Jennifer Aniston Spoke Out Against AI During Her ELLE Women in Hollywood Speech
3 min readTHE RUNDOWN
- ELLE Women in Hollywood honoree Jennifer Aniston spoke out about the changing film and TV industry in her speech.
- While addressing the audience, she took a shot at AI in Hollywood.
- Aniston’s frequent co-star Adam Sandler introduced her.
ELLE Women in Hollywood honoree Jennifer Aniston has been in the industry for decades—and spoke about the reality of fighting to make the film and TV business a more welcoming place for women during her speech at ELLE’s Los Angeles event on Monday night. Having received the Women in Hollywood honor once before, she told the crowd, “I’m somehow eligible for this award again. I was given this, it was, like, 2011—a lot has happened since then.”
She continued, “I do think it’s really important to acknowledge that things have evolved. When I first said I wanted to produce, back in, like, 2004, the room got really, really quiet… But my desire to help and to shape stories, to donate blood, sweat, and tears to making those stories—not just performing in them—it never left. And gradually, ever so gradually, and because of women like you, who are sitting in this room, who would not take ‘no’ for an answer, our industry began to change its point of view, and I got to produce my first movie, and I can confirm I love it. And I’m really good at it.”
She later added, taking a shot at the proliferation of artificial intelligence in and around Hollywood: “That’s what keeps me showing up. It’s the friendships…and the shared belief that storytelling still matters, that baring our souls as actors and creators still matters—something that AI will never be able to duplicate, no matter how ‘smart’ it gets.”
Aniston concluded her speech by saying, “I’m definitely not the same person I was 14 years ago, thank God. But what I believed back in 2011 still holds true, which is, in this industry, women have to keep holding each other up and lifting each other up and lighting the way, and showing each other what is possible, and leaving the door open behind us so no one has to kick it down… Here’s to the brilliant, beautiful women in this room: I see you, I celebrate you, and you inspire me endlessly. Maybe I’ll see you back here again in 2039.”
The actress was introduced by her friend and frequent co-star Adam Sandler, who complimented her strength and warmth. “Jen is the best in so many ways, and one of the most rock-steady human beings I’ve ever met,” he said, joking, “I’ve only seen her angry maybe, like, two and a half times in the 40 years I’ve hung out with her.”
Watch Aniston’s speech in full above.
In her Women in Hollywood interview, Aniston spoke about her priorities in her career now. “My main mission now is doing projects that really inspire me and get me excited,” she admitted. “The goal is quality, not quantity, and time spent with people you really, really care about and want to work with. And I happen to be very lucky that my friends are very talented.”
She reflected on which of her characters resembles her most, saying, “I would probably say Rachel [from Friends], except my family had no money growing up, and she did. I want to be like Alex [Levy, her character on The Morning Show]. I love her! Not that I want to be a mean, badass bitch, but there’s something about it. It’s fun to yell and tell someone off.”
She also offered a very candid take on the highs and lows of being a woman in the industry: “The best part about being a woman in Hollywood is that I’m a working woman in Hollywood, and that I get to continue doing what I love. I’ve worked really hard and I love what I do. And also that we get to create projects that are making a difference and bring in female voices—that’s a really wonderful thing that we get to do now that we’re allowed a seat at the table. Which, bringing up the lows: There was a period where we were not allowed at that table. It was thought, How adorable that you think you could be a producer or run a production company. It was a very male-dominated industry, and we still have a long way to go, but women in Hollywood make moves. We get shit done.”