Washington (AFP)
When Jennifer Aniston set out to embody the ruthless world of American TV morning shows in a series soon to air on Apple's new Apple TV + streaming platform, everything seemed pretty simple.
Then #MeToo, has arrived. And she has - like the rest of the world - watched the scandals of aggression and sexual harassment in the world of film and media multiply.
"Once #MeToo took place, the discussion has changed dramatically - and we've taken it into account," says Jennifer Aniston, starring "The Morning Show", one of nine series available at launch of Apple TV + on November 1st.
"We really thought about the tone, we wanted something raw, honest, vulnerable and messy," says the producer of the series, alongside Reese Witherspoon, who recently appeared on Big Little Islands ".
With this project, Jennifer Aniston returns to the universe of the series 15 years after the diffusion of the last episode of "Friends".
"It's impossible to talk about the morning shows without addressing #MeToo, it would have been somewhat careless," says producer Kerry Ehrin.
The result: a hectic, humorous and - sometimes - surprisingly dark immersion behind the scenes of a fictional television morning based in New York.
In events that singularly recall many of the women's speech-liberation cases denouncing sexual assault and harassment, the first episode sees Jennifer Aniston's character on-air announce the dismissal of her male co-presenter, played by Steve Carell ("The Office"), as a result of multiple and anonymous charges.
An internal war of power opens up to know who will replace him and who - amongst the most fiercely ambitious journalists and executives - knew of his actions.
"The Morning Show" is one of Apple TV's launch programs, which will be available in more than 100 countries at $ 4.99 per month, alongside the apocalyptic "See" and "miniseries" For all Mankind ".
A slew of future shows produced by or featuring Hollywood giants Steven Spielberg and Alfonso Cuaron to Samuel L. Jackson and Will Ferrell are in the works.
© 2019 AFP