Courteney Cox names her biggest career regret: “I want to be respected”
With an actor or celebrity as recognisable as Courteney Cox, success and fulfilment aren’t always the same thing.
Even if most actors who set their sights on a career in Hollywood desire fame in some form or another, being famous just for the sake of it isn’t exactly satisfying. This is an issue that the cast of NBC’s Friends faced shortly after the sitcom became one of the most successful in history, ensuring that none of them would actually have to find more work for the rest of their careers if they didn’t want to. It’s the type of once-in-a-generation hit that is hard to recapture.
In fairness to Courteney Cox, Friends didn’t mark the beginning of her career; she had broken through with her performance in a Bruce Springsteen music video for ‘Dancing in the Dark‘, and had later appeared in Family Ties before getting the role of Monica Geller in Friends. While the show was on the air, she also made time to appear in hit films, including Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Scream.
Although Cox would never fail to find work because of her appearances on subsequent sitcoms like Cougar Town and Shining Vale, she expressed regret that she did not pursue more opportunities.
“I didn’t have the confidence to stretch myself, to push myself,” Cox said. “I didn’t try for things, and that’s something I really regret. I’m not a lazy person at all, but I also didn’t want to put myself in a position where I felt out of my depth.”
It’s easy to forget that for emerging actors, getting any work is a good thing because of how few opportunities there are. However, someone who has already experienced a mainstream breakthrough like Cox has might want to do something more than will ensure that they leave a greater legacy.
“When I was starting out, I just wanted to get a job,” Cox said. “Now, I want to be respected, and I want to be seen as somebody who has been around for a long time and is challenging themselves, as opposed to we know her.”
Cox’s most recent endeavour to do something profound with her career actually involved returning to one of her most famous roles. She’s the only member of the Scream cast to appear in every single film, as Neve Campbell’s Sidney Prescott was absent from Scream VI due to a pay dispute with Spyglass. Campbell’s return to the franchise allowed her to once again reunite with Cox for Scream 7, which marks the thirtieth anniversary of the original film.
Whether Cox has a future in the Scream franchise remains to be seen. Although the latest sequel broke records and will likely become the first instalment in the series to make over $200million at the global box office, it is also the least well-reviewed of the series, with many pointing out that the story now feels played out.
However, the fact that the Scream series is back in the public consciousness might give Cox the incentive to use her popularity to pursue her true ambitions, which are seemingly to make something of her own that redefines what people think about her. She’s never in danger of losing her status as a celebrity, but this is her shot to prove herself as an artist.
