Friends Things could have been very different—and perhaps not as successful—if the show’s creators had followed their original idea. The thing is that initially Chandler Bing, played by the memorable Matthew Perrywasn’t going to be one of the main characters sitcom from NBK.
When Friends came out on television in 1994, already with six main characters. In addition to Matthew Perry, the winning formula includes Jennifer Aniston as Rachel, Courteney Cox as Monica, Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe, Matt LeBlanc as Joey and David Schwimmer as Ross.
However, at first the idea was that both Phoebe and Chandler played supporting roles.. This would mean focusing virtually all of the storylines on the four other friends; an idea that today, when history has already been written, sounds somewhat far-fetched. At the time, the possibility was seriously considered, at least until Lisa Kudrow and Matthew Perry emerged as viable options to consider.
Phoebe’s case was somewhat peculiar because the character was created as a derivative of Ursula, the Waitress, which Kudrow had already played. Crazy about you. That’s why David Crane and Marta Kaufman, creators Friendsthey found a quick way to insert the actress into a new sitcommanaging to maintain continuity by establishing that Phoebe and Ursula were twin sisters.
For Chandler, the issue turned out to be more difficult than expected. The point is that, in principle, showrunners from Friends They believed that finding an actor to play the role of a cheerful and sarcastic friend would not be difficult.. But the audition process proved otherwise, and this only became known when Matthew Perry came into development.
How Matthew Perry “saved” Chandler Friends
In a special issue Friends bringing together the main characters in 2021, the creators of the series explained how Matthew Perry gave a unique imprint to his role. “I thought Chandler would be the easiest to play. Because he wasn’t just a character, he was making jokes. He was joking for real. […] And we saw a lot of actors… and they weren’t funny,” explained David Crane.
However, everything changed when it was decided to contact Perry, who already knew Crane and Martha Kaufmann from his short stay in Dream, an HBO comedy. Although the actor made a guest appearance in one episode in 1992, he left a very good impression.
“We worked with Matthew Perry on Dream. When he read his dialogue, it sparkled and came to life. For the first time during the entire casting, we realized that there was a character there and that he was the only one who could interpret it“Kaufman said.
However, casting Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing won’t be easy. The actor has already promised to work on another comedy called Los Angeles 2194, for the ABC network. However, the pilot episode sitcom Futuristic showed that the project would not be successful, and the head of Warner Bros. gave him the go-ahead to join the cast Friends. The rest was history.
Source: Hiper Textual
