Jennifer Aniston: I Turned Down ‘Saturday Night Live’ - CHICAGO, Ill. --In a few days, Jennifer Aniston hits the big screen again, this time alongside “Saturday Night Live” veteran Adam Sandler in “Just Go With It.” However, the two were almost cast mates on the late night sketch comedy years ago.
On Wednesday’s “Oprah Winfrey Show,” Adam and Jennifer revealed she was, in fact, once courted for the legendary comedy.
“We wanted Aniston to be on the show with us. And she, I remember being on the ninth floor where [executive producer] Lorne Michael’s office was and seeing Jen come in,” Adam Sandler recounted. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, there’s Aniston. Is she about to be on our show?’
“Her going in, having a talk, leaving. I was like, ‘Wow! I’m gonna be working with Aniston?’”
Adam said he quickly found out Jennifer turned the gig down in favor of another project in the works.
”[I remember thinking], ‘She said no?’ She’s gonna do that ‘Friends’? What the hell is ‘Friends’? That was the truth,” Adam laughed.
Jennifer said she got plenty of flack for turning down the long-running NBC series in favor of a sitcom upstart.
“They were like, ‘You’re so stupid,’” Jennifer noted.
Attempting to clarify things, Oprah asked, “Did Lorne Michaels offer that to you?”
“Yeah, you know, I had this show ‘Friends’ coming up and I thought, ‘Yeah, ‘Saturday Night Live’?” Jen said, holding her hands like a double-tiered scale. “But they thought I was making a huge mistake.”
“Worked out for ya,” Oprah chimed in.
“Did all right,” Jennifer laughed.
