Was it hard to get Jennifer Aniston for “Friends With Money?” It was a few years after “Friends,” right?
Yes, quite a bit later, but she had done Miguel Arteta’s “The Good Girl,” which I loved. I knew her a little bit through Catherine Keener, so I was able to get to her quickly. She was really interested in playing more diverse roles, not just comedy. That said, it took her a while to decide. I remember we were on tenterhooks for a while. But also, it was a mutual wanting, and of course, she didn’t make any money doing it, that’s for sure! [laughs]
Right, no big Marvel payday for that one, huh? Tell me about Catherine Keener, your self-reflection, your muse. You worked with her so often, and she’s so complicated in these movies.
Yeah, she’s a complicated person, too, and I find her incredibly unique. Um, like some actors are just very specifically them. Just the way she walks and talks her vibe—she’s very beautiful, but she has heartbreak in her face and is a great actor. We get along, she really gets what I’m trying to do, she’s incredibly receptive, and she adds so much because we’ve worked together for so long. I can just look at her sideways on a set, and she’ll know exactly what I mean.
I sought her out for [my first film] “Walking And Talking,” then I wrote for her in “Lovely And Amazing,” and then we were just kind of off and running. It’s funny, though, because she’s not like me. I’m this Jewish New Yorker, and she’s so not that, but we’re very symbiotic.
Well, that’s interesting, too, because you’re a New Yorker in Los Angeles, and even though you’ve been in L.A. for a long time, that neurotic thread is still in your work. And then, you kind of do a homecoming back to New York in “Please Give,” which is almost a tribute to the challenges of closed-quarters apartment life.
Yes, I mean, apartment buildings inspired the movie. A friend of mine had bought the apartment next door to them in New York, hoping to break down the walls and expand. But the woman next door wouldn’t die. So they kept this strange relationship. My friend is a kind and loving person; she would bring this one food, got to know her very well, and took care of her at times, and yet at the same time, she’s kind of checking her watch. “You’re 92; what’s going on?”
[Laughs] You have like a divining rod for these kinds of stories.
Right? It’s exactly what we’ve been talking about. This selfish desire to put an addition on your apartment and yet be loving and kind to the person. So, it’s also those kinds of self-rationalizations that interest me. I first started writing about that situation, but then it just takes off from there.
Maybe the maxim is something like selfishness clashing with selflessness equals comedy riches [Laughs]. That conflict and struggle between the two are like baked into your DNA.
Right? Sometimes I try to get away from that, but the contradictions in people are fascinating and hilarious to me. Their selfishness and selflessness and, I guess, my upbringing, as I talked about, really affected me in that way, and it’s kind of like something I’m always working on.
So, the films are on the Criterion Channel, which is nice, gives them a whole new audience. Anything you’re watching there?
Well, you know, in the Criterion interview I did, I talked about Claudia Weill (the director of “Girlfriends,” 1978) and Agnès Varda, and the movies that they made about female friendship really inspired me. Nobody even knows about those films, but thanks to Criterion, they might. Like “Girlfriends,” that’s basically “Walking And Talking.” I didn’t mean to steal it—I mean “Walking And Talking” is based on my own personal experience when my friend got married, but that’s what “Girlfriends” is about.
I watch a lot of stuff on the channel, and some of it’s insane, but at least it’s interesting [laughs]. What have I watched? [Catherine Breillat’s] “Fat Girl,” Jacques Tati’s “Playtime,” and I watched one of Martin Scorsese’s World Cinema movies; I think it was “The Maid.” I can’t say I loved it, but it’s also insane and something you have to see. What else, “Bunny Lake Is Missing,” Albert Brook’s “Real Life,” they have so much good stuff.
So, what are you working on, or can you work on anything these days?
I’m writing my own spec script, and that’s been a while and I hope that one day I’ll get to make it. I did just come back from France because I co-wrote a script [“The Last Duel”] with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon for Ridley Scott, but that got shut down cause of COVID.
Oh, shit, that’s right! That project is insane ! Oh man, I remember when that was announced—[laughs]—everyone thought, “Wow, that sounds so problematic, but oh, Nicole Holofcener co-writing? Maybe she can save the men from hanging themselves with this story [laughs]!
Yeah, exactly. Was it announced before I came on? Because it wasn’t finished. Ben and Matt, at the time, gave me two-thirds of a script and said, “here, will you write the last third?” So, that was a really fun job and completely out of my wheelhouse, obviously. But I super enjoyed it; it was really collaborative. I ended up working on their pieces, and they worked on my pieces, and we had a really good time. I’m a producer on the movie as well, so we went to shoot it in France but then had to come home.
That’s great. I love that the Hollywood boys were smart enough to come to you to rescue them from themselves [laughs].
[Laughs] Ben and I have been kind of mutual fans for a while, actually, so we, we already knew each other. And so, he just asked me if I would be interested in co-writing, and I was like, “Are you joking? Is this a joke?” And also, is this movie a comedy?” And, of course, it’s not, but of course, it’s such a good challenge, so I said yes. And you know, they’re both so handsome [laughs].
Nicole Holofcener’s three films, “Lovely And Amazing,” “Friends With Money,” and “Please Give” are all available on the Criterion Channel now.
