Summary
- Friends' casting was a complex process with some roles initially undecided and others having preferred actors in mind.
- Courteney Cox turned down the role of Rachel Green and Lisa Kudrow felt that no one else could handle the audition for Phoebe Buffay.
- Matthew Perry was wanted for the role of Chandler from the beginning, but initially couldn't audition due to another commitment. Eventually, he joined the cast after a project fell through.
Friends may have ended decades ago, but it's still a beloved series to this day. Viewers enjoy not only re-watching old episodes but also diving into how the show came to be—and all the ways it narrowly avoided becoming something entirely different.
Case in point? The show's casting. When Friends started looking for a lineup of actors, some of the roles weren't entirely fleshed out. For others, the crew knew exactly which actors they wanted—but they didn't always get a 'yes' the first time around.
Friends' Casting Director Wanted Matthew Perry From The Start
When Friends was casting, some of the roles were completely up in the air. At first, Courteney Cox was pegged for Rachel Green, but Cox turned down the role, which could have lost her the gig altogether.
Fortunately, it all worked out in the end, not only with Monica Geller but the rest of the cast. Lisa Kudrow once revealed that no one else could handle the audition for Phoebe Buffay, hinting that her getting the gig might have been pre-ordained in some sense.
Lending credence to that theory is a behind-the-scenes dive into Friends that revealed many interesting facts about the show's early days, including how the series was cast.
Marta Kauffman, a co-creator of Friends, once noted in an interview that while the team "saw a countless number of actors," they had a list of preferred talent before ever meeting anyone.
From the beginning, Kauffman explained, the show wanted Matthew Perry for Chandler. Yet at the time, he had committed to a TV series (L.A.X. 2194) and was simply not available.
It was a long casting experience from there, with the team bringing in "everybody" to try and find the perfect Chandler. Of all the auditions, David Crane (Marta Kauffman's writing partner) elaborated that they thought Chandler, being "sarcastic and kind of quippy," would be easy to cast. Ultimately, "no one could do it. No one."
That is, until one promising audition hinted that there might be hope.
Matthew Perry's Protégé Auditioned, But It Wasn't Quite Enough
Kauffman and Crane explained that the "closest" they got to getting Matthew Perry in to read for Chandler was someone the actor had actually coached. Craig Bierko auditioned for Chandler and came close to what they were after, which was surprising at first.
Later, they found out that Matthew Perry had coached Bierko, which they figured explained how he was able to deliver a similar style. Ultimately, Bierko turned down the script, according to NBC's former president—something he's probably kicking himself for today—and that turned out to be a positive thing.
NBC's former president, Warren Littlefield, bagged on Craig Bierko, saying "Thank God!" he passed because it wouldn't have been a good fit. Specifically, Bierko "seemed to have a lot of anger underneath, more of a guy you love to hate."
Clearly, that wouldn't work for Chandler, and it was serendipitous when Matthew Perry eventually became available for the job.
Eventually, Perry Joined The Cast When A Project Fell Through
The casting director might have wanted Matthew Perry from day one, but it took another project falling through for it all to come together. L.A.X. 2194, the show Perry was committed to, turned into a film, then was dropped entirely.
While it might have been fun to see Matthew Perry play a baggage handler at LAX in 2194, Friends was arguably a much better fit.
Winding up on Friends no doubt changed the trajectory of Perry's career; during his run on the sitcom, Perry appeared on various other TV series (like Ally McBeal and The West Wing) and a handful of films.
After Friends ended, Perry had no shortage of opportunities, appearing in everything from TV movies and shorts to the longer-running series Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and, later, shows like Go On and The Odd Couple.
'Friends' Ruined Matthew Perry And Craig Bierko's Relationship
As for Craig Bierko, who might have been able to land the role of Chandler had things been different, he's also enjoyed a long career in Hollywood—his resume is notably longer than Perry's but doesn't include quite as many well-known projects.
Apparently, that was a point of contention for Craig, who had previously been a close pal of Matthew's. In an interview about his memoir, Matthew stated that Craig didn't speak to him for the first two years of Friends.
Matthew said he would call, but Craig wouldn't call him back. After those two years, Craig asked to meet with Matthew, and he apologized for not calling. Craig explained that he couldn't handle that Matthew got 'rich and famous' from a show Craig turned down.
For his part, Matthew forgave his friend and pointed out that becoming rich and famous didn't fix all of life's problems (Perry also wasn't the richest Friends cast member), but that didn't exactly seem to mend things between the two.
