Jennifer Aniston Oscar? Jennifer Aniston's `Dream Role' in `Cake' May Still Get Icing; Generous Friends Star Credits Screenplay

Forget about a Friends Reunion for 2014. Jennifer Aniston is going to get very busy. The one with the hair is getting a major Oscar buzz on the strength of her new movie, "Cake." 

The Friends star told Variety that this was a "dream role." Not an easy role to play, but Jennifer Aniston jumped into the part of a woman who gets addicted to pills after suffering chronic pain with both feet.

Aniston told Variety that her character "basically has to decide whether she wants to live or die. The woman's journey is so heartbreaking but so uplifting, because she's gone through a trauma but maintains her wit, which is very endearing."

The Awards editor for Deadline magazine said "this should be Aniston's 'Monster' or 'Monster's Ball' - or even 'Dallas Buyers Club,' which transformed Matthew McConaughey's career last year and brought him the Best Actor Oscar. There are really no tricks to this performance. It's raw and real, poignant and unexpected."

After a recent screening of "Cake," Aniston told the press "It was such an emotional moment for me. I was nearly brought to tears," she said. In fact I heard she was in tears later backstage, when the positive tweets started coming in. As for the film, she said she simply couldn't turn it down when it came to her less than a year ago. "You have to go with the script. When I read it I knew it was the role of a lifetime. How could I turn that down?" 

And the generous star had only the best thigns to say about the screenwriter, Patrick Tobin, gushing  "It was a no-brainer. Just reading Patrick's script I actually saw myself doing it. I just felt like it was already happening and it was pretty easy to say 'yes.' It was such a beautiful, complex, layered, tortured character. I just tapped into something I was meant to do."

"Cake" director Daniel Barnz said the movie will be the first of 5 films in a $50 million deal made between After Dark Films and Shenghua Entertainment from China. "Cake" comes from a script by Patrick Tobin. 

Speaking about Jennifer Aniston, Barnz said "I've especially loved her more dramatic performances. I can't wait to watch her tackle a role that has such a brilliantly funny voice and so much raw pain."

Director Daniel Barnz said "Of the zillions of Jennifer Aniston fans, I might be the biggest one of all. I've especially loved her more dramatic performances, and I can't wait to watch her tackle a role that has such a brilliantly funny voice and so much raw pain (hats off to writer Patrick Tobin). I'm honored to be collaborating with Ben, Kristin and Courtney, and it's exciting that Cake will be the first film under the Cinelou banner. It feels like we're all taking a leap of faith together, and that's pretty thrilling."