Who is the mystery actress Kathleen Turner dissed? An investigation
Kathleen Turner set the internet ablaze Tuesday with her frank Vulture interview. There were many delicious nuggets, from her so-so experience on the set of Friends to her disses of Elizabeth Taylor and Nicolas Cage. But while Turner was more than happy to spill the tea on her decades in movies, there was one “very famous Hollywood actress” whose name she withheld.
While discussing the pressure to repeat successful characters, Turner talked about a mystery actress who she feels has no range.
“I’ll give you an example, but you mustn’t include her name,” she says. “[Very famous Hollywood actress] has played the same role for 20 years. She even looks pretty much the same. She’s probably one of the richest women out there, but I would shoot myself if I were like that, only giving people what they expect.”
So who is she talking about?
We’ve rounded up the top five likely candidates. All are among Hollywood’s highest-paid actresses (and all look very similar). We’ve ranked them from most to least likely. Enjoy.
Jennifer Aniston
The Friends star has been America’s Sweetheart for about two decades, so the timing lines up — and she has a penchant for rom-coms. Here are a few of her notable roles over the last 20 years: Picture Perfect, Along Came Polly, The Break-Up, The Bounty Hunter, The Switch, We’re the Millers, and Horrible Bosses.
Turner also talked about how she didn’t have a great time when guest-starring on Friends, which starred Aniston. “I didn’t feel very welcomed by the cast,” she said, adding the six stars were “such a clique.” When asked her opinion of their acting she responded, “I won’t comment on that.” So Aniston could easily have been top of mind.
Julia Roberts
Roberts is America’s OG sweetheart and is a popular guess online. She also knows a thing or two about the romantic comedy genre. (See: My Best Friend’s Wedding, Notting Hill, Runaway Bride, America’s Sweethearts, Eat Pray Love.) Some people also pointed out that Turner’s word choice — that the actress “looks pretty much the same” — could be a nod to Roberts’s film Pretty Woman.
The Oscar winner has deviated a bit more than Aniston in terms of acting, but she certainly gravitates toward a certain type of role.
Sandra Bullock
The third-most popular guess is Bullock, although she has branched out with her roles in recent years. She started out as a bankable leading lady in rom-com’s with films such as Hope Floats, Miss Congeniality, and Two Weeks Notice, but she has shown greater versatility with flicks like Murder By Numbers, Crash, and Gravity. She will still throw in a film like The Proposal every now and then, but let’s be honest … that movie was great. Bullock also looks exactly the same as she did 20 years ago. But is that really a bad thing?
Reese Witherspoon
Witherspoon — who also looks like she hasn’t aged a day since the ’90s — is a common guess, but we’re not feeling it. Sure, she’s reprising Elle Woods in Legally Blonde 3 and has done a slew of romantic comedies (Four Christmases, Hot Pursuit, Home Again), but the girl’s got range — she showed it as early as her Cruel Intentions days. There’s also Walk the Line, Water for Elephants, Wild, and Big Little Lies. In addition, Witherspoon is hardly stagnant. She’s taken her talents behind the scenes and has quickly become one of the most powerful female producers in the business. Meryl Streep wouldn’t come work on Big Little Lies otherwise, just sayin’.
Gwyneth Paltrow
A lot of people are so anti-Gwyneth they are just hoping she’s the mystery actress. Looks the same? Check. Pretty much just appears as Pepper Potts in films now? Check. But the latter point is why we don’t think Paltrow’s your girl. The Iron Man star has taken a big acting break. Aside from 2015’s Mortdecai she has appeared only in a few Marvel films since 2012. Laser focused on Goop, Paltrow is known more as a businesswoman than as an actress nowadays. We don’t think she fits Turner’s description unless the 64-year-old actress has been tuning the last few years out.
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