  Jennifer Aniston in Horrible Bosses. (Supplied photo)
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Fans accustomed to seeing Jennifer Aniston as the perky star of Friends may have a tough time with her role as a sexual-predator dentist in Horrible Bosses.
Then again, fans who've had to sit through such Aniston comedies as The Bounty Hunter, The Switch, Just Go With It, The Break-Up or Along Came Polly might be thrilled to see their idol in a comedy as funny and well-written as Horrible Bosses, which opens Friday.
Aniston, 42, was part of a press conference here for Horrible Bosses, a film she said she felt no hesitation in doing, her public persona notwithstanding. Yes, even though she makes horrible passes at her dental assistant (Charlie Day) and threatens to blackmail him if he doesn't come across.
"There's always a risk, but that's the fun. You don't want to play it safe all the time. I never had a script come to me before that let me 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 just thought it would be fun for everybody."
So she wasn't trying to break out of that America's Sweetheart perception?
"I didn't take the role to rid myself of that title. There are so many different, ah, American Sweethearts. I took it because I loved it and thought it would be a fun challenge and fun for me to step out of what people usually like to see me play."
Apparently, people usually like to see Aniston play a girl with cute haircuts in the big city, in ensemble comedies.
They also like to see her as a lovelorn divorcee, and since her divorce from Brad Pitt the tabloids are constantly speculating on her romantic status and her plans to adopt children. (Aniston's latest boyfriend is said to be screenwriter/actor Justin Theroux.)
But never mind. Aniston has a new place to live in New York, her first tattoo (to honour a beloved dog) and seemingly a new attitude. She says Horrible Bosses was fun to do because she got to play a role traditionally played by a man.
"That's what was so fun about it. I thought of her as just kind of like a guy."
And yes, she looks a bit unlike herself in this dark comedy.
"My look for this, I knew I wanted her to be different, and I wanted her to have dark hair. I knew I was doing a movie right before and right after, so we had this period of time we called Hairgate, because the studio didn't want me wearing a wig. They thought people wouldn't know who I was ... But there was no way I could say those words and play that woman without looking somewhat different. So that was really fun for me. I felt such freedom. I've never had that much fun with a character before."
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