Friends: The Reunion
Short description
Friends: The Reunion brings the six leads of the sitcom Friends back together on Stage 24 at the Warner Bros. studios in Burbank, the same set where the series was made. Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer appear as themselves rather than as Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Joey, Chandler and Ross, so the special is a gathering of the actors instead of a new episode continuing the characters' lives. They look back on how the show was cast and filmed, share memories of their time on it, and are joined by guests connected to the series.
Ben Winston directed the special, which was produced by Warner Horizon Unscripted Television, Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions and Fulwell 73, with James Corden, Paul Monaghan and Guy Harding among the producers. It arrived in May 2021, seventeen years after the sitcom ended, and runs 104 minutes. Winston had directed the special after earlier work in British and American television.
The response has been broadly positive. On IMDb it holds 8 out of 10 from around 68,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.8 out of 10 from roughly 1,400 votes. A critics' rating of 6.3 out of 10 from 58 reviews is lower than both audience scores, suggesting that viewers responded to the reunion more warmly than reviewers did.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film's release was initially planned for late May 2019, but it had to be postponed to a later date due to the coronavirus pandemic.
- According to Jennifer Aniston, the reunion was emotionally challenging. She couldn't stop crying, which meant the cameras had to be turned off and filming interrupted. Everyone else experienced similar emotions, even Matt LeBlanc, whom Aniston herself considered a 'cool guy'.
- Matthew Perry visited the dentist shortly before filming began, which noticeably affected his appearance, as many viewers noted. The film was Matthew Perry's last project before his death in October 2023. A title card reading 'In Memory of Matthew Perry' appears at the beginning and end of the film.
- Filming took place in Burbank, where 'Friends' was filmed from the 2nd season onwards, at Warner Bros. Studio, in Stage 24, known as 'the stage where Friends was filmed'.
- According to journalists, each of the six actors was paid between $2.5 million and $3 million for filming.
Similar movies
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
