Matthew Perry says Salma Hayek gave him elaborate acting advice that didn't make any sense
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Another day, another star-studded anecdote from Matthew Perry's new book.
In his forthcoming memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, the Friends alum recounts his experience making his first big movie, 1997's Fools Rush In. Directed by Andy Tennant, the rom-com stars Perry and Salma Hayek as a couple who marry after a one-night stand leads to an accidental pregnancy.
In his book, Perry recounts how he came up with "some fun strategies to tap into real feelings and to be more of a leading man than a funny sitcom actor" for the film. As Perry tells it, his leading lady had some ideas of her own, but they weren't exactly his cup of tea.
"Salma had tried her best, too — she came into my trailer at the start of the shoot and said, 'Let's just spoon a little bit,'" Perry writes. "I did my best Chandler impression — the double-take-and-sardonic- stare thing — and said, 'Oh, OK ! Let's just spoon a little bit!'"
Matthew Eisman/Getty; Samir Hussein/WireImage Matthew Perry and Salma Hayek
Perry goes on to say that Hayek always had a "very elaborate and lengthy idea" about how to tackle the scene at hand, but "her long-winded ideas weren't always helpful." He writes, "There's one scene in which I'm professing my love for her. She suggested that we don't look at each other — rather, we should look out at our future together. After listening to this nonsense for about twenty minutes, I finally said: 'Listen, Salma,' I said, 'I'm telling you I love you in this scene. You look wherever you want, but I'm going to be looking at you.'"
Interesting advice aside, Perry has positive memories of the film, calling it "probably my best movie." He praises Tennant as "a very smart and incredibly nice guy" and says he took a lot away from the experience.
"I was bouncing around doing my funny little things, and [Tennant] would take me aside and say, 'You don't have to do that. You're interesting enough to watch without doing that,'" Perry recalls, admitting, "That line of thinking allowed him to pull out of me one of the best performances of my career. Could this be a different way of saying Matty, you're enough, the words I've been longing to hear my entire life?"
Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing hits bookshelves Nov. 1.
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