Back in the ‘90s and early aughts, Friends featured a lot of A+ guest stars. Some of them had direct ties to the main cast — including Brad Pitt, who was married to Jennifer Aniston when he appeared on a Friends Thanksgiving episode and Courteney Cox’s then-husband David Arquette — while other celebrities’ guest spots were more of a question mark. I’d always wondered how Gary Oldman ended up on the show, and someone finally asked him.
It was Friends Season 7, “The One With Monica and Chandler’s Wedding,” when Gary Oldman appeared as Richard Crosby, an actor co-starring with Matt LeBlanc’s Joey Tribbiani in a World War I movie. It turns out it was LeBlanc who helped Oldman secure the role after the two became pals filming Lost in Space in 1998. Oldman said during a TIFF panel (via EW):
How did I end up in Friends? Matt LeBlanc! We became buddies, and the [role of Crosby, an actor] came up. He said, ‘Would you like to do it?’
Gary Oldman was, unsurprisingly, amazing as the veteran actor. In Part 1 of the Season 7 finale, Joey struggles to act opposite Crosby because of his tendency to spit when he's delivering lines. Then in “The One With Monica and Chandler’s Wedding: Part 2,” Crosby shows up to set extremely drunk, causing Joey to be late for the titular wedding.
The role won Gary Oldman an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series, and it sounds like he really enjoyed the process of filming a sitcom (much more than his hectic Batman Begins schedule at least!). He told the crowd:
You come in on a Monday, do the read-through. Then, they rewrite. They send you rewrites on Wednesdays. I can’t remember if we came in on Thursday. On Friday, we blocked it. On Friday afternoon, you shoot it in front of an audience. You’re done by five. I thought, ‘I could get used to this!’
Not everyone had a great experience on the set of Friends, and Jennifer Aniston has said many actors were “terrified” to guest-star on the sitcom. Gary Oldman, however, seemed to enjoy every minute of it, especially watching the well-oiled machine at work:
I tell you, what was wonderful was observing them going through the technical rehearsal. Watching those actors, it was like breathing for a little bit. It’s as easy as breathing. It was a wonderful experience of watching the rehearsal and behind the scenes of that show.
I love hearing these behind-the-scenes accounts from former Friends guest stars, because you’d never imagine stories like Isabella Rossellini not thinking she was famous enough to cameo as herself or Alison Sweeney being intimidated when she appeared as a fictional soap opera star.
If you want to relive Gary Oldman’s Friends episodes or any others, all 10 seasons can be streamed with an HBO Max subscription.
