“Friends” may be long over, but the show’s popularity has ensured that it still enjoys lots of active discussions by its fans. And with that in mind, it’s not so surprising that actors and other people once involved with the production are usually eager to share interesting bits about their work on the set, such as Jennifer Aniston who recently revealed something quite curious about her role in the TV show.
According to her, when she was offered the role in “Friends”, she was already in the process of filming another show, and while she was going through the auditions for “Friends”, she would frequently run into acquaintances who were also trying for the same role. Some even let her know that they were auditioning for her own role in the TV show, as Aniston revealed at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in a speech.
Interestingly enough, her work on “Friends” basically hinged on whether or not she would find success with her other show. Had she been luckier with it, she would have given up on her part in “Friends”, meaning that Rachel would have had to be recast. She was stuck in a limbo for a few weeks, waiting to see which show would take off, and that was a critical period in her career, as she was trying very hard to make the right decision and stick with the production that will actually give her the success she was looking for.
For her curious fans, the other show in which she was involved at that time was called “Muddling Through”, but it didn’t last very long – its production ended after only three months, as the show didn’t see much success with its audience.
At the same time, Jennifer Aniston almost lost her role on “Friends” as the producers were more interested in Courtney Cox at one point, even though she actually wanted to play Monica. Meanwhile, Aniston was aiming for the role of Rachel, and in the end it was a very lucky coincidence that everything worked out so smoothly. Fans have already been pointing out how much more different the show would have been if the producers had gone with their other casting choices, and many have even been questioning whether “Friends” would see the success it eventually saw if it had a different character configuration.
In the end, the show was well-written and produced, but its success hinged to a large extent on the performance of its actors, and if they were different, the show could have been less successful as well, perhaps even failing to earn the massive recognition it got.