The persona adopted by Jennifer Aniston in the early stages of her career has been thoroughly decimated for her next feature, Cake. Gone is the shiny hair, the perfect make-up… basically her impossibly beauteous image has taken a backseat for her performance in Daniel Barnz’s darker-than-night comedy.
In the role of Claire Simmons, Aniston tackles heavier material than we’re used to seeing her handle. Sure, she’s dabbled in less fluffy fare for The Good Girl and Horrible Bosses, but it seems like the former Friends star is trying to shake the sheen from her reputation. In the pic, Aniston plays a struggling Los Angeles woman who turns to a series of vices to help dull her chronic pain.
Her turn in Cake has already landed her a round of critical praise following its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival. This stream of positive reviews are no doubt the best of her career thus far. Honing in on the specifics of “glamming down,” it’s not hard to see why she’s netted them after a review of this latest clip.
Courtesy of IMDB, the brief 75-second tease shows Claire offering Felicity Huffman’s character a larger-than-life bottle of vodka. Taken out of context it’s a little hard to grasp exactly the set-up between the pair, but either way, Aniston is very compelling. It’s no wonder early talk has her already linked to a Best Actress nomination.
Word on the movie as a whole is so far encouraging. It looks like it’ll be a dark indie comedy gem that should hopefully bag a decent audience upon release. The starry supporting cast will no doubt factor in, as Anna Kendrick, William H. Macy, Sam Worthington, Adriana Barraza and Chris Messina all join Aniston and Huffman.
Cake will receive a limited one-week theatrical release in December.
