No, no, no to Friends feature says Warners
Thanks to the success of the Sex and the City movie — and talk of more to come — the rumor mill has been bubbling with other TV shows making the leap to the big screen. In the case of Arrested Development, it sure sounds like the truth.
However, the Friends feature is a rumor that has no legs. Warners owns the property and on July 4th, even though all U.S. offices were closed for the holiday, denied the rumors via the London office.
Jayne Trotman, Warner’s director of publicity, said of the Friends movie, “(There’s) no truth in the story.”
Just to be sure, Matthew Perry’s press rep also denied the rumor. She told the BBC that nothing is happening and the rumor is just that, a shred of news with no value attached to it.
So, where are the affirmatives that have made the media think there was a chance for a Friends big screen production? MailOnline.com started it. The web site posted on July 2nd that all the Friends, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer and Matthew, were willing to reprise their roles for a picture to be filmed within the next 18 months.
In what can only be called a fanciful — unsupported by named sources — story, the writer went on to say that Jennifer and Courteney had been talking about what they wanted the feature to be about and how to get it done. Whether they ever really talked about a movie or not remains uncertain.
What is certain is this: if Warners says it’s not happening, it’s not happening. Not any time soon, anyway.
But even if Warners was hot to make the film, would a Friends feature really be such a great thing? I don’t think so. As it was, the series probably should have ended in 2000, when Monica and Chandler proposed to each other.
I know it may seem like heresy to some, but for me, that was the last, great Friends season. A feature film might be a real let down, when you think about it.
NBC denies Friends reunion rumors - UPDATE
Last night, Jonathan wrote about a report that claimed the six main actors from Friends were going to reunite for a series of one-hour specials. It also mentioned that the three male leads — Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer — were going to star in a spin-off. Readers responded by either getting their hopes up or cursing NBC for digging up the corpse of a series that died a year and a half ago.
Well, we’ve got more news for you: It ain’t gonna happen, at least according to NBC.
Here’s the update from Jonathan:
“Consider this rumor dead as most of us wisely assumed from the get go. Access Hollywood had this to say earlier today, with a direct quote from Jeff Zucker (CEO of NBC Universal’s TV Group) squashing the rumors.
Also, many thanks to TV’s own Ryan j Budke, who spent numerous hours on the phone this morning with NBC’s Media Relations Department, who had this to say: ’There are currently no plans to have any follow-up to Friends other than Joey, which is still a major part of our comedy line-up and we whole-heartedly support. The rumors started this weekend are just that; rumors. We wish the rest of the cast of Friends continued success in their careers, and would welcome them back at any time, but there are currently no plans for them to appear in their Friends roles.’ “
The rumor that never dies: the potential Friends movie
If there is one rumor that never dies it’s the one about the possibility of a Friends reunion. Since the series finale aired in May 2004, rumors about a reunion popped up here, there and everywhere. Sometimes the rumor takes the form of “there will be another spinoff” (remember Joey?) but most of the time it’s a “there are talks about a movie but one of the stars doesn’t want to commit.” This week’s revival of the rumor is of the latter kind.
According to Showbiz Spy, Courteney Cox Arquette, who played Monica on the hit NBC series for 10 seasons, is desperate for a big-screen adaptation of Friends. Yeah, I know, Showbiz Spy isn’t the most legit source out there, but being a Friends fan, I can’t help myself but wonder if it’ll happen or not even though I’m not too keen on a reunion now since I doubt it would live up to my extremely high expectations.
Wonder why I chose a picture from the show that doesn’t include Rachel, played by Jennifer Aniston? Well, it’s because the Showbiz Spy article claims that Aniston is the only one not ready to reprise her role. Supposedly, the actress is afraid of being stereotyped by a movie version of the series and that it would prevent her from getting more serious roles.
Interestingly, David Schwimmer announced last September that he would not take part in a Friends reunion if there ever was one. So if the Spy article is legit, why did he change his mind? Is it for the big pay check that he would get from a reunion? Is it to get some exposure to be able to advertise his other projects? Who knows!
It’s no surprise that this rumor is revisited this week since the Sex and the City movie is currently airing in theaters and is not doing too bad at the box office.
So let me ask the question for the 1000th time, do you want a Friends reunion? If so, what type? Movie? TV special?
[via AOL]
David Schwimmer to helm Little Britain
The former Friends cast member will be heading up the Los Angeles-set parts of the new HBO s comedy show Little Britain.The show is the U.S. counterpart to the BBC sketch show of the same name. The series will focus on the hijinx of British comedians Matt Lucas and David Walliams (stars from the BBC show) here stateside. They are currently filming in North Carolina. Schwimmer will be directing the studio segments of the six-part HBO series here in California. Guests for his segments include Rosie O’Donnell and Sting.
This isn’t the first time Schwimmer will be directing or showing his love of all things British. He directed a few episodes of Friends. And this past year, made his feature directorial debut with Run Fat Boy Run The film starred Simon Pegg as a non-committal cad who has a change of heart toward the mother of his child and enters a marathon to prove his love.