During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter's Drama Actress Roundtable, Jennifer Aniston opened up about how hard it was for her to shed the character of Rachel Green and move past her fan-favorite "Friends" role in subsequent projects. "You just exhaust yourself," she acknowledged. "I mean, I could not get Rachel Green off of my back for the life of me." In fact, Aniston revealed that one of the reasons that she stood in Rachel's shadow was the popularity of the show, as well as the near-constant reruns.
"I could not escape 'Rachel from Friends,' and it's on all the time and you're like, 'Stop playing that f****** show!'" she quipped. The lovable star also confessed that she struggled with being typecast after "Friends," and that there were times when she doubted herself, believing that maybe she was only good at playing Rachel as part of an ensemble cast that hung out in a New York City apartment.
However, when Aniston landed the leading role in the comedy-drama "The Good Girl," she felt empowered by it and was finally able to show that the depth of her acting ability went far beyond her TV alter-ego. In the movie, Aniston's character is a married woman who finds herself bored in life and carries on an affair with her young co-worker, thereby pulling away from everything that Rachel was.