Jennifer Aniston is pouring her heart and soul into her 9 to 5 remake, which she hopes to have funded and scheduled for a 2025 release – and she’s calling in favors from across the industry to land the level of costars she needs to make it a slam dunk box office blockbuster, a source exclusively tells Life & Style.
“You have to respect Jen for being ambitious, and frankly, for wanting to make a way better movie than the eighties classic,” the source says.
The Friends alum, 55, has been on the upswing lately, finding success through a big role in Netflix’s Murder Mystery franchise and nailing her producing and acting work on The Morning Show, with the ratings and accolades to prove it.
As a second source previously told Life & Style, “Jen is once again in the position of being a little blown away by her own brilliance when it comes to this show.”
“She did it – now what?” the second source continued. “The thing about Jen in her 50s is that she actually grasps how rare a success like this is and is enjoying it to the fullest – she … continues to use The Morning Show as a proving ground for her skills as a television producer and now, the undisputed architect of the series’ success.”
The Break-Up star, currently basking in her achievement, proved to industry bigwigs and investors she can turn out a hit. With even more weight to throw around as a producer, the source credits Jen’s ability to find the right talent for her ability to pull off impressive results.
“Especially [considering] the incredible number of acting nominations Season 3 got – nine in total – because she is extremely involved in picking the actors who join the massive ensemble.”
Now looking to nail her next project, a remake of Dolly Parton’s iconic movie, Jen is taking the wheel when it comes to finding the perfect cast.
“Jen’s vision for the movie is a diverse cast of accomplished female stars, heavy-hitters across the board,” the first insider dishes.
“But she’s not just going to import stars from The Morning Show – she’s talking about female stars she’s barely or never worked with, from Oscar winners like Viola Davis and Julia Roberts to extremely hot up-and-comers like Zendaya and Sydney Sweeney,” says the source.
“There are big roles for younger women and middle-aged women in this movie, but the focus is going to be office politics and extremely compelling dialogue.”
Not yet mentioned among the list of potential costars are longtime pals of Jen’s, like Reese Witherspoon or Sandra Bullock, with good reason, says the source: “Reese and Sandra are producers themselves and would need that kind of credit along with their giant acting salaries.”
“While Jen loves Reese and Sandra, the whole point of this project is for Jen to be able to demonstrate to Hollywood that she actually can produce a giant studio event film on her own, from the ground up.”
“Inviting Reese and Sandra to the party would show that Jen isn’t ready to take off the training wheels yet, which simply isn’t the case.”
“The objective here is to make a blockbuster and for Jen to get most of the credit for that.”
