TATLER (May 1997)
Courteney Cox says she still sees Bruce Springsteen from time to
time- «Yeah` we have mutual friends, but when I see the
video now I think: "Whoa, was that me?" It’s kinda
wild.’ Cox is reminiscing about her first collision whit
fame when, as a teenager, she played the star struck fan hauled
on stage by Springsteen in his 1984 Dancing in the dark
video. Given Cox's current phenomenal success, born of her role
in the American sitcom Friends, where she plays the ’anally
retentive’ Monica one could be forgiven for thinking that
since Springsteen, Cox’s career has been on a steady ascent.
But even Cox, who is now 32, admits it hasn’t been easy.
"I used to think that work breeds work, so after Family
Ties (Cox’s other big TV hit, in which she starred as
Michel J. Fox’s girlfriend) I worked on one project after
another- I learned a lot," she says, defying the suggestion
that she was "lost in space" for a decade where the
American public was concerned. Cox’s work included a mini-series
whit Huge Grant - "We played brother and sister in that one."
(Does another petite but perfectly formed brunette whom Grant
often refers to as "his sister" come to mind?) Her
finest role during the fallow years was that of Michael Kenton's
girlfriend. "Mostly I was proud for him. Where I come from
in the south, woman look up to the husband as the provider,"
she says, claiming that Batman’s fame (Keaton did the first
two) didn’t bother her. For someone who has been called one
of America's sexiest woman, surely the attention Keaton received
must have been a little unsettling? Cox pauses and laughs
riotously: "When we were together I just didn’t get
noticed - I could have been naked or grown antlers and it still
wouldn’t have made any difference." It took the
bizarrely named hugely successful Ace Ventur: Pet Detective
to re-ignite Cox’s career. The film also launched Jim Carry
on to an unsuspecting public. Cox seems nonplussed by the
attention the film garnered, but she admits that the pilot she
did post-Pet Detective "probably got me the part on Friends".
Cox, like the other cast members, can’t say enough about the
sitcom which had assimilated itself into the American
consciousness before you could say "Kennedy". I mean,
the writing is so brilliant and the whole things is so fun,"
she coos. The American public thrills whit monotonous regularity
to off-set tales of the Friends crew, whether they be
taking on the Hollywood studios to effect a massive pay hike or
indulging in a little "Friendly" squabbling. Cox
initially read to play Rachel (now played by Jennifer Aniston)
but lobbied harder to play Monica.’ "In retrospect,
everyone’s glad Jennifer's playing Rachel - she’s
perfect," she says generously of her glossy-manned co-star,
who is to hair what Charlie’s angels were to lip-gloss.
Unlike most celebs, Cox will admit to her own insecurities.
"It’s impossible not to compare your career whit the
others, but everyone has their moment’s; it’s so out of
your control." Arguably it’s Cox and Aniston who have
successfully broken free of their cookie-cutter flatmate roles;
the other Friends haven’t been so lucky - all have starred
in other vehicles that failed to rouse the critics"
enthusiasm. Cox has received rave reviews for her new movie, the
cult horror flick Scream, directed by Wes Craven. "I’m
so proud of it: it’s incredibly well written - my character
is very different from anything I’ve played before,"
she raves. She has just finished filming Commandments, a
black comedy, in which she stars alongside Aidam Quinn. Playing
against type is top of the Cox agenda. "That’s key,"
she says enthusiastically, explaining that success in TV and
movies- simultaneously - is her goal. The vast swell of publicity
surrounding Friends is something to be embraced and
repelled. "Most of the time I don't mind," says Cox
calmly, "but there's parts of it that I can’t stand."
Specifically, Cox is referring to stories about her relationship
whit her cousin (He wisent a blood cousin and that was such a
long time ago"), pictures of her locked in deep embraces
whit men - particularly Adam Duritz, the lead singer of Counting
Crows who is, by all accounts, her latest squeeze (You can’t
even say goodbye to a friend at the airport without them taking
50 frames to make it look like the longest kiss in the world’),
and a People magazine article that portrayed Cox as
suffering from a serious eating disorder ("When I saw the
article I literally got down on my knees and cried’). For
the record, the small but perfectly formed Cox does not have an
eating disorder. "Am I obsessed whit working-out? By no
means. Do I have an eating disorder? Not at all. Do I eat a lot
of candy? Yeah.’ Reports of Cox’s on-set candy binges
are rife, but she says she’s put a stop to that recently.
"I haven’t had sugar now in almost three months - I got
a little crazy whit certain foods." It’s impossible not
to draw a parallel between this outburst and a typical "Monegasque"
frenzy. So how much does Cox identify whit her character? "I
guess I am a controlling person too, as far as knowing what I
want and living my life," she concedes, "but I think
Monica is a lot spookier then I am.
