Jennifer Aniston Watch

As you probably know by now, Jen’s upcoming project Wanted is based upon a novel by Kim Wozencraft. The role of Diane is a notable departure for Jen, but as with many other roles that she’s played, she will pull it off beautifully. Here is a spoiler for those who just can’t wait to see what it’s all about:

Plot Summary for Wanted

Diane Wellman (Jen’s character) is an idealistic young police officer in Texas who comes upon evidence in the Churchpin case, a murder case for which an innocent man is already on death row. She tries to bring this evidence to light, but the man working on the case who is far senior to her refuses to hear her out. Much to his dismay, she begins to make a bit of a stink about the fact that this guy stole her case and is sentencing an innocent man to death only to serve his own corrupt motives.

One night, Diane goes out for drinks with colleagues. Someone drugs her drink, and a man takes her home. When she comes to the next morning, the man takes her back to her apartment, where she goes right to bed. Then, as she’s sleeping, some investigators come in with a warrant to search her apartment, and they arrest her for drug possession (during this, someone had planted massive amounts of cocaine in her fridge). She is sentenced to 20 years and sent to a prison in upstate New York.

She is assigned to a cell with Gail (Meryl’s character), who had been in for 18 years and had just been denied parole. She was in for her peripheral involvement in a political protest. Over a few weeks, they get to talking and hatch a plan to escape, although Gail questions the wisdom of Diane’s motivation to go back and clear her name. During the prison’s July 4th picnic, they carry out their plan, getting outside the grounds successfully.

They hitchhike to New York City, where they meet up with Gail’s lawyer friend Mel. Mel informs Gail that she has inherited a sum of money, and sets up a bank account and fake identification for them. Diane and Gail get new haircuts so as to make themselves less recognizable, and they board a train to Chicago. While on the train, Diane sees a newspaper and finds out that there is a search out for them; their mugshots are all over the internet.

The train is stopped, and police board, doing ID checks on every passenger. Diane and Gail show the fake ID’s that Mel had provided them with, and between the seeming validity of their identification and the fact that they don’t really look like their mug shots, they get away with it. However, Diane gets nervous that the police really were onto them and were just setting up a trap at the Chicago station, so she gets off in Cleveland and since Gail refuses to do the same, they arrange to meet at a rental car place in Chicago.

Diane takes a bus the rest of the way, and they meet up. They plan to meet with some of Gail’s friends from Free Now (her political organization) in Oklahoma, so they rent a car and drive there. While staying there, the police came in and search the house that they’re at for Gail’s friend Tom, who was also wanted. They don’t find anyone, but then when they leave the house to head down to Texas (Tom in tow), they are caught by a scanner. There is only one officer on the scene, so he can only chase down Tom, but the entire chase was caught on camera. Once Diane and Gail get away, they go to a town in Texas and change their hair colors and got new fake ID’s (provided by one of Mel’s friends).

They stay at a hotel in this town for a little bit, but Diane really wanted to go back home and prove once and for all that she’d been framed. Since Gail thinks that this was a terrible idea, Diane decides to sneak out and leave a note. She meets with Renfro, a man whom she knew from the force (and who liked her a lot). He has some new information about the Churchpin case, and it is clear that Diane had been right all along. Diane then decides to go see Efird, the man who’d taken her to his apartment the night that she’d been drugged. She finds out that Efird has left the force and had planned to start a PI business with his friend Jimmy Ray. She goes back to a local motel and contacts Gail, who then contacts Renfro. Diane goes back to Efird’s place.

Jimmy Ray was there, looking for something, and Efird shoots and kills him. Inside Efird’s trailer, she finds various evidence leading to the conclusion that Efird had committed the Churchpin murder, and that he and Jimmy Ray had set Diane up because while the sheriff would have never figured it out, she might have eventually. When Efird finds out that Diane knows this, he tries to explain it away, at which point Gail shows up. Afraid that Gail and Diane would go on to rat on him, Efird holds Diane at gunpoint until Renfro comes in and Diane escapes Efird’s grip. Renfro shoots and kills Efird, and the sheriff arrives at the scene. He recognizes Diane, but lets her go once Renfro explains everything and shows him the evidence at the scene.

In the end, they’re free; Gail goes off to Europe, and Diane quits the force and pursues her dream of attending law school.

Wanted, Kim Wozencraft, Jennifer Aniston, Meryl Streep, upcoming films