David Schwimmer’s Jennifer Aniston Crush, Set Injuries, Bloody Auditions: 10 Revelations From Friends: The Reunion

After 17 years off-air, the six principal cast members of Friends got back together for Friends: The Reunion, the highly-anticipated unscripted special, now streaming on HBO Go.

On the show — directed by Ben Winston, the executive producer of Late Late Show with James Corden — Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston, Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer reflected their time on the sitcom which ran for 10 years and is still being aired/streamed every day all over the world.

Announced in February 2020, Reunion was originally conceived as an incentive to promote then soon-to-be-launched streaming service HBO Max but was delayed countless times by the COVID-19 pandemic. It wasn’t until last month that the gang were rounded up for the shoot at the series' original soundstage, Stage 24, on the Warner Bros Studio lot in Burbank, California.

While hardcore fans will have a blast walking down memory lane, many critics found the reunion unbearably long. Entertainment Weekly said, “Unfortunately, the bloated, 104-minute special sandwiches these flashes of reunion magic between a lot of silly, tiresome filler.”

Is it possible to stage a reunion special in under an hour? Look at Josh Gad: if he could pull off the virtual cast reunions — of Back to the Future, The Lord of the Rings, Ghostbusters, The Karate Kid — on his YouTube show Reunited Apart, why couldn’t HBO Max do the same?

Then again, when each Friend received a reported US$2.5 mil (S$3.3 mil)-US$3 mil (S$4 mil) for the special, you’re expected to put on a grand show, which includes a Q&A conducted in front of a live audience, moderated by James Corden; random cameos by past guests and celeb fans (David Beckham is self-confessed clean freak like Monica; BTS learnt English from watching the sitcom); Lady Gaga performing 'Smelly Cat'; and an unnecessary Friends-inspired fashion parade.

Reunion works best when the actors are left on their own to reminisce without the extraneous distractions. That said, the introspection could’ve gone a little deeper, like addressing the show’s lack of diversity, the dark side of fame (no mention of Perry’s battle with drug addiction), and their post-Friends career (no mention of Joey?)

From behind-the-scenes mishaps to a secret love affair on set, here are 10 revelations we learnt from the reunion show...

When Corden inevitably broached the topic of off-screen romances, Schwimmer came clean about his “major crush” on Aniston in Season 1. Though the attraction was mutual, Schwimmer said, “At some point we were both crushing hard on each other but it was like two ships passing because one of us was always in a relationship. So…And we never crossed that boundary.” At which point, LeBlanc interrupted “Bulls***!”, but he said he was just kidding. Aniston added, I remember saying one time to David, It’s going to be such a bummer if the first time you and I actually kiss is on national television. And sure enough, the first time we kissed was in that coffee shop. We channelled all of our adoration and love for each other into Ross and Rachel.”

As the cast members made their rounds on the recreated Friends set, LeBlanc pointed out to Cox that she used to scribble her lines on the kitchen table in Monica's apartment. And on one occasion, he recalled, You had this big speech. You were struggling with it all week long, and you wrote it on the table. And when you weren't looking, I erased it and you got so mad at me!

It’s no secret that Perry could not recall three seasons of filming due to his drug addiction. However, it turns out that other members of the cast have also forgotten about certain episodes. When Aniston reminded them of ‘The One With The Ball’, Schwimmer admitted: “I don’t remember that.” Can you blame them? They filmed a total of 236 episodes.

Chandler was best-known as the sarcastic friend and Perry, who played him, was not far from the funnyman. However, he admitted his need to get a laugh from the audience became unhealthy. He explained: I felt like I was going to die if they didn't laugh. And it's not healthy, for sure. But I would sometimes say a line and they wouldn't laugh and I would sweat, and go into convulsions. If I didn't get the laugh I was supposed to get, I would freak out. I felt like that every single night. HIs need for validation became so competitive that he once interrupted the filming of one scene after LeBlanc accidentally tripped over the carpet, much to the audience's delight. I was like, somebody's getting a laugh, I can't handle it, I need to get a laugh too, Perry explained.

The night before his final audition, LeBlanc went out drinking with some pals. However, he ended up smashing his face into a toilet and turned up to his audition with a bloody nose. LeBlanc told the producers the truth and, luckily, he landed the part of Joey.

LeBlanc has previously spoken about the scene from ‘The One Where No One’s Ready’ that dislocated his shoulder but the co-creators shared more details from the accident and the footage. Showrunner Marta Kauffman explained: We shot it three times and it went perfectly. Lord knows why we had to shoot it a fourth time. LeBlanc picked up the story: I went to jump over the coffee table, somehow tripped, my legs went up in the air, and my shoulder came out of its socket. Co-creator David Crane added: In come all the paramedics, they've got to take him to the hospital, and that was the end of filming.” LeBlanc's injury was written into subsequent episodes: Joey hurt himself off-screen while jumping on his bed to explain his arm in the sling.

Executive producer Kevin S Bright recalled the tough audition process when the show was casting for Joey. It was between LeBlanc and another actor, who ended up taking on the role of Joey’s fake twin in ‘The One With Unagi’. Louis Mandylor appeared in the sixth season when Joey needed an identical twin to land a job.

Ross had a pet monkey named Marcel during the early seasons of the series. However, Schwimmer hated the monkey behind the scenes as he would consistently mess up the scenes. He said: I'm an animal lover but what inevitably began to happen was that [scenes] would get messed up because the monkey didn't do its job right. So we'd have to re-set, we'd have to go again ... this kept happening, over and over. He continued, “It would sit on my shoulder and the trainer would come up and give the monkey live grubs to eat. … I’d have monkey grubby hands all over! It was time for Marcel to f*** off.”

Christina Pickles, 86, and Elliot Gould, 82, took on the roles of Monica and Ross’ parents, Judy and Jack Gellar. The pair said that they often felt like they were the six cast member’s real parents as they were constantly watching over them. Pickles explained: “We loved it because they loved us. One day we came to work and they said, ‘The parents are here! The parents are here!’ It was so moving and we really did feel like their parents. In fact, we used to worry about them quite a lot. Elliott said to me, ‘We’re behaving like we’re really their parents,’ and we really did feel we were.”

Several of the cast members have been left wondering if the sitcom would return for a movie. However, Kudrow believes that the show was wrapped up perfectly and it would be a risk to unravel the “happy ending”. She said: “That’s all up to Marta and David and I once heard them say, and I completely agree, that they ended the show very nicely, everyone’s lives are very nice. They would have to unravel all those good things in order for there to be stories. I don’t want anyone’s happy ending unraveled. Also, at my age, to say, like, ‘floopy,’ stop. You have to grow up!”

Friends: The Reunion is now streaming on HBO Go. — BANG SHOWBIZ

Photos: HBO Max, TPG News/Click Photos