14 DAY TRIAL // Comparisons between Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston have abounded for the past decade, but what 2014 brings different to the table is the fact that this is the first time that they’re both running good odds at the upcoming Academy Awards, Jolie for Best Director / Best Movie and Aniston for Best Actress.
They’re not competing in the same category (imagine how that would have made the day of celebrity pundits!), but the mere fact that they’re both considered as likely Oscar contenders is already drawing even more comparisons between them.
According to insiders speaking to Page Six, Aniston is coming up short.
Jolie is nice and relatable, Aniston isn’t
Take for instance the last premieres these two attended, each for their respective films: Jolie arrived early and went in through the front door, taking the time to snap selfies and sign autographs, despite the pouring rain. That was obviously before she came down with the Chickenpox and canceled all appearances.
She was also “friendly inside and out” and everyone who came in contact with her on that occasion was “stunned at how accessible she was,” an insider reveals for the publication.
Aniston was anything but, adds the source. When she came to her own premiere, she didn’t pose for pictures and she didn’t greet fans (even though “Cake” co-star Anna Kendrick did), because she didn’t enter through the front door.
Once inside, Aniston was flanked by bodyguards and handlers, to the point where no one could come close to her for a friendly shake of hands, or even an autograph and a photo. Moreover, when she left hurriedly at the end of the screening, a group of fans asked Jen for a photo and she just waved them and said she couldn’t right then – and left.
So Aniston has been losing points in her Oscar campaign because of behavior of this kind, the report concludes.
Such nonsense!
Stephen Huvane, Jennifer Aniston’s publicist, is already fighting back, calling the comparison between his client and Angelina Jolie “just immature crap” because it’s unfounded and taken out of context.
He explains that the screening referenced above was squeezed in between two others, so Aniston and her handlers had to “hustle,” which would explain why she didn’t pose for photos or sign autographs or, for that matter, linger at the event after the screening.
Aniston wasn’t unpleasant or not-nice, she was simply in a hurry, he says.
While that may very well be true (these press tours can be packed, to the point where an actor has to attend several events a day, which means there’s very little time for actual interactions at them), what Huvane can’t deny is the fact that Jolie has been handling herself admirably this awards season.
From wiping the tears off a crying fan and kneeling next to her on the pavement for a selfie (and then another one, when the first was not to her liking) to doing countless TV appearances and magazine interviews and to interacting with fans outside all these events, Angelina has truly been turning on the charm.
It’s a shame then that industry insiders are saying she doesn’t really stand much of a chance to get a Best Director nom, but she can still hope for Best Movie with “Unbroken.”
