‘Wanderlust’: Jennifer Aniston ‘Rachel-y,’ Paul Rudd ‘a goofball’
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A mini “Friends” reunion came together with the upcoming comedy “Wanderlust,” which stars Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd — the celebrity alter-egos of Rachel Green and Mike Hannigan, love interest of character Phoebe Buffay-Hannigan.
Their ‘Wanderlust’ costars revealed they have traits akin to the characters they played on the hit sitcom.
‘She’s kind of Rachel-y,’ Jordan Peele said of Aniston at the film’s world premiere Thursday.
‘She’s awesome, she’s open, she’s warm and she’s loving. She just pulls you right in — magnetic.’
Actress Kerri Kenney-Silver shares a bedroom scene with Rudd in the film about a couple that leaves New York City and stumbles upon a free-love commune called Elysium, where they start a new life. Kenney-Silver said that they filmed about 20 takes of the scene before she was able to get out her lines without Rudd making her laugh.
‘He’s such a goofball. He’s the first one to try to make you to crack up,’ she said on the red carpet outside the Mann Village Westwood.
Malin Akerman, who plays a member of the commune, said that while acting with Rudd, ‘It was really hard to keep a straight face. He is such a good improv actor.
‘Things would come out of his mouth, and I was like, ‘Did you just say that? That’s crazy!’’
The movie was also a reunion for some of the talent behind “Wet Hot American Summer,” a box office flop that launched the careers of several now-successful actors, including Bradley Cooper and Elizabeth Banks. (A real reunion may be coming soon with a sequel in the works.) Kenney-Silver was among the “American Summer” alums in “Wanderlust,” along with Rudd, writer-director David Wain, writer-actor Ken Marino and actor Joe Lo Truglio.
“Any time I get to work with David or Ken or Joe or any of the guys, it’s home,” Kenney-Silver said. “This was the first time really that we were able to incorporate huge movie stars and a huge company and have it feel like it was still home, but we just bumped it up like 10 notches.”
The comedy’s cast members differed a bit in their ideas of what would be the best part of the Elysium lifestyle to bring back to the real world. Akerman said she likes the idea of growing a vegetable garden, but “not the nudist part and sharing of my husband.”
Peele, though, could see the advantages of the nudist lifestyle. ‘I think nudity is very underrated.... Do you understand how long it took my girlfriend to get ready for today? I would be sitting down in my seat right now if it weren’t for clothing.”
As for what Aniston hopes audiences get out of the movie, she told reporters, “Don’t take yourself so seriously. Live a little bit. Relax!”
“Wanderlust,” which also stars Aniston’s new beau, Justin Theroux, and was produced by Judd Apatow, opens in theaters Feb. 24.
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— Emily Rome