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Jennifer Garner revisits some of the most memorable moments from her career. From 13 Going On 30 to Daredevil, Jennifer shares the stories that shaped her work, reflecting on the creative choices and experiences that made each scene unforgettable.
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00:00I want you to know that whoever that was she was talking about, wasn't me.
00:06This scene is so sweet.
00:08This movie means so much to people and I haven't watched it in full.
00:13I haven't seen this scene in, I don't know, 20 years.
00:17Um, I see why people like it.
00:19Hello, I'm Jennifer Garner and today I'm going to be re-watching some scenes from
00:23throughout my career. Bibbidi-bobbidi-boop.
00:45The story goes that in the writers room, JJ was trying to come up with stuff for Felicity,
00:52which is one of the all-time great shows. And I did like a couple of episodes there,
00:56but he was just like, I wish Felicity were a spy. And then the idea for Alias was born and
01:02his wife,
01:03Katie McGrath, said to him, you know, you should think of Jen for this. And he handed me the pilot
01:10script, which was and is the best single script I'd ever read. And he said, you're still going
01:16to have to audition. I mean, I wrote this with you in mind, but you have to audition.
01:19And so I went to the Yellow Pages because this was 26 years ago, 27 years ago. I just looked
01:26up
01:27the biggest ad near where I lived for, um, martial arts. And so I started taking karate class with
01:34like five and six year olds. And then I would have a private and I would go with the five
01:39-year-olds
01:39and I was working my way through the belts like really quickly. And yeah, I auditioned so many times.
01:44And by the end I said, would you like to see my karate forms? And I did all of these.
01:53Get in. Daddy?
02:00Now.
02:01I mean, anything Victor Garber does is iconic. I was a huge fan of Victor's. I had lived in New
02:07York and
02:08I couldn't afford to see plays. And so I would spend $20 to stand in the back. So I'd seen
02:14Victor
02:14in Arcadia, in art, in damn Yankees. And when I heard that he would be playing my dad,
02:20I kind of lost my mind. I was so excited. I kind of feel like his actual daughter and I
02:25feel like
02:26he's a real father figure to me. He married Ben and me. He's the godfather to one of my kids.
02:32And
02:32that's a cherished relationship. And I will do anything to be with him or to see him or to be
02:39there for him or to call him when I need him.
02:45God, he's such a badass.
02:54Just seeing him drive and knowing what a horrific driver he is. I mean, he's a New Yorker,
02:59like forever. And I know he can drive, but that couldn't have been him. I don't remember,
03:05but there's no way that that was Victor. I mean, obviously on a television show and an ongoing show,
03:11you often hear people talk about how they become family because you're in the trenches with people
03:15and the hours are so crazy. And you've, you've heard all of those stories and not to belabor them.
03:20But in this case, it was all of that times a thousand. We were trying to do something so
03:24ambitious and that took a lot of time. I mean, it was also back when we were using film. And
03:29so we
03:30had to wait and change the mag and the lighting was much more complicated than it is now and took
03:36a lot more time to do. And every time there was downtime while they were changing lights or a camera
03:41angle, I was off to the side working on a language or a fight. It was a very, very intense
03:45experience for
03:46me. And they were my whole world, the cast and crew, and they still are. I mean, I work with
03:52still
03:52the same costumer driver, stunt double, stand in from day one of Alias. All these years later,
03:59we just wrapped a movie and we've been together. We're a little band that's gone together for the
04:04past 25 years. Thinking about them makes, makes me feel like I am going to cry.
04:08You leave tonight. I've arranged a flight to France with a connection to Switzerland.
04:12You'll be red flagged at customs. So I've given you new papers.
04:15I thought you sold airplane parts.
04:17I don't sell airplane parts. I never sold airplane parts.
04:19Okay, donk. Oh, that's the best word. I don't sell airplane parts. I never sold airplane parts.
04:25It's just a line that I remember that I say all the time that nobody gets the reference to,
04:30but I chuckle to myself. Alias was so far outside of anything I had done. No one had thought of
04:35me
04:36for action. No one had thought of me for a tough role. Playing Sydney changed me as a person. I
04:42walked
04:43differently after I played Sydney. I just had so much more comfort in the job. So much had been
04:47asked of me. It was like boot camp for acting in a way. And I think it just made me
04:52more brave all
04:53around to have gone through something like that particular series. And it comes up in my life,
04:58personal life, absolutely all the time. My kids have never really watched it. And then I showed
05:05them an episode because someone had said something about, what is the line with Francie that's really
05:11famous? Like, Francie doesn't like coffee ice cream. And they asked me and I said, can I just show you
05:16that episode? And they were like, mom, that's so cool. And it is, it's something I'm, I'm so proud to
05:22be a part of it.
05:29Think I could get an autograph?
05:35Do you have a pen in your room? This scene is another example of something Alias gave me,
05:40not just that it literally led to me getting the job, but I don't think anyone would have seen me
05:44as a sexual creature. You know what I mean? I was so girl next door that I just didn't have
05:51that as
05:51part of my onscreen, I don't know, toolkit. A man like you can buy anything he wants.
06:03He buys a deck of cards at the hotel gift shop. Well, I was shooting Alias and Stephen and Kate
06:12were fans of the show and he, they added this scene in, uh, so they could offer it to me,
06:18which was so nice. It was in the book and it wasn't in the original script and they added it
06:22in.
06:23And I just remember we had one day to shoot it because I worked every day. And so I finished
06:28work,
06:28I don't know, in the middle of the night, the night before and pretty much went straight to work
06:32here. And it was a very long day to get it all done in one day. How much did these
06:37cards cost?
06:4055 cents, I think. Mr. Spielberg in this scene talked to me about how these were two kids who were
06:50both trying to act more grown up than they really were. They had this nascent sexuality that they were
06:56trying to use and they were trying to manipulate each other. And she was of course the one being
07:02played and she thought she was so grown up playing him. He set the overall mood of the scene in
07:10a really
07:10fatherly, specific, careful way. And if they sold me downstairs at the hotel gift shop,
07:33I did not remember before rewatching this, this scene being such an overt,
07:39her just so clearly asking to be paid for her sexual favors. And as I'm watching it, I'm thinking,
07:47oh my gosh, my son just watched this movie.
07:59When I hear Evanescence, I 100% imagine that initial starting on the floor and coming up.
08:06I feel like I might have come up with that way into the scene because it's just a dance move,
08:11isn't it? But that is, I just remember hearing it probably a million and a half times that night.
08:16I mean, rewatching the scene, I can see why I'm associated with that song and why it is part of
08:21me.
08:22And yeah, that was a very long night.
08:29Go Shauna!
08:33So Shauna Duggins has been my double forever, although now she is the stunt coordinator and second unit
08:39director on things that I do. And she hires my double. She's one of my best friends. And just
08:45seeing this, I remember, first of all, this is 20 plus years of ballet training right there. That's
08:51what you see. Nina Lou Denton Passanetti, Charleston, West Virginia. How are you doing, Miss Denton?
08:56I just remember that we shot so long that they covered the windows in the morning to keep at night.
09:02And we shot until one in the afternoon. And the size pressed against your hand. And by the time we
09:09finished, when we stopped for a minute, my hand swelled up so quickly that the rings that I was
09:13wearing started cutting through into my skin. And I truly started to panic. And a grip came and like
09:19cut my rings off really quickly. But anything that you see me do ever that's impressive in stunts,
09:26it could be me. But it's because Shauna is right there saying, no, no, do it again. She can do
09:33it.
09:33She can do it. Do it again. And this time, focus on this part of the kick and it'll, it'll
09:38fly you
09:38back or whip your head back more. She is a gymnast, a fighter. She can do absolutely anything. And she
09:44made me look like I can do things too.
09:50That's more badass than I remembered it.
09:52We've played Elektra three times together. And she did have to double me for Deadpool Wolverine
09:58because she's the only other person that can do this size. And it was seriously the training for
10:04these movies, these stupid size. And I have really been through it. But this was like on the set of
10:10Alias, just standing to the side. That first thing that we did, we, it's one of the first things we
10:16learned how to do. And we did it so much. But even like, because we just did this for Deadpool
10:21Wolverine,
10:22we would stand in my backyard and we'd go like right hand forward, right hand back,
10:27count them to one left hand, which is both of us are right handed. So our left hand is dumb.
10:32And
10:32then we'd be like, Oh, lefty gave me problems. And we've learned all these stupid tricks over time,
10:36but it just takes so much effort and work to put it into your body and doing like flipping them
10:42over
10:43your hand. I mean, my sister was a majorette and God, what I would give for those skills. I could
10:47really
10:47use them as Electra. But as far as like kicks, Shauna would meet with me on Daredevil. We met,
10:54we worked every day before work because we shot that movie all in nights. Anyway, we just,
10:59we've trained a lot together.
11:07I don't know what Lucy said to you about me, but I want you to know that whoever that was
11:13she was
11:13talking about wasn't me. This scene is so sweet. This movie means so much to people and I haven't
11:21watched it in full. I haven't seen this scene in, I don't know, 20 years. Um, I see why people
11:29like
11:29it. Oh, I just think of our director, Gary Winnick, who, who died. Um, he had brain cancer. He, um,
11:37had this incredible rehearsal process with, um, I almost called him Matt, with Mark Ruffalo and
11:44Judy and with me where we met, we ran scenes, we blocked them, we improvised, we played. We had
11:51an incredible writer who was in the room and who would rewrite the pages and give them to us and
11:56we would workshop them again the next day. And I remember working on this and feeling like
12:02awkward because we were acting it out in a hotel room and it felt like we weren't going all the
12:07way.
12:08And I remember Gary saying, you just have to commit to it and actually do it in order for it
12:13to work.
12:14And so we had to actually act it out and get emotional and do it. And then we could see
12:19what
12:19was missing from the scene and what, what needed to be added. I am not the awful person that I
12:26know
12:26that I was. I have to believe that if you knew that, if in your heart you, you really, really
12:33knew that,
12:36you wouldn't be getting ready to marry someone right now unless that someone were me.
12:41Filming this on the day was so emotional. I just remember it, it felt like the absolute most
12:49dramatic scene I'd ever shot in my life. It was so, so emotional and sweet. And I couldn't bear it
12:56for Jenna that she was losing Maddie.
12:58We've gone down different paths for so long. We made choices. I, I chose Wendy.
13:08Jenna Rink is the character I've played that I think is the most like me. Like my family nickname
13:14growing up was puppy. Cause I had a really young puppy energy. Now that doesn't mean people should
13:20start calling me puppy. Only my niece and nephews can call me that. But it felt like I was unleashing
13:26a
13:27part of me that I hadn't used before professionally or that I hadn't let people into before about me,
13:35especially because it was in the summer in the middle with alias on either side.
13:40It was, um, so refreshing to play. It felt like play. And Gary let me add so much stuff and
13:49let me
13:50improvise and we'd be doing a scene and I'd be like, no, the pen should have a fluff at the
13:54end.
13:54And actually let me write the date at the top and let me, you know, just, we all know what
13:58it's like
13:59to be in middle school or early high school. We've, we've all been there. And so I was a lot
14:03closer to
14:04it then than I am now, but, uh, it all just was so present for me as I played Jenna.
14:17As soon as you came out, you said, mom, I'm still me. You are still you, Simon.
14:25You are still the same son who I love to tease and who your father depends on for just about
14:34everything. Greg offered, handed me this script. It wasn't financed. The movie was having a little
14:41trouble, which is so hard to imagine that anyone would not finance anything Greg wanted to do. I
14:47remember that it didn't make sense in my family for me to leave right then and be going back and
14:53forth to Atlanta for a couple of weeks. But I read that scene and I just was like, selfishly,
14:59I want to be the person to say these lines. I want to help bring this to life. And I
15:05want to know what
15:06it feels like to say them as a mom. I want to have this practice in case I ever need
15:12it as a person in
15:14the world. I think it's so important that we meet our kids with this acceptance and love,
15:18whatever they bring to you. And filming it on the day, it was hard not to feel the weight of
15:25that.
15:25I felt like it was really important. And it has been. I think it is the most important scene I've
15:31ever shot. It's the one that comes up the most when people have me alone in private. Or I always
15:38say
15:38it's flight attendants who, you know, slip me a note about it on a napkin. Or people who say,
15:43hey, I need to tell you this, this scene in this movie helped my mom and me have this conversation.
15:50And I'm, I'm so grateful to Greg for giving me the chance to play this mom. And to Nick for
15:59offering me such a beautiful scene. May you get to exhale now, Simon.
16:05You get to be more you than you have been in, in a very long time.
16:14I mean, Greg Berlanti. Whoa, geez. There's not a particular story as much as there is the experience
16:25of, I don't even know, a hundred stories of people telling me that it, that it helped them,
16:31that even if it gave them the bravery to talk to their parents, they showed it to their parents
16:36and it helped their parents stop and take a breath and answer the way that they would
16:42hope that they had answered. Because there's the shock in an answer to a moment like this that you
16:50regret forever because it can stay with your child or it can stay with somebody that you love. And then
16:55you're both operating from that place. You feel defensive. You wish you hadn't done it. They carry that hurt.
17:01And there is, this offers you a breath. You know, I just encourage anyone who feels like their child is
17:08maybe needing to come out to them on a family movie night. Watch Love, Simon. It's charming.
17:14And it's harmless. And it's just gorgeous. Nick is so incredible. The whole movie is. But this scene
17:23might give your kid the bravery to tell you something they need to tell you.
17:34Rayon came to the hospital on his own. He got dragged out in a goddamn garbage bag. He was my
17:39friend too.
17:41Makes me wish for Jean-Marc Vallée and the work that he still had left to do in his beautiful
17:47life.
17:47It reminds me how much I loathed watching Matthew and Jared Waste Away. Oh, this was a painful movie to
17:54make.
17:55God, I had a front row seat to some incredible performances.
17:59I remember walking out of the hair and makeup trailer and waiting for Jared to come down the stairs of
18:06the trailer
18:07because I just wanted to be there in case he passed out on the way down. He was going to
18:11Whole Foods after
18:12work and smelling broccoli. He just, I don't know how he did it. He just didn't eat. Matthew had done
18:19a very
18:19disciplined diet that was maybe 500 calories a day or something. But it started with tapioca in the morning
18:27And then he would have a can of tuna kind of broken up, but it was very specific and it
18:33was
18:33truly awful to see especially because there was no money
18:36So craft service was like a box of donuts and you could smell them
18:40And I just remember being like somebody moved the donuts away from these guys like and Matthew's emotions
18:46Were so close to the surface. I remember us shooting a scene sitting on steps inside somewhere and
18:53And the emotion of the this scene hit him and it was so enormous he could hardly even contain it
19:01And it wasn't like it wasn't written in it wasn't supposed to be he was just everything about him was
19:06paper thin making that movie
19:08We had made a ghost of girlfriends past together before that and we're friends
19:12And so coming into it. It was just like I was seeing a ghost of somebody that I'd known
19:27It was a reshoot first he shot me from
19:30The front as I was hammering into the wall and this movie was shot in 21 days
19:35There was no time for reshoots and then he just said he wished he'd gotten me in profile
19:40So we redid it we had one take and I was really emotional before we shot it and he said
19:47hold it
19:47Just hold it in don't let it go
19:56Oh
19:57Never have I ever
19:59Had my own kid throw up in my mouth
20:02Me! I did!
20:03Oh my god!
20:05I saw it! I saw it with my eyes!
20:07No no no no no no
20:07I can't even remember
20:08Into your mouth!
20:09Into her mouth
20:10I can taste it
20:11I love those ladies so much
20:13Aren't they great?
20:15Don't you just love them?
20:16Don't you just see Regina Hall and want to kiss her on the face?
20:19And Darcy Carden and Chloe and Gemma
20:23Gosh I love doing this show
20:24I read Ellen's book Ellen Hildebrand 32 bestselling she's incredible and the reason that her novels are
20:34So adaptable is that she fills them with just an unrelenting amount of plot
20:41And then it gives the characters actual arcs from beginning to end and their relationships are so convoluted and complicated
20:48And there's something really true about each character that you
20:52You can lock in and you know those people or you are those people or both
20:57And in this case, I kept expecting the book and I've told Ellen I've apologized to Ellen
21:04For this I kept expecting it to be more trite than it was like it was a beach read and
21:08it's just like five women
21:10And I thought oh boy, and it just kept surprising me by being deeper than I thought it was going
21:15to be
21:15And then Becca Brunstetter adapted the book for us and deepened it for
21:21Screen but really it's just these women look who I get to act with
21:26The hard thing for me
21:28I always have a hard time going from a scene where you're laughing uproariously to suddenly being emotional
21:33And it's the first take where I can find that because the surprise is so real
21:39And then I have a harder time but in this case chloe surprised me every time by with her reading
21:46She's she's just so fantastic
21:48That it was easier to get there
21:51But right before this we were talking regina said the questions had to be about dicks and holes
21:58And we could not get it together
22:06Thank you so much for watching
22:09Thank you
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