Shadowing Practice: Jennifer Aniston & Quinta Brunson l Actors on Actors - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Have you ever done a look in the camera?
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No. Have I?
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You might have.
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I might have.
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It'll come to me in about two days.
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How many movies have you forgotten about?
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Oh, endless.
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Hi, Jennifer Aniston.
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Hi, you went to Brooklyn.
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Hi.
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Hi, my comedy queen.
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Oh, you have taken the title, my darling.
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Oh, that's very sweet, but you know how I feel about you.
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I know.
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You're so sweet.
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I've told you time and time again.
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You kind of really broke my heart into a thousand pieces and made me blush and weep and all.
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That was a very sweet moment. When?
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When we saw you.
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I saw you recently at, where were we?
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One of those many things.
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Oh, I know what it was, the CAA.
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Yes, upstairs.
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Yeah, upstairs.
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And because you are, you're just that girl.
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an icon you are but we're here to talk about us us and your dramatic performances
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how'd that happen because i think when you're comedy legend
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and baddie i do think that you transfer over to drama very well
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which you do as alex in the morning show thank you honey and
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you got to do so many cool things as alex this season first of all you're just it's a badass
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She's pretty fun to play.
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She's really cool.
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Yeah.
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She suffers no fools.
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No. You got to make out with Jonathan Hamm.
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Jon Hamm, yes.
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That's big, tall drink of water.
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Big, tall fella.
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Yes.
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Also, like, jumping out of his comedy bag into his drama, but he does that.
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He just bounces.
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He's another one who can just sort of slip in and out of this and that and whatever you just say,
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here, Jon, that's what you got.
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And he's like, got it?
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Yeah.
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You save the company as Alex, and everyone wants to tear you down.
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Yeah, they do.
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What was the most exciting thing for you?
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What did you look forward to the most playing Alex this season?
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Oh, boy.
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There was a lot.
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Well, Jon Hamm, getting to work with Jon, because we've been friends for so many years.
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And so when this character came to be, all I could see was Jon Hamm.
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And everybody else, all they could see is Jon Hamm and to have this man come in as this billionaire tech guy.
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It was exciting to sort of explore that side of Alex in that more feminine, romantic world.
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Since the end of season two, COVID, near death experience and kind of coming out of that world of like,
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you know, F it, I'm gonna go live a little bit and not be so perfectly quaffed Alex.
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So it was a little bit, there was a little bit of rebellion and that's sort of what the Alex Unfiltered show is.
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And here she is falling for this man who comes into the company, and of course everyone's like, what is this guy all about?
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And bringing up for everybody, who am I?
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It brought a lot of stuff up for each character.
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What do they stand for morally?
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And then I had to kind of come to my own, which was fun to have to play that,
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you know, you're a female and you're falling for this person.
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And then all of a sudden you're like, I'm a journalist and my journalistic integrity is at play here and have to make that crucial decision.
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Yeah.
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I like watching that.
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There was a lot of fun twists and turns and the sort of theme of the show, who can you trust?
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One of my favorite moments with you and Jon Hamm was at Coney Island and this man berates Alex
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and you just take it and you have to explain to him who's a man and a billionaire man.
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Because he's like, what's up with this guy?
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You just take this and you're like, yeah, I do.
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And I don't know, something in me, like the Quinta Brunson that I am in my life, really related to that.
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What we have to sort of take.
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Yeah, and you just have to.
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And you just sort of swallow it.
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And yeah, you're right, the instinct of a man, it's like chivalry is not dead, to defend a woman who's standing next to him.
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And it's like, don't waste your time.
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Just don't waste your time.
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And your character knowing that Coney Island worker was caring so much that had nothing to do with you,
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It was just a moment that I guess I felt seen.
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I don't feel seen that often, but I felt very seen by that.
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Oh, I love that.
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Yeah, it was nice to see.
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Whatever they can't say to their girlfriends or their wives, I'm the punching bag.
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It's okay.
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It's part of the job.
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We call ourselves house cats because we very rarely leave our lot.
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Warner Brothers, yeah?
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Yeah, Warner Brothers.
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I love the story of where you started, that you guys started in actual schools.
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Yeah.
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And then all of a sudden here you are in Warner, on the Warner Brothers lot.
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The Warner Brothers lot.
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And my school facade is right across from.
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the friend's couch, so that's just a really nice thing
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that we get to see and remind us why we love comedy so much.
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Right?
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Yeah.
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I do miss it.
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And I say, watching your show, I feel so comforted.
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There's something about it that just feels safe and cozy.
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Every character is so hilarious.
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Like, equally, there's not one person that's the standout.
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That's the beauty of this ensemble.
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Yeah.
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And you just feel for everybody, and you laugh at everybody, and you love everybody and it's just like,
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I mean, you've also done more in 10 years than most of us have done in a long career.
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I mean, really.
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Yeah.
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To see where you're sitting today.
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Yeah, it is.
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How did you kind of wrap your head around, this is a pilot coming from that BuzzFeed.
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Yeah, yeah.
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Who knew that that was a thing, right?
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And then all of a sudden.
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Well, even when I first started working at BuzzFeed or
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when I first started using the internet as a stage
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because I really look at it as this other stage that got opened up to us.
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I was doing improv, I was doing standup, I was doing, you know.
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You started at Second City?
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I did.
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Yeah, I started at Second City.
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Chicago, just taking intensive classes and taking acting classes at Temple.
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But, you know, even when I was at BuzzFeed, my goal was to one day make a sitcom and one day act in a sitcom.
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I just found a new stage through the internet and I didn't even know what BuzzFeed was capable of fully.
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How did you find that?
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How did you, I mean, how does that happen?
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I was doing standup with a friend Justin Tan, and he's now a writer on Abbott, and we're writing a movie together now,
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really excited, but he was working at BuzzFeed, and you know, for us, it was just a nine to five.
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And he brought me in to be in a video he was producing because we were broke, and he was like doing me,
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like $250 and be in this video really quickly.
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I said yes.
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And then I went there and saw what they were capable of doing.
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I just saw that I could probably, you know, get my feet wet as far as making something similar to a sitcom.
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Yeah.
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Serial content, having an audience, promising the same thing.
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Sure.
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Over and over.
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And yeah, that's kind of how I got.
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I mainly needed a job.
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Right.
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Which is usually how we all start, right?
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We all start doing this.
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I just needed a job.
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Yeah, I just needed a job.
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Was Abbott Elementary the first sitcom?
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I mean, obviously, I'm sure not.
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But was it your first?
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I sold a pilot to CBS, and I sold a pilot to HBO Max.
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Neither of those went, but Abbott was the one that I...
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If Abbott didn't get picked up, I was going to move back home.
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Wow.
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Janine Teegs from the district.
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Do you think you can give us like 10 minutes so we can put you in every classroom?
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For the kids, I got all the time in the world.
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As long as it's wrapped up in 10 minutes, I got to get to practice.
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Thank you.
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I just want you to know.
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Yes.
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I learned about the beauty of an ensemble.
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Yes.
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Through watching Friends.
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Well, you just gave me goosebumps.
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You know.
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Well, watching your show, that's why I think I love watching your show
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because I feel that joy of watching an ensemble and I know the fun that is happening with all of you guys.
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And you really do all seem to have a really beautiful relationship and chemistry is just perfection.
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Yeah, so did you all.
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Did you want to do a live audience or you didn't have a preference?
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I'm not a multicam.
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I think the rhythm of multicams has changed so much since you did it.
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And studying your show, I think what made it so stand out was you found a rhythm.
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It wasn't exactly the natural multicam rhythm.
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It was so quick you guys, yeah, people are clapping and laughing, but you guys aren't waiting for the clap or laugh,
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or it doesn't feel that way to the viewer.
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And I think multicams just have a different rhythm now.
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I'd be so curious about that.
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Yeah, I mean.
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Lisa Kudrow, by the way, hated when the audience laughed.
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She did.
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She'd be like, are you still?
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Can we get to the next?
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I'm not done.
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Yeah.
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It's not that funny.
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And you guys operated like a play.
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It felt like you watch a play when you watch that show.
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To me, those are the best multicams when you just feel like you're watching a play
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and your laughter isn't interrupting the flow of the series, but who knows?
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Maybe one day I'll do a multicam.
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I think you and I could do one together.
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Hello.
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Because it was a pretty nice experience and we can bring it back to whatever maybe we want.
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I mean, listen, it was also so days of yore.
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Yeah.
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Who knows the cameras must look completely different.
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They're real intense.
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They're just like little alien creatures.
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Mm -hmm.
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Not how they were back in the day.
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I think you guys got a nice sheen.
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Now they're just like...
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Yeah.
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Right, and I don't really need that.
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We actually had on our cameras, this started to happen like ninth or 10th season,
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all of a sudden these big lights came on the top of the cameras and we were like, what are these?
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And we'd always say, oh, these are the friends are old light.
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I feel like I remember that change because nine and 10, well, it got like shinier.
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It got very shiny.
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Just kind of brightened us up a little bit.
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You got off the plane.
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Speaking of cast and the chemistry, when you started the casting process of Abbott Elementary, was that something that you couldn't wait?
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Like you had all the characters in your head.
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Yeah.
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You knew them so well.
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Yes.
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And what was that process like?
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That was so cool.
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I started with Tyler Dames -Williams, who's my co -star.
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That's fantastic.
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He's so good.
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I'd worked with him previously,
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and I just knew we had a good chemistry and a good rhythm and I knew that comedically we complimented each other.
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Which I think was more important to me than anything.
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I know that you pretty much mastered the will they want, I know that's important for that, but just like you and David Schwimmer,
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it was like, I wanna know that this person - Right, right, right.
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I was thinking, did you kind of have previous sitcom sort of characters like that other than Ross and Rachel?
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I would definitely say cheers.
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Yes!
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But I don't know if Sam and Diane were as funny as you guys, you two are funny on your own.
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And I think that's what was so inspiring to me, that you really stood on your own as a comedic character.
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And as I've berated you with compliments in the past, like you're just so funny.
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And then David Schwimmer is his own funny entity.
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And I thought that's what was most important for this ensemble comedy.
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I think it changes from thing to thing, but we have no real straight man in our show.
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And that's another thing that I plucked right from, I would say
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Friends and Martin.
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Those were my two shows that I used as a nice, I just, everyone's funny and that's what I wanted.
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Was it hard to fill, I mean to find, I mean was there one character that was obviously, you know, that was a tough,
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we can't find my, mm -mm, I can't find.
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Barbara was hard, who wound up being Cheryl Lee Ralph because there was a lot of components that I wanted.
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And the funny thing about Cheryl, Cheryl didn't know she was funny, but she made me laugh, which was enough for me.
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That's kind of funny.
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She's so funny.
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And then Lisa Ann Walter, who you've worked with, and Bruce Almighty.
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Which is amazing.
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That's awesome.
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You know when you see someone and you're like, I know where, you're also afraid to say, do I know you?
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And they're like, well, we work together.
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Right.
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Or no, you've just seen me, I've seen her on TV.
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Yeah, yeah.
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It was like, I know I've known her from somewhere.
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That was my depression movie, by the way.
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It was?
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When I was really depressed and I couldn't change the channel, because I was so depressed I couldn't change the channel.
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I just had a DVD of Bruce Almighty that I watched on, repeat while I smoked out of my body.
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I have just been shoved down your throat for really a long time.
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I grew up with you.
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You don't look like I grew up with you, but I grew up with you.
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But her character was tough.
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She was tough.
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But once she auditioned, I said, we're actually done.
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I don't want to see anybody else.
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Need her, need her yesterday.
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So that one was a tough one.
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You do casting too.
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And you're stacked.
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I was watching this season like Tig Notaro.
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I mean.
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What?
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That was, that's also the fun part of being involved and having such a glorious sort of team of producers.
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It's such a collaboration and we work so well together.
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Yeah.
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So the casting process is just sort of a fun, what's your dream idea?
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I know.
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Right?
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So John was our dream for Paul and Tig was our dream for,
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I'm gonna forget the character she plays because I have no memory of the character's name.
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Amanda.
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Amanda.
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Yeah, Amanda.
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I think so.
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Oh, sorry, because she's such a dry, brilliant.
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I loved it, I loved Tig.
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I mean, she popped up.
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I loved it, it was so great.
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And that's sort of what's fun about your show too, is that you have these people calling and saying,
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I would like to be on your show.
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Yeah.
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And then you get to sort of, you're the creator, you're the writer, so you get to kind of come up with it.
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Greta Lee, Nicole Beharie, Karen Pittman.
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That's a big three for me.
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Those are big threes.
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There wasn't a moment that I wasn't captivated by an actor on the screen.
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And that was new for me because I'm not a big drama watcher,
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but it's just all of these women who I think are incredible actresses in addition to you and Reese.
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And Nicole Bahari, I mean, the scene with her and Holland Taylor.
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Oh, my God.
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You know, you sort of think of certain scenes over the season that really sort of just blew.
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You couldn't take your...
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To watch her and Holland play that very, you know, intense and ride that line, walk that line, rather.
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Just fantastic.
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So beautiful to watch.
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That was fantastic television.
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I was on the edge of my seat.
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Yeah.
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You know what's crazy?
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I had already seen the clips show up online.
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And it still felt different watching it in the moment.
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I knew what was going to happen.
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Yeah.
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but they're such good actresses that I was glued to my seat.
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Just incredible stuff.
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Did you get to have a part in casting them?
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We do.
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And then it also, it's for our head writer, show runner.
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Yeah.
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For her, she has to sort of, cause these are her characters.
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Yeah.
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So she sort of has to put pictures next to the cast that's existing and just she feels out.
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Yeah, it's true.
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Is this energy gonna work together?
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Does this make sense to see, you know, Nicole next to Nestor.
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You're right, she's really good at that.
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That's something that I like to get better at as a creator, showrunner, always, you know, it's hard, but you guys have time.
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And in network TV, it just feels like there's not as much time.
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Yeah.
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Well, and we're lucky this season because we're getting a head start on it.
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So we do have a little more time.
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Yeah.
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But it is the fun of it, is being able to sort of put the right ingredients together and just see what makes magic.
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Hey, there you are.
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Hi, here I am. Are you okay?
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Yeah, just processing everything that's about to happen.
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I'm just curious, when you are producing this, do you come in with ideas as a producer of what you want for Alex
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or what you want for Bradley or any of the characters?
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Well, yes.
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I mean, we all sort of start, you know, we start at the top of the season usually months before, and Charlotte Stout, our head writer,
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showrunner, will give us the idea of the arc, the big picture.
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Like the theme, you know, who can you trust was last year's thing.
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And then we will sort of digest the big picture
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and then we'll come in and ask some questions
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and give some ideas and suggestions and then she'll sort of sit with all of
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that and then she writes out a more specific outline
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and then we'll each sort of give our thoughts and notes on what we think.
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But we're so blessed with incredible, with Charlotte Stout and our writers.
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It's just, you just wait to see what, what we've just now, we're sitting there getting the pitches for, you know, the episodes.
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And we're just like, you're on the edge of your seat.
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Yeah, and what they do isn't easy.
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I mean, it's so timely.
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Yeah.
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And with your shooting schedule, you know, when something comes out versus when you start again.
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And I think you guys do a really good job.
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I thought the flashback to January 6th was a smart idea to stay current, but also, you know, be present in the new season.
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I thought that was really cool.
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It's tough.
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Yeah.
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It was tough for Reese.
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Yeah, that was wild.
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It was scary.
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You know, even though these are actors and background actors, it's still, that is to be in that environment.
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And it was all so realistic.
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Yeah, what was that set?
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It was somewhere downtown.
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I was like, are they in the Capitol?
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You would think, right?
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I don't know, it's Apple.
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I thought Apple money.
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I thought you guys paid the president.
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You would think, did you hear that, Apple?
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I was. Because that.
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We're at the fourth camera.
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Can I ask a question I've wanted to ask you my whole life?
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Yes.
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Your subtlety as a comedic actress and dramatic actress is something that I think the girls, the girls, if you will,
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have tried to emulate for a long time.
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It's inspired me and my acting where I just want to be able to carry as much as you do without doing,
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you know, like you carry so much in your face.
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You know, people are like, I'm scared, oh no. I feel like you've always been so subtle.
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And so do you, is that just from your birth?
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Or did you, is that something you learned how to do?
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Imagine if I came out of my, going like, hey, ba -dum -bum, hi guys, I'm here.
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And that's what you do, you never ba -dum -bum.
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You are so subtle.
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It's like...
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The comedy that I really respond to is comedy that is coming out of the truth of a situation.
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Yep.
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Where it's not showy and hitting the joke, right?
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Or, you know, hitting that punchline.
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Jim Burroughs, who was our director for the first few...
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Half of the first season, he kind of really set a tone for us.
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Yeah.
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The way he would direct was incredible, because he wouldn't even watch the actors.
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He would just...
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He would have his hands behind his back, head down, he would just pace back and forth and listen to the rhythms.
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Yes, that's what I like to do.
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And then if he knew that something wasn't going, he'd go cut right before the punchline, so you would never ruin the punchline for the audience.
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Love that.
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Jimmy was always about, I need you to take it down, be more like, let's get to the truth of this.
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Yeah.
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No, we're just telling a story.
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Yeah.
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And what's funny is how absolutely freaking ridiculous this situation is.
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Yeah.
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Like Phoebe finding a thumb in a Coke case.
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Or, you know, that's what I'm drawn to, is just comedy that comes out of...
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I also had really funny parents.
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Yeah.
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You know what I mean?
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They made me laugh and who knows what they were doing. But...
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Are you an only child?
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Well, I have a half -brother.
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Okay, is he older?
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First marriage, yeah.
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Cool.
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My mom's first marriage.
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So you're the youngest.
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That's what I was looking for.
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I'm the baby.
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Yeah, you're the baby.
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Me too.
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Yeah.
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I've talked a lot about this with other babies and how you absorb everything from the olders, you know, the older siblings,
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the older parents, and then it makes you hyper, like, subtle.
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How many siblings do you have?
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I have four.
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Whoa!
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I'm the baby of five.
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Baby of five?
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Baby of five, old parents.
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What happens with the order? or is it the first baby is?
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The oldest baby, he's the big baby.
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He can get away with anything.
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Okay, so we still call him a big baby.
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Yeah, but me the youngest, no, I feel like I had a lot of pressure,
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but I think that all my siblings poured their comedy into me.
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Like they were fans of so many of the 90s comedies
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that were on and they would let me stay up late with them and watch them.
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But then my parents were fans of The Andy Griffith Show and The Brady Bunch, comedies that were on when they were younger.
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My mom loved the show called - Mary Tyler Moore.
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She loved the show called The Real McCoys, which was an old black and white show.
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I remember that.
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My mom used to have me watching that, so I got like decades of comedy packed into me.
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Yeah, which I think has a lot to do with.
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Which I love so much because so many younger, successful actors, you know, entertainers,
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don't have an awareness of where this sort of all began, like the history of - The Craft.
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Watching those shows, I just really got - Same.
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Inspired by those.
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Same.
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They were, even though they were doing multicams, the newest versions of them, Mary Tyler Moore was very subtle, very confident.
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As an actress, she wasn't flailing all over the place.
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And even that had its risk.
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You know, Lucille Ball was doing the bigger acting, but there was this subtle.
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But somehow it didn't, was it?
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It wasn't just like, ooh.
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It wasn't.
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Yeah.
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One, two, three, eight.
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Oh my, my, my.
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So in season three, what made you decide for Janine to kind of take the job out and leave her students?
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Yeah, I wanted Janine to have a lot of growth really fast.
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We only had 14 episodes this season because of the strike.
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Normally, we would have had 22.
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Yep.
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And I just was anxious to grow this character up a bit.
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I think, you know, we had so far done 13 plus 22, 35 episodes of television.
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And I felt that with the 22, we had really, we had done Janine doing the same thing, which is fun.
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And I think it's a part of comedy.
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You want to see those characters do the same thing, kind of make the same mistakes.
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You know, it's a part of their character and what makes them special.
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But I just, with Janine, because she wound up being more important to more people than I anticipated.
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You mean your audience?
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Yeah.
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Interesting.
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Yeah, I mean, I think that's something that happens when you are making a show with a predominantly black cast.
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The cast is still serving as representation for so many people, not even just black people, but any marginalized group that hasn't seen themselves portrayed
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and you know originally I would go in
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and go oh well you know Rachel was able to do this
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or like Leslie Knope was able to do this
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or Liz Lemon was able to do this
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but Janine started to carry a lot of weight in a way those other characters had a freedom
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that Janine didn't did not
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that was something we learned in season two where her fun antics
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and silliness have real like consequences for the audience where I was like,
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okay, so how do we balance who she is
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as a comedic character and give her a little bit of growth
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and she also steps into a position where she can really make a difference.
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Where she can really make a difference.
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Yeah.
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That's on a bigger.
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Right.
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And that's our goal for her.
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Yes.
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So I figured why not start painting that picture a little bit for her instead of the continuous,
497
I wanna make change, I can't, I wanna make change.
498
What happens when she actually can?
499
And I felt like if at the end of the season we write ourselves into a corner, so be it.
500
But we didn't and I'm excited for how much she's grown in this time and now it's been, you know, she's back at Abbott,
501
but she's there with a newfound understanding of who she is, which I think wound up being important for lots of young girls to see.
502
And I have a hard time trying to figure out what my responsibility is.
503
Sometimes I don't want any responsibility.
504
I brought you just want to tell your story.
505
I just want to tell my, and sometimes I don't want my characters to have any responsibility.
506
I know.
507
But, you know, sometimes.
508
It just comes with it.
509
It just comes with it.
510
I mean, the amount of teachers that approach you.
511
Yes.
512
And what do they say?
513
I mean, they must talk about being seen.
514
I know.
515
And believe it or not.
516
And understanding the struggles that they all go through where they're like, yes, it's hard to get anything done.
517
Yeah, and believe it or not, I didn't anticipate that.
518
I remember we had our first screening for Abbott, the pilot for a bunch of teachers from LAUSD.
519
And I was like, oh, it hit me for the first time that teachers were gonna see it.
520
Yeah.
521
I was like, oh man, oh.
522
So what if they hate it?
523
That's kind of crazy.
524
Am I doing, am I representing correctly?
525
That was the first time I talked about,
526
I even thought about representing them after the pilot was already done and the season was already being written.
527
And fortunately, these teachers loved it.
528
And that became a newfound responsibility for us to carry.
529
We didn't ask for it, we being me, the producers, the actors, the writers room, but it was thrust upon us.
530
And it is always a balance of how do we carry this, but make sure we're just doing the comedy,
531
which is what I think is most important.
532
And your team of writers is like, okay, here's the job.
533
This is what the assignment is.
534
And you all are able to sort of, there's a sort of gel that takes place amongst you all.
535
Yes.
536
That just sort of - Yes.
537
And I - That allows that to happen.
538
Yeah, and I think in even hiring our writers, we have the exact same writers room as the first season, which is amazing.
539
That's incredible.
540
Nobody wants to leave this job.
541
That's incredible.
542
It's really nice.
543
All of us.
544
That says so much.
545
Yeah, and all the people I hired in the hiring process,
546
I remember, I didn't want people who thought it was funny to laugh at or make fun of teachers,
547
but people who understood the importance of laughing with these characters.
548
And that wound up becoming so important for making TV that winds up representing teachers.
549
And it has such a beautiful balance of funny and heartbreak
550
and real and what you're fighting for and the obstacles that you come up against.
551
How did you, so the tone, right?
552
Yes.
553
Right?
554
So tone is a big deal for creating a show and picking that director that's gonna come on because that vision,
555
because you're the storyteller.
556
So you have to then find that director that comes in and you say,
557
here's my baby and I need to know how you are going to basically show this story, tell this story.
558
Similar to like the writing process, I really wanted a director who got what we were doing.
559
I didn't really wanna spend a lot of time explaining what we were doing.
560
And Randall Einhorn, who directed our pilot and is an executive producer, and he directs like probably half the episodes a year.
561
Oh, he does?
562
He does.
563
Each season so far?
564
Each season.
565
He is an EP and fantastic director.
566
He just got it.
567
He read the script and he understood the warmth of it, the color of it.
568
He was the first person to say, yeah, this can't look like
569
The Office because that was fluorescent lighting, because that was a corporate place going through economic downturn.
570
He was like, I can't look like
571
Parks and Rec because that was a little bit too sunny and optimistic.
572
This is a public school in Philadelphia.
573
There's a warmth to it that's a bit sunny yet grimy.
574
Yeah.
575
That really, he pointed that out immediately and I just went, you get this show.
576
Oh.
577
He had come from a documentary, so he understood that because that was very important to have a director who actually got the style.
578
Yeah.
579
Because although I wrote it as a mockumentary, I had never worked on one.
580
And it's a totally different directing style.
581
Which I love the mockumentary.
582
It's really cool.
583
You know, I can't front her, I love it.
584
I eat it up every time.
585
I just love when the eyes just kind of come into camera.
586
It's like - Have you ever done a look in the camera situation?
587
No. Have I?
588
You might have.
589
I might have.
590
It'll come to me in about two days.
591
How many movies have you forgotten about?
592
Oh, endless.
593
Oh, that was my other question.
594
Improv.
595
Like how much do you guys get to sort of just play off of, you know, let a moment kind of have its moment?
596
Have its moment?
597
You know, we try to give everybody a real tight script that's important to us, so we do that.
598
And the actors have told us multiple times they don't feel the need to do it because it's all on the page.
599
Sure.
600
That being said, when they do take it upon themselves to riff,
601
it's incredible and knocks me off my feet because they know their characters so well.
602
Chris Perfetti, who plays Jacob on my show,
603
constantly blows my mind with the choices he makes after he finishes the line and finishes the amount of takes where he's,
604
you know, we're like, Chris, you try one.
605
Yeah, yeah.
606
And he knows his character so well that it's just incredible.
607
Janelle James, who plays Ava, is just probably one of the funniest people I've ever been around.
608
Just funny.
609
She can't even help it.
610
But she knows her character so well that it's not just Janelle James talking, it's Ava talking when she chooses to riff.
611
So sometimes we just let her go.
612
And then do you just get giggles?
613
How often do you guys break?
614
I break all the time.
615
All the, right.
616
Because I'm already watching the show.
617
I'm already in editing while we're in the scene.
618
So I'm just laughing.
619
I'm useless.
620
Everybody else is pretty good.
621
Oh, God.
622
I can only imagine.
623
Yeah, there's multiple takes where they just had to cut me out because I'm just sitting there like.
624
I love it.
625
Like you're in the scene.
626
And that tone, by the way, was set.
627
Your production designer, all of it is just beautiful.
628
No one ever talks about the production designer.
629
I need to shout out to Michael Whetstone.
630
Yeah.
631
He is incredible.
632
And I feel like he doesn't get enough credit because it is a school and it's mundane.
633
Yeah.
634
But I often feel like the mundane is harder to do.
635
I think it's easier to make like a spaceship and you know, yeah, throw some silver on it.
636
Sure.
637
But to get the fine cracks, the age cracks.
638
The little details.
639
The little teeny details.
640
The little teeny details.
641
The way he ages the desks in Barbara's room versus Janine's is incredible because Barbara's been teaching there for a long time.
642
Janine's fairly new.
643
So doing different aging, and he gets so intense about his job.
644
We, our outside set is now concrete.
645
And he's like, this is concrete.
646
And he talks to me like a dad.
647
And you know you don't care what your dad is talking about when he's talking about like plywood and stuff.
648
I don't care about that.
649
But Michael loves it so much.
650
And you know, any person walking across that concrete wouldn't know how much love went into it.
651
It goes into that.
652
Yeah.
653
See, that's what's so beautiful about a cast and a crew.
654
Yeah.
655
Every single human being on that set provides a service that is absolutely essential for every single piece of that production.
656
Yeah.
657
There ain't no star.
658
There isn't any, you know, it's not, it is a collaboration of every single artist down to the PAs that stay until Yeah.
659
You're there before you get there, and you're there way after you leave.
660
You know, I thought we beat cigarettes with the truth campaign.
661
It's just so retro.
662
Well, maybe they're getting cool again.
663
I mean, clogs are back.
664
Anything's possible.
665
Yes, but yes, but there are some cool clogs.
666
Will you ask Jen Quinta what it's like to watch Friends now?
667
Oh, God, don't make me cry.
668
I won't.
669
Don't make, we won't make each other cry.
670
OK.
671
Well, you're already crying.
672
Do you want a minute?
673
We don't have to talk about.
674
No, no, sorry, I just started thinking about.
675
I know.
676
Yeah.
677
Are you sure?
678
We don't have to really.
679
No, I'm OK.
680
It's a happy tears.
681
Yeah.
682
Thank you, honey.
683
OK.
684
OK. And we're back.
685
OK. So.
686
Yes.
687
Jen.
688
Yes.
689
Friends is turning 30.
690
And I'm turning 30.
691
And you are turning 30.
692
This is so.
693
Isn't that wild?
694
It's so crazy.
695
When you were a baby on that show, you were so advanced.
696
Wasn't I?
697
Your fine motor skills were insane.
698
I was an old soul.
699
You were an old soul.
700
Crazy, 30.
701
It is crazy.
702
It is wild.
703
And that show premiered, I was five, and it continues to be one of the best shows on television.
704
It's so strange to even think that it's 30 years old, because it actually just, I remember the day that it was going to premiere,
705
and we were here, you know, on television, on NBC.
706
And me and Lisa were, no, me and Matthew Perry were having lunch somewhere, and we knew Lisa was getting her hair colored,
707
so we ran into the hair salon, and I snuck up, and she was in the sink,
708
the hair bowl, and I took the nozzle and just started, like, washing her hair from the guy that was supposed to be doing it,
709
and it definitely flew out of control, and that was unfortunate.
710
But the excitement we had, and it feels like yesterday.
711
just feels, and so the fact that it's had this long, wonderful life and it's still meaning, you know, means a lot to people,
712
is one of the greatest gifts I think all five of us, all six of us ever, we never could imagine.
713
We see each other, I talked to FaceTime at court last night for like an hour and Lisa and the boys,
714
and we just have a really, it's a family forever. For sure.
715
Being a part of an ensemble like that, I mean, I'm part of one now only three years and those people are, you know, they're family.
716
Yes.
717
They're family.
718
They become family.
719
You spend all that time on set with someone and, you know, press and also going through, I can't even imagine because that was the 90s,
720
which is probably different, but a phenomenon like you guys did with each other.
721
There's also, there's excitement bonding, there's trauma bonding, there's all this bonding that happens in there.
722
You know Tyler is probably one of the closest people to me in my life.
723
Yeah all because of this little show so
724
Because you just say was in the 90s and in early,
725
you know 2000s and it was a we had a luxury of there not being social media or the internet.
726
So we were so isolated and kind of protected.
727
You weren't faced with weird, what people are commenting and ripping you apart or whatever.
728
I dream, I dream.
729
It was a dreamy time.
730
And I know I sound sort of nostalgic, but we were really about the work.
731
We really were about the show.
732
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
733
We weren't like, oh, you're awesome.
734
You're the best.
735
So and so sucks.
736
This is who's the worst and you're the best.
737
It was just, it was a really innocent time where we could roam about the world a lot easier.
738
And it was, so we were really able to kind of, even though it became a big thing,
739
couple, like a year into what I guess it was, or we then were able to be together and support when it was like,
740
wow, this thing is kind of becoming a bigger thing.
741
But again, there wasn't phones.
742
It's not like hundreds of screens telling you what it is.
743
I wish we could go back.
744
Well, we can.
745
Time machine.
746
I'm trying to get people to go back.
747
I can't, I'm so, the phones, the socials, and the medias.
748
I know.
749
It's gotta have a little, we've gotta put some, I mean, of course, listen to me, some legislation around, I mean, something.
750
Kids shouldn't be using phones until they're at least 16.
751
You can't drive a car until you're 16.
752
You shouldn't be on, that's more dangerous.
753
Yeah.
754
You protect your kids in the world.
755
Yeah.
756
You gotta protect them from the internet.
757
It is for sure all of that.
758
And just in our world, I think it's affected how people have engaged with television and film.
759
And, you know, sometimes that breaks my heart.
760
I long for the days.
761
I'm like, man, I wish I could have been a showrunner, an actor back then when it wasn't.
762
We're a part of your thing.
763
We're a part.
764
We're going to tell you what you're doing because we know you're at and we know you're a handle.
765
And it's just jarring.
766
We're shaping your show about what the algorithm is
767
and what you need to have more of and what you need to have less of.
768
We never had to speak to any of that.
769
It was more what, the fans loving it?
770
That's all that mattered.
771
Yeah, and now you have to really create that vacuum.
772
With Abbott, I had a strict no social media policy for the first season.
773
I said, I don't care what social media is asking us to do.
774
We have to do what we, the writers, want to do.
775
I know these characters.
776
This is our world.
777
I like to think of making TV like a writer writing a book,
778
beginning, middle, and end, and then you get it after the book is written.
779
And I try to look at TV that way
780
because it makes me feel like I'm at least doing a semblance of what you're talking about.
781
You are, though, but you really are.
782
That's why I say there's such a comfort in watching it and also being with these characters.
783
And I think it's such a beautiful thing that you do that.
784
You set that for yourself that's sort of a beautiful boundary because otherwise you'll get you'll lose your original
785
creation yeah it's a success because of you and you alone
786
and that i mean and you're of course your entire but
787
that brain child that came out of your smart beautiful head thank you this has been
788
the dream of my life as you can tell i i just admire you i'm
789
so excited for what you do next
790
and i think you're a really really lovely person oh bless
791
so are you honey and while we're here i'm I'm gonna say, I'm gonna put my hat in the ring like all the other actors do,
792
because if Bradley Cooper can do it.
793
If you find a moment on Abbott that you can see a moment for this one, I'd love to come play with you.
794
Okay.
795
Okay.
796
Sweet.
797
I'm gonna be okay.
798
Thank you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Jennifer Aniston & Quinta Brunson l Actors on Actors”. This video has 798 sentences and 7146 words to shadow. The speech runs for 38:21. The speaker talks fast, about 186 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 85% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| actress noun | /ˈæk.tɹɪs/ | A female who performs on the stage or in films. |
| subtle adjective | /ˈsʌtəl/ | Of an action or movement: very delicate or slight, and thus barely noticeable; not obvious; inconspicuous, unintrusive. |
| rhythm noun | /ˈɹɪð.əm/ | The variation of strong and weak elements (such as duration, accent) of sounds, notably in speech or music, over time; a beat or meter. |
| ensemble noun | /ˌɑnˈsɑm.bəl/ | A coordinated set of clothing: a set of garments selected to accompany one another. |
| sitcom noun | /ˈsɪtˌkɑm/ | Situation comedy. |
| tone noun | /ˈtəʊn/ | A specific pitch. |
| producer noun | /pɹəˈdjuːsə/ | An individual or organization that creates goods and services. |
| sudden adjective | /ˈsʌd.ən/ | Occurring quickly with little or no warning or expectation; instantly. |
| concrete adjective | /ˌkɑnˈkɹit/ | Real, actual, tangible. |
| hire verb | /ˈhaɪɹ/ | To obtain the services of in return for fixed payment. |
| intense adjective | /ɪnˈtɛns/ | Of a characteristic: extreme or very high or strong in degree; severe; also, excessive, towering. |
| honey noun | /ˈhʌni/ | A sweet, viscous, gold-colored fluid produced from plant nectar by bees, and often consumed by humans. |
| chemistry noun | /ˈkɛm.ɪ.stɹi/ | The branch of natural science that deals with the composition and constitution of substances and the changes that they undergo as a consequence of alterations… |
| sibling noun | /ˈsɪb.lɪŋ/ | A person who shares a parent; one's brother or sister who one shares a parent with. |
| curious adjective | /ˈkjʊɹ.i.əs/ | Tending to ask questions, or to want to explore or investigate; inquisitive; (with a negative connotation) nosy, prying. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| wind up verb | /waɪnd ˈʌp/ | To wind (rope, string, mainsprings, etc.) completely. |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. | |
| go back verb | To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time. | |
| work together verb | To be coworkers with someone; to share a workspace with someone. | |
| come out verb | /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ | To be discovered; to be revealed. |
| come up against verb | To face (someone, something) in a match, problem, competition or fight. | |
| come up with verb | To manage to produce, deliver, or present (something) by inventing, creating, thinking of, or obtaining it. | |
| feel out verb | To attempt to ascertain a person's point of view, or the nature of a situation, by cautious and subtle means. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Have you ever done a look in the camera?
- How many movies have you forgotten about?
- I saw you recently at, where were we?
- What was the most exciting thing for you?
- She'd be like, are you still?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | Have you ever done · have taken · I've told |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was really depressed · been shoved · being involved |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | one who can · man who comes · own, which was |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 215 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, I'm, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: rhythm /ˈɹɪð.əm/, warmth /wɔɹmθ/, throat /ˈθɹoʊt/, ninth /naɪnθ/, algorithm /ˈælɡəɹɪðm̩/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: collaboration /kəˌlæbəˈɹeɪʃən/, wash /wɑʃ/, luxury /ˈlʌk.ʃə.ɹi/, representation /ˌɹɛp.ɹə.zɛnˈteɪ.ʃən/, crucial /ˈkɹuː.ʃəl/
- Long words — get the stress right: collaboration /kəˌlæbəˈɹeɪʃən/, ridiculous /ɹɪˈdɪk.jə.ləs/, representation /ˌɹɛp.ɹə.zɛnˈteɪ.ʃən/, documentary /ˌdɒk.jʊˈmɛn.tɹi/, hilarious /hɪˈlɛə.ɹi.əs/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like actress, subtle, rhythm.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.