Jennifer Aniston in Harper's Bazaar - Barbra Streisand in Little Fockers

Jennifer Aniston and Jake Gyllenhaal attending 9th Hollywood Film Awards Show on 24th October 2005

The September 2010 newsstand cover with Jennifer Aniston.

"Jennifer has long idolized Streisand, patron saint of stage and screen (two Academy Awards, eight Grammys) and the exemplar of times-they-are-a-changing feminism, who is, of course, more than a muse. She's an icon.

Jennifer first met Streisand, 68, at a New Year's party a few years ago. "I've loved her since I was a kid, and all of a sudden there she is, and she's just like someone you've always known," Jennifer says. "You know when you meet people you idolize and then you walk away from the conversation thinking, 'Well, that was a disappointment; they were kinder and more fabulous in my mind'? Well, she was wonderful, and you could talk to her about anything."

Jennifer is effusive in her admiration of Streisand. "Barbra inspires me because there isn't anything she hasn't done that she wanted to do, especially as a female in the time when her generation was prime. She's a true renaissance woman." Her favorite Streisand films: "The Way We Were and A Star Is Born. Both pretty great."

"I had a long conversation with Barbra about directing because I directed a short a couple years ago, and if I don't do it again soon, I'm going to burst out of my skin. And we also love interior design. Also, we are people who have been put in the spotlight, for better or for worse, and you just keep riding, and you keep overcoming, and you just stay true to what you love to do."

Barbra Streisand along with "Little Fockers" cast (Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Dusting Hoffman, Teri Polo and Blythe Danner)

If Jennifer and Barbra were to do a style swap, "I'd put her in jeans and a great wedge and a beautiful blouse and a blazer. She's got legs, man. She's got a cute butt. She wears little black tights, she's beautiful." Out of Streisand's legendary wardrobe, Jennifer would love to wear the silky cream fringed dress from the 1976 Classical Barbra album cover. Maybe one day an album called Classical Jen? "Yeah! That would be full of Friends bloopers. Classic Jen fuckups."

Jennifer's new movie, The Switch, is a sperm-donor comedy opposite Jason Bateman. "He is perhaps the most adorable human being on the planet. I'm so glad he's having a resurgence," she says. Next up is Just Go with It with Adam Sandler and Nicole Kidman. Then she continues her year of the Jasons with Bosses: "I went from [Saturday Night Live's] Jason Sudeikis to Bateman, and now I'm making a movie with both of them."

Perhaps that's what a renaissance woman has these days: a glorious career, a good head on her shoulders, and lots of Jasons. Or, as Jennifer has learned from Streisand, "You don't have to stop at one thing. You can do it all if you want to." Source: www.harpersbazaar.com