid, you know? But it's when you start to — there's things that have been written about, you know: "Look like this. You can be happy if you have fame and you have love and you look like this and follow this diet and that thing" and things that I would never promote. I don't believe that any of that actually brings you happiness. As hard as it is for anybody who's not an actor, not in your position to understand; "Oh yeah, like, cry me a river. Your life is really hard." It's all relative. So when those images go out the , you have really no control over it. That is the unfortunate thing.
TVGEN (tm), TV Guide Entertainment Network (tm) and the related logos are trademarks of TV Guide Financial, Inc. under license to News America Digital Publishing, Inc. Copyright © 1998 News America Digital Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.