From Chandler’s Cadence to Addiction Woes: 8 Revelations From Matthew Perry’s Memoir - Hollywood Reporter

In Matthew Perry’s caller memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, the writer and histrion spends astir of the 250 pages discussing the Big Terrible Thing. For the precise archetypal time, helium chronicles his addiction successful large detail; Perry’s struggles with intoxicant and painkillers person been known to the nationalist for decades, but the publication lays bare conscionable however adjacent to the borderline helium came — and however often.

Most of those disclosures person circulated successful headlines successful the days and weeks starring up to the memoir’s Oct. 28 publication, including that during the tallness of his addiction (and during galore of the Friends years) helium was taking 55 Vicodin pills a day; that helium was in a coma respective years ago and has had dozens of surgeries to repair his exploded colon; and that his Friends co-stars, most particularly Jennifer Aniston, continued to scope retired to him and connection assistance aft the show’s finale (Lisa Kudrow pens the foreword for the book).

But Perry besides dedicates clip successful the publication to reflecting connected his high-profile acting career. It isn’t a Hollywood tell-all successful the accepted consciousness (most of the telling is utilized up with his stories astir continually coming backmost from the brink), but offers precise circumstantial trivia that adjacent the astir die-hard of Friends fan wouldn’t know. Here are a fewer cardinal revelations from Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.

He was expected to beryllium successful Don’t Look Up

While the Netflix climate-apocalypse satire was successful development, Perry took a gathering with 1 Adam McKay, which resulted successful the connection of a role. He was to play a Republican journalist, successful a tiny relation that called for respective scenes other Meryl Streep (who played a comically narcissistic U.S. president). Perry was expected to beryllium heading to different rehab stint — this clip successful Switzerland, overmuch farther afield than his past stays — and had precocious breached 8 ribs portion getting CPR. He was connected 1,800 milligrams of hydrocodone, but flew to Boston to film. He worked connected a radical country with Jonah Hill that ne'er made it onscreen, and had to permission the acceptable earlier moving with Streep due to the fact that of his injuries. “It was heartbreaking,” helium writes. “But I was successful excessively overmuch pain.”

Chandler’s code benignant started successful the audition

Perry says that erstwhile helium auditioned for the relation of Chandler — the past quality to beryllium formed — successful beforehand of Friends co-creator Marta Kauffman, helium “broke each the rules.” To start, helium opted not to transportation the carnal publication pages with him, which is simply a modular signifier that acknowledges to the writer that the publication is simply a enactment successful progress. He besides “read the words successful an unexpected fashion, hitting emphases that nary 1 other had.” He got laughs wherever nary of the actors successful information got laughs, and the relation was his. In aboriginal years, helium would upwind up begging the producers to fto him driblet Chandler’s verbal tic for the last fewer seasons. “That peculiar cadence — could it be immoderate much annoying? — had been truthful played retired that if I had to enactment the incorrect accent successful the incorrect spot 1 much time, I thought I’d explode,” helium writes.

Courteney Cox acceptable the collegial code connected the Friends set

When the sitcom started filming, Cox was easy the astir celebrated of the group, acknowledgment to her roles successful Ace Ventura and Family Ties. But connected the time that the six co-stars gathered for the archetypal clip connected the Warner Bros. batch successful Los Angeles, Cox said implicit lunch: “There are nary stars here. This is an ensemble show. We’re each expected to beryllium friends.” As Perry explains, she’d seen a akin dynamic play retired during a impermanent spot connected Seinfeld — thing helium credits for kicking disconnected the group’s eventual inseparability.

Perry’s courtship with Julia Roberts started with a fax astir quantum physics

In play two, NBC was readying a large post-Super Bowl occurrence of Friends, and Julia Roberts agreed to guest-star — if she could beryllium portion of Chandler’s storyline. Marta Kauffman relayed this to Perry, on with a proposition that helium nonstop her flowers. He did, on with a paper that read, “The lone happening much breathtaking than the imaginable of you doing the amusement is that I yet person an excuse to nonstop you flowers.” She replied, via fax, that she would lone hold to the amusement if helium “adequately explained quantum physics to her.” And thus, their fax flirtation was born. (He recovered a insubstantial astir wave-partical duality and the uncertainty rule to walk her way.)

Friends almost broke the 4th partition successful play eight

During Sean Penn’s two-episode impermanent run, Perry pitched an extremity country for the Halloween occurrence that started with him backstage successful the infamous pinkish bunny rabbit costume. “Sean walks by and I say, ‘Sean, tin I speech to you for a second?'” helium writes. “‘I’ve been giving this a batch of thought and I deliberation you’re a bully idiosyncratic to speech to astir this.’ I’m smoking arsenic I accidental this, and arsenic I enactment the cigaret retired with my immense bunny foot, I say, ‘I’ve been looking to modulation myself into melodramatic work.’ Sean Penn looks maine up and down for astir 5 beats and conscionable says, ‘Good luck.'” They rehearsed the spot astatine the array read, but yet the country ne'er made it to aerial — Friends had a hard and accelerated regularisation to ne'er interruption the 4th wall.

David Schwimmer suggested a radical declaration negotiation

Friends made a batch of headlines going into its last play for their corporate million-dollar-per-episode paydays. But, according to the memoir, the on-set corporate bargaining started acknowledgment to a proposition from Schwimmer backmost successful play one. Perry writes that the actor, who played Ross connected Friends — and was the breakout prima of the amusement successful those aboriginal episodes (he was besides the archetypal to sprout a commercial, get his ain movie, and bargain his ain house) — came into Perry’s dressing country and suggested they renegotiate their contracts arsenic a team, and importune they each get paid the aforesaid amount. “It was a determination that proved to beryllium highly lucrative down the line,” Perry says. “David had surely been successful a presumption to spell for the astir money, and helium didn’t. … It gave america a tremendous magnitude of power. By play eight, we were making a cardinal dollars per episode; by play 10, we were making adjacent more.”

Perry ne'er filmed Friends while high

The histrion is earthy and honorable astir the galore times helium was using, but helium maintains that helium ne'er utilized portion connected set. “I was ne'er precocious portion I was working,” helium writes. “I loved those radical — I wanted to ever measurement up for them, and I was the 2nd baseman for the New York Yankees.” He does, however, unfastened up astir the galore times helium worked hungover. At 1 constituent during the tally of the show, Jennifer Aniston came into his trailer to archer him the formed knew helium had been drinking due to the fact that they could odor it connected him. He besides took limos to acceptable erstwhile helium was excessively hungover to drive, which helium says earned him immoderate “dubious” looks: “Everyone would inquire maine if I was each right, but cipher wanted to halt the Friends train due to the fact that it was specified a moneymaker.”

Season 9 of Friends was the lone 1 during which Perry was wholly sober

The histrion changeable the play 7 finale, which featured Chandler and Monica’s wedding, portion surviving astatine a Malibu rehab facility. By the summertime aft play eight, helium had gotten cleanable again, and Perry says helium stayed that mode for the entirety of play nine, which helium describes arsenic his astir palmy connected the amusement — it was besides the lone play for which helium got nominated for a champion histrion Emmy. “What did I bash otherwise that season? I listened. I didn’t conscionable basal determination and hold my crook to speak,” helium writes. (While precocious promoting his book, Perry told The New York Times helium had been cleanable for 18 months, which means helium was recently drug- and alcohol-free erstwhile the Friends reunion aired successful May 2021. “I’ve astir apt spent $9 cardinal oregon thing trying to get sober,” helium estimated.)