‘Friends’ Cast: 6 Surprising Rules They Had to Follow While Filming the Show
Friends has been off the air since 2004. Still, fans can’t help but talk about the iconic sit-com. If you’re a Friends fan, you probably know every episode backwards and forwards. But there are some behind-the-scenes tidbits yuo might not know about the show, like the rules the cast of Friends had to follow while they were filming.
The ‘Friends’ cast had to do scenes even if they didn’t like their lines
The cast of Friends was tasked with performing scenes as they were written. If the cast didn’t like a line or scene, they were obligated to do it anyway. This includes the title sequence for the show.
According to Jennifer Aniston, no one in the cast is “a big fan” of “I’ll Be There For You” by The Rembrandts. “I don’t mean to say that, but we felt it was a little, I don’t know — dancin’ in a pond, or like, a fountain felt a little odd,” she told BBC’s The One Show (via Self).
Other plot lines the cast hated include Rachel and Joey’s (Matt LeBlanc) love story. The only time a Friends cast member got away with not doing something showrunners wanted was when Lisa Kudrow didn’t study guitar — she wanted Phoebe to play the bongos instead.
Cursing wasn’t allowed on the set of ‘Friends’
The only time the cast of Friends came close to cursing was when Pheobe lost a game of Ms. Pacman. Classical music blares loudly, drowning out any curses she might be uttering. But as Kudrow revealed in a Reddit AMA, she wasn’t allowed to pretend to curse for that scene.
“I don’t know if I was allowed to actually swear,” Kudrow writes. “We pre-shot that part, and I think I remember Kevin Bright, our executive producer, laughing and saying, ‘I know, but no one should even be able to read it on your lips.’ I think I remember it happening.”
The cast of ‘Friends’ had to adjust to rule changes constantly
Throughout the show’s 10 season run, the network rules about what could and couldn’t be shown on TV were constantly changing. That meant the cast had to be willing to adapt to those changes.
“For a long time, we couldn’t show a condom wrapper,” Friends writer Marta Kauffman said. “For the first three years, we could say ‘penis.’ Then we couldn’t say ‘penis.’ Then we could say ‘penis’ again,” producer David Crane tells Entertainment Weekly.
The cast of ‘Friends’ had to take a trip to Las Vegas before filming the pilot
The bond the characters share in Friends is undeniable. That’s because the cast worked hard to form that friendship!
Knowing the show would be a hit, producers sent the cast of friends on a trip to Las Vegas before shooting the pilot episode. Courteney Cox, Aniston, Kudrow, LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer enjoyed anonymity for a bit longer before becoming known as the cast of Friends.
The ‘Friends’ cast’s appearance couldn’t change while they worked on the show
’90s fashion runs throughout every episode of Friends. But behind the scenes, some of the cast wasn’t too happy with their character’s looks.
“I was not a fan of the ‘Rachel,'” Aniston told Glamour. “That was kind of cringe-y for me.” But, as a rule, the cast had to stick to their character’s style, including their haircuts, for the sake of continuity.
‘Friends’ spoilers and special guests had to be kept under wraps
Like any popular show, the cast of Friends had to keep cliffhanger endings a secret. Any episodes that had a cliffhanger were not filmed in front of a live audience, and when Friends had a special guest join them for episodes, their identity was kept a secret, too.
“They would keep me hidden,” Maggie Wheeler, who played Janice, tells Digital Spy. “I could barely come down to get a doughnut. I had to stay in my dressing room until the last moment. They’d secretly move me from behind the set to the right spot and keep a black screen so the audience couldn’t see me until I made my entrance.”
Fortunately, the Friends cast didn’t have to contest with social media while filming. Avoiding spilling about the show was easier in the late ’90s and early 2000s!
