Aniston Explains Her Dramatic Turn in Iraq War Movie The Yellow Birds

Jennifer Aniston will soon be seen showing off her dramatic chops once again, in Alexandre Moors’ Iraq War drama The Yellow Birds. The film will make its debut at the Sundance Film Festival on Saturday, and EW caught up with Aniston ahead of its premiere.

“War movies aren’t usually my thing; I find them very hard to watch,” Aniston says. “[But] the way this script read, and the vision that Alex had — it was really connecting into the humanity of the soldiers; the parents that are left behind waiting, counting the minutes; the loss of innocence.”

Alden Ehrenreich and Tye Sheridan play American soldiers in Iraq — only one of whom comes back. His friend returns home tortured by his disappearance, and his mother (Aniston), distraught over the loss of her son, demands answers.

“I already had an extreme amount of respect and gratitude and awe of anyone who would go and fight war, the men and women that are the heroes,” Aniston tells EW, “but then to actually have immersed ourselves in this story, and to really have to connect [to] some reality of what these innocent men and women are faced with — it’s unfathomable, it really is.”

Aniston is also an executive producer on the project, which was first brought to her attention by Cinelou Films’ Marc Canton and Courtney Solomon, who previously produced Daniel Barnz’s Cake, of which Aniston was also star and executive producer. Canton and Solomon acquired the rights to Kevin Powers’ novel, which was adapted for the screen by David Lowery and R.F.I. Porto, during that film’s production. “For the whole shoot, they kept talking about this movie,” Aniston recalls. “And when they got it, not too long after that, they approached Kristin [Hahn, Aniston’s producing partner] and me again and said, ‘Would you guys want to come on board, and Jen, would you play this part of one of the two mothers?’ and we both looked at each other and said, ‘Gladly. Absolutely.’”