We bring you the facts about Jennifer Aniston’s latest film…
CAKE is released in Irish cinemas this week, and stars Jenifer Aniston as a woman living with chronic pain, and trying to come to terms with tragic events from her past. Jennifer Aniston is at the top of her game in CAKE, and is one of the most talked about Oscar snubs this year, so we have gathered together some trivia about the movie…
1. Secret
Jennifer Aniston only got the part of Claire in CAKE when another actress turned it down. Neither Aniston nor director Daniel Barnz will say who that actress was.
2. Fresh Faced
Apart from the make up used to create her scars, and in one scene where her character throws lunch in her home, Jennifer Aniston doesn’t wear any make up in CAKE… And she looks fantastic.
3. True Inspiration
Stacy Courtney worked as stunt co-ordinator on CAKE, and was a big inspiration for Jennifer Aniston’s performance. In 1997, Courtney suffered an accident with a boat propeller that badly injured her legs, and effectively put her career on hold. Courtney lived with chronic pain for years, had 23 surgeries and became addicted to painkillers, before turning her life around. Courtney has also recently worked a stunt co-ordinator on BIRDMAN and NOW YOU SEE ME.
4. Anti-Hero
Talking about where the idea for the film came from, writer Patrick Tobin said, at the Toronto Film Festival press conference for CAKE; ‘I have a friend in Sweden who ran a group for women with chronic pain, and he would tell me these stories about how brave and supportive these women were. Having a perverse sense of humour, one day I was like “What if there were a woman in this group who was just antagonistic and horrible?” I couldn’t get that character out of my head, so for years I just had her in my head, then wrote the short story, and the screenplay that it became’.
5. Fishbowl
Director Daniel Barnz has said that while filming CAKE, photographers hoping for a shot of Jennifer Aniston would whistle to try and get her to look their way. Barnz said “We didn’t have the budget or manpower to keep them at bay”, but Aniston is obviously used to life in the public eye, as this attention doesn’t seem to have affected her performance.
6. Love and Marriage
Real life husband and wife, Felicity Huffman and William H. Macy, star in CAKE – although they have no scenes together.
7. Challenge
Speaking at the TIFF press conference, Aniston said she became interested in the role of Claire because it was very far removed from anything she had done before; ‘When I read it, it was so exciting and I knew this would be an extraordinary challenge for me. I was so excited and so ready to dive in and take it on’.
8. Snub
Jennifer Aniston is perhaps one of the most talked about snubs at the Oscars this year – the others being David Oyelowo and THE LEGO MOVIE – but she was nominated for a both a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award for her role in CAKE.
9. Supporting Cast
As well as Jennifer Aniston in the lead role, CAKE stars Sam Worthington, Adriana Barraza, THE MINDY PROJECT’s Chris Messina and Anna Kendrick, whose decision to star in the film may well have been motivated by the fact that she gets to be incredibly foul mouthed toward Aniston… But we’re just guessing here!
10. When can I see it?
CAKE is released in Irish cinemas on February 20th, 2015