There are many fascinating aspects of Jennifer Garner's career. Given that Jennifer has been a staple in Hollywood for decades, it can be easy to forget where she came from. Even her relationship and subsequent divorce from Ben Affleck has received more attention than the projects that launched her career, allowed her to be influential and charitable, and created a high-profile product endorsement with Neutrogena.
While Jennifer Garner started getting roles in shows like Law & Order, Spin City, and Significant Others right after graduating university, her first big role was in J.J. Abrams'college drama, Felicity. And it was this show that opened the door to a show that would make Jennifer a star as well as make J.J. Abrams one of the most influential and important filmmakers of his generation. We're talking, of course, about Alias.
Thanks to an excellent oral interview from TVLine, we now know just how Felicity opened the door to Alias...
J.J. Saw Something In Jennifer Early On
Much like how Alias made Jennifer Garner come into herself as an actor and a celebrity, the show itself was ultimately a coming-of-age story. The slick, sexy, action-packed spy drama on ABC was a launchpad for many other stars but none more so than Jennifer. Alias was the brainchild of a couple of people, but mainly J.J. Abrams, who was quite early in his career. He hadn't yet done Lost or any films with lightsabers or even Vulcans.
Alias ended in 2006 after five successful seasons but it was Felicity that opened the door for this opportunity. According to the interview with TV Line, it was Abrams day-dreaming about what it would be like if the main character on his college drama show was secretly a spy.
"When I was writing the pilot [for Alias], having worked with Jen on Felicity, she was in my mind as a very strong contender for the role," J.J. Abrams said to TV Line. "My wife, Katie, said, 'You have to write something for Jen.' And so Jen kept coming up in my mind as a potential candidate for this. And no one else did. But I was trying not to think of Jen because I wanted Sydney to be her own thing that then Jen could bring to life, or whomever. But there was no one else I really considered but her."
Jennifer just had that kind of energy that attracted people to her. She was (and still is) incredibly beautiful, but she was engaging, enigmatic, and quite, quite talented. But she wasn't a bankable star at the time... and nor was J.J. Abrams.
"J.J. had done Felicity, but he wasn’t 'J.J. Abrams' yet," Alias executive producer Jeff Pinkner explained. "He was this young, hotshot, superstar writer, and Felicity was a popular show but not a cultural phenomenon, other than the cutting of the hair moment… But I saw the show, and it spoke to everything that I loved."
ABC Initially Wasn't Interested In Jennifer
But Jeff and a number of other producers were interested in J.J.'s spy coming-of-age story and wanted to pursue it. He was getting some attention and was worth a shot. But they and the producers weren't sure about Jennifer in the leading role.
"J.J. had to fight to have her cast in the lead," Jeff said. "ABC at the time was not interested. She had played a very small role in Felicity as a much different sort of girl who’s awkward in her own skin. So J.J. fought for her. I think she blew everyone away with her dedication."
As Jennifer said in her interview with TV Line, J.J. inspired her to fight for the role. He handed so much power to her to be able to claim ownership of it so that she could adequately fight for it and prove her worth and loyalty to the project. This ultimately paid off.
"I was in the movie theater watching Traffic with my phone in my hand, which is very typical for an actor waiting to hear about a job. You can’t bear it. You’re just dying for that piece of news," Jennifer Garner said of waiting to find out whether she would win the leading role on Alias. "I don’t think there’d been anything that I ever wanted this badly or worked so hard to get. So I was in the middle of the movie, and my phone started to ring and I dodged outside. It was finally, finally mine and I just remember watching the rest of Traffic like it was a romantic comedy. [Laughs] I was kind of levitating above the rest of the seats in the theater. And so freaked out."
Jennifer owned it. Rose to the occasion and helped make Alias a smash-hit and the launchpad for her entire career.
