Director Penelope Spheeris says Jennifer Aniston gave her a rhinestone-covered dildo as a prank intended to humiliate her during production of the 2011 Lifetime film Five.
According to Spheeris, a producer handed her the sex toy in a wrapped gift box and left her to open it in front of members of her crew.
“It was a mean-spirited dildo to humiliate me in front of the whole crew,” the 80-year-old Wayne’s World director said during an appearance on The Moynihan Report.
Spheeris acknowledged that Aniston did not personally hand her the item, but said she believed the actress was behind the gift. She pointed to a later awards event where Aniston allegedly carried what appeared to be the same style of box while presenting a gift to Friends co-creator Marta Kauffman.
A source close to the matter told The Daily Mail that Aniston had “no recollection of her ever having given this gift” and questioned why the Horrible Bosses star would not have included a card if she had sent Spheeris the sex toy.
The Daily Mail said it contacted representatives for both Aniston and Spheeris for comment.
Director Penelope Spheeris says Jennifer Aniston gave her a rhinestone-studded dildo during production of their 2011 Lifetime movie Five
“It was a mean-spirited dildo to humiliate me in front of the whole crew,” the 80-year-old Wayne’s World director said on The Moynihan Report
Spheeris prompted laughter from interviewer Michael Moynihan as she recalled that the dildo “had rhinestones pasted on it. You couldn’t even use it.”
Spheeris and Aniston each directed separate segments of Five, an anthology film made for Lifetime that explored the impact of breast cancer.
Spheeris said the incident occurred after one of her workdays ended, when an assistant director asked her to take a seat as “the whole crew gathered around” her.
She alleged that a producer then walked over carrying a gift box. “I go: ‘Well, that’s cute, so sweet.’ I open it. There’s a f***in’ dildo in there. In front of the whole crew, I’m supposed to open up a dildo. Thanks,” she recalled.
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Aniston, Spheeris and the other directors involved in Five—Demi Moore, Alicia Keys and Wonder Woman filmmaker Patty Jenkins—were later nominated for outstanding direction of a television film at the Directors Guild Awards.
At the ceremony, Spheeris said, Aniston arrived carrying “the same kind of gift box in her hand” as the one used for the earlier prank.
“And she comes over to where I’m at and I said: ‘Oh, what you got in there, another dildo?’ She said: ‘No, it’s a present for Marta Kauffman,’” Spheeris recalled.
“But it was the same box. It was the same gift box. So those are Jennifer Aniston’s gift boxes,” she added. “So yeah, I’ll get sued for that, but whatever.”
Spheeris became prominent in the 1980s through her trilogy of documentaries about Los Angeles’ underground music scene, The Decline of Western Civilization. Above, in 1980
Spheeris first gained widespread attention in the 1980s with The Decline of Western Civilization, a trilogy documenting Los Angeles’ underground music culture.
She moved into narrative filmmaking with the 1987 dark comedy Dudes, which starred Jon Cryer, 16 years before he became internationally known for Two and a Half Men.
Her comedy career continued with major box-office successes, including Wayne’s World, the popular 1992 film starring Mike Myers and Dana Carvey as characters they had originally created on Saturday Night Live.
Her filmography also includes a 1993 movie adaptation of the classic 1950s sitcom The Beverly Hillbillies, a modest box office success that was savaged by the critics.
The motion picture version featured such names as Baywatch actress Erika Eleniak and comedy icon Lily Tomlin, with guest appearances by Dolly Parton and Zsa Zsa Gabor and even a cameo by the original sitcom’s leading man Buddy Ebsen.
Spheeris is a first cousin of the renowned Greek filmmaker Costa-Gavras, a political director best known for his 1969 release Z, which was a dark satire of the military coup that had unfolded in Athens two years earlier.
She is the aunt of music video director Romain Gavras, an ex of Dua Lipa and the current boyfriend of Emily Ratajkowski.