While his interpreter Matthew Perry left us this Saturday at the age of 54, we take a look back at the creation of the legendary character of Chandler in the series “Friends”.
For French fans of Friends, the best character in the famous series, according to a study carried out in 2020, it was him! Chandler Bing, played by the brilliant Matthew Perry, whose death this Saturday at the age of 54 profoundly shook the world of the big and small screen.
A tireless joker, a lover of puns and more or less successful jokes, this endearing joker, much more sensitive than he lets on, and whose profession no one has ever known, constitutes one of the pillars of the group of friends. New Yorker.
But did you know that, contrary to what one might imagine when we see Matthew Perry portraying him with talent, the two creators of the series had a lot of difficulty finding his interpreter?
Indeed, as they stated in the documentary Friends: The Reunion, David Crane and Marta Kauffman tore their hair out a bit during casting before meeting Perry:
“I thought Chandler would be the easiest to find out of the six, because he’s not just a character, he’s funny, he’s always a joke, he’s a real clown.”remembers David Crane.
“So I thought it was going to work, that we were going to have a laugh and… And we received a lot of actors one after the other, and we didn’t have a laugh at all.”
NBC
“We had worked with Matthew Perry on Dream on. And when Matthew read his text, it was obvious”says Marta Kauffman. “Suddenly, all of our lines came to life and for the first time, since the beginning of his auditions, we saw Chandler take shape before our eyes. Only he could play him.”
Unfortunately, as Matthew Perry revealed on the Seth Meyers set in 2015, there was still a big problem to resolve! Indeed, pushed by his agent to accept any contract because he lacked income at the time, the actor had already committed to another project, much more risky: the science fiction comedy LAX 2194, in which he had to play… a baggage handler for extraterrestrials at the Los Angeles airport!
“Luckily, someone from Warner had seen the filming of 2194 and he said to us: ‘This series will never work. Take Matthew from Friends, we’ll take care of the rest,'” remembers David Crane. “And that’s how we got our Chandler. He handled his lines with so much ease, he made it his own. That’s what we call an innate talent for comedy.”
NBC
If it is today unthinkable to imagine anyone other than Matthew Perry in the role of Chandler Bing, several actors were briefly considered to play the character, as is also the case for all the heroes of the show. Before Perry, the famous joker was almost played by Craig Bierko (known for the series UnREAL), by Jon Cryer (from My Uncle Charlie) or even by Jon Favreau (director of Iron Man, The Lion King and The Mandalorian ).
Once Matthew Perry was selected and the character’s outfits were developed (series costume designer Debra McGuire was inspired by her own father’s vintage look to design the character’s shirts), it was finally time to begin filming! And in order to properly break the ice, it was by wading in the frozen fountain of the intro credits that the six Friends got to know each other.
“Matthew Perry is one of the funniest people in the world”: what Friends thought of the Chandler interpreter
As recounted by Kelsey Miller in her book on the series I’ll Be There for You: The One About Friendsit was a joke from Matthew Perry that made the whole small group burst out laughing, while they were freezing and waiting for instructions from the production while splashing in the water.
“I have a hard time remembering a time when we weren’t in this fountain.”would then have launched Chandler’s interpreter, thus inaugurating a decade of joy, laughter and good humor between our six friends.
“We were doubled over. That’s what they filmed – us laughing at Matthew Perry’s jokes about that uncomfortable fountain.”Lisa Kudrow later recounted in the book Friends… ’til the End.
(Re)discover our video dedicated to “Friends”…