Friends star David Schwimmer – who played Ross Geller on the NBC sitcom – has told David Walliams and Matt Lucas that his outlook on the show changed several years ago
David Schwimmer discusses relationship with Friends changing
Actor David Schwimmer has revealed that his relationship with Friends and its theme song “changed” when his nine-year-old child began watching the show. He’s said that he “didn’t have the greatest response” to the song prior to that.
David, 58, played Ross Geller on the NBC sitcom, which ran for ten seasons from 1994 to 2004. He starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and the late Matthew Perry on the beloved show. The Emmy nominee spoke about his “relationship” with Friends whilst a guest on the latest episode of the Making A Scene podcast.
Friends star David told podcast hosts David Walliams and Matt Lucas that he “never” watched the show after it ended two decades ago. He also revealed that he didn’t have “the greatest response” to the Rembrandts’ I’ll Be There For You, which was the theme song, for a period.
He said on the episode of the podcast, released yesterday: “I never watched the show after we finished it. […] For me, it’s like ‘I did it, I’m moving on’. I don’t like really go back.”
David continued in the discussion: “I’ll be really honest, there was a time for quite a while that just hearing the theme song would really … uhhh. You know what I mean? I just had that reaction. I mean, I just had heard it so many times.”
He further explained: “And any time you’d go on a show or a talk show or an interview, they’d always … that would be your intro song. So y’know I just didn’t have the greatest response to it for a period of time.”
David – who said that being a parent is “greatest joy” of his life – went on to share that his child Cleo, 13, whom he shares with his ex-wife Zoë Buckman, 39, helped change his mindset. He said Cleo discovered Friends several years ago..
He said: “Then, at about, as I say, aged nine, my kid discovered it and started watching it. And I’d be making breakfast or whatever and I’d hear my kid’s laughter. My whole relationship to that song and to the show changed again.”
Earlier on the podcast, David said that the decade when he was starring on Friends was an “incredible, life-changing chapter.” He however shared that he was “ready” for new opportunities in his career by the time it ended though.
He said: “It was an incredible, life-changing chapter, that ten year chapter, but at the same time, yeah, there was a part of me at least that was ready for the next chapter. It felt like … it was coming to a natural end. Maybe even overstayed its welcome a bit, but we were still having so much fun doing it.”
David further commented: “It was time. I was ready for what’s next.” He went on to reveal that he “really wanted” to direct more and do more theatre. He agreed that Friends coming to an end was “emotional” for himself and the cast though.
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