An Oral History Of ‘Friends’
Chapter 1: The One Where Everything Started
David Schwimmer (Ross Geller): When my agent handed me the script, I immediately loved it. It was about Ross Geller, a man who was deeply obsessed with dinosaur bones. We enter into his life at a time when his obsession has reached its dangerous peak, and he is living and working in New York City as a professor of paleontology.
Lisa Kudrow (Phoebe Buffay): The concept was like nothing I’d ever seen before: a group of young friends living in New York City, just trying their best to pull this tortured man named Ross out of his cursed, solitary world. They can either let him descend into his own delusions, or they can force him to hang out at a coffee shop until he comes to his senses.
David Schwimmer: To me, the bones represent Ross’ tortured past, which he cannot seem to escape. In order to cope with those harrowing memories, he tries to date every woman in Manhattan.
Lisa Kudrow: It just felt fresh and totally unique. All the other ensemble shows at the time were called Seinfeld, and none of the leading roles were open. This had a bunch of young, hungry characters just trying to get by, but weren’t named Jerry, Elaine, Kramer, or George.
Courteney Cox (Monica Geller): I actually originally auditioned to play Rachel, but they decided to cast me as Monica because they needed someone beautiful, but also not someone Ross would ever kiss.
Jennifer Aniston (Rachel Green): Even during our auditions, the producers were really willing to put a lot of our own lives in the show. Back in 1998, my name was Rachel, I had just run away from my own wedding, and I was very physically attractive.
Matt LeBlanc (Joey Tribbiani): My character was originally not an actor, but when they saw that I was an actor, they made my character an actor too.
Jennifer Aniston: Also, most people don’t know this, but Rachel was originally bald until they saw my amazing hair. Really, I just handed over all my official documents and we were off.
Matt LeBlanc: I first met Jen right after our audition. I just took one look at her and I knew: This one’s going to be a star. There was something about her that made me positive she’d be huge. Also, I knew that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 would disappear in March 2014.
Courteney Cox: Matt was just such a perceptive guy—he was always looking into the future, and every single one of his predictions came true.
Matt LeBlanc: I knew 370 would get struck by lightning before nosediving into the ocean, I knew Princess Diana would get killed the second she hopped in that car, and I knew that Jen would outdo us all by winning that Emmy. I also knew that her marriage would fall apart and that she would be dead by 50.
Matthew Perry (Chandler Bing): No matter how big any one person got, though, Friends was an ensemble show. No one person was favored over the others, and if we felt that it was happening, we understood why it was the case and decided it was smartest to ride with it.
Lisa Kudrow: We were friends on and off the set, and we’re all the godparents of each other’s kids, except for Jen and Matt Perry, because they are deeply, deeply barren.
David Schwimmer: We used to hang out together, and honestly, we still do. I couldn’t be luckier to have my best friends cast by a professional talent agency for me.
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