David Schwimmer made a career choice that still haunts him to this day.
the 57-year-old “Friends” alum said on Tuesday's episode “Origins with Cush Jumbo” podcast He turned down a role in the 1997 film “Men in Black”, which prevented him from ever achieving “movie star” status.
“That was a brutal decision,” Schwimmer recalls. “I had just finished shooting 'The Pallbearer,' which was my first movie with Gwyneth Paltrow, and there were a lot of expectations that didn't come true. It kind of bombed.”
Schwimmer said that Miramax had “high expectations” for him at the time, so the studio signed him to a deal that would allow him to direct his own film. Lookingglass Theatre Company In a movie.
“We found this amazing script and we were developing it,” he said. “We started preproduction. All of my best friends from around the world in my theater company quit their jobs so they could spend the summer working on this movie, which was going to be shot for six weeks in Chicago.”
However, the filming schedule for Schwimmer’s first directorial film, 1998’s “Since You’ve Been Gone,” clashed with the production of “Men in Black,” forcing the actor to choose between the two projects.
“My 'Friends' summer window was four months. I had a four-month break and 'Men in Black' was going to be shooting at the same time that I was going to be directing this movie with my company. And, of course, it was an amazing opportunity,” he said. “However, that relationship with my theater company and all those people probably would have been lost. I don't think it would have been the same again.”
“You have to follow your intuition. You have to follow your heart,” Schwimmer continued. “Look, I know for a fact that 20 years later, maybe more, ('Men in Black') would have made me a movie star. If you look at the success of that movie and that franchise, my career would have gone in a very different direction.”
Despite the decision having been made so many years ago, Schwimmer admitted, “I don't know if I made the right choice.”
“Since You've Been Gone” was supposed to hit theaters in 1997. Instead, Miramax released it as a made-for-television movie in 1998 on ABC.
Meanwhile, “Men in Black,” starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, grossed more than $580 million worldwide upon its theatrical release in 1997. It was also nominated for three Oscars and won for best makeup.
The science-fiction action comedy film spawned three sequels in 2002, 2012, and 2019. Smith, 55, and Jones, 78, returned for the first two films.
Despite not taking the “Men in Black” job, Schwimmer has done a fair amount of work in Hollywood since “Friends” ended in 2004. He voiced Melman in the “Madagascar” movies and played Robert Kardashian in the “People v. O.J. Simpson” miniseries, for which he received an Emmy nomination.
However, her success pales in comparison to that of her “Friends” co-star Jennifer Aniston, who has starred in several box office winning films including “We're the Millers”, “Horrible Bosses”, “Just Go With It” and “Along Came Paulie”.
Schwimmer's net worth is $120 million, while Aniston's is $300 million.
