How Matthew Perry Got Julia Roberts to Appear on 'Friends'

From Harper's BAZAAR

Julia Roberts set Matthew Perry quite the challenge before agreeing to cameo in a special episode of Friends back in 1996, according to the co-creators of the classic sitcom.

The Hollywood star appeared in the show's double-length special "The One After the Superbowl" as a former classmate of Perry's Chandler Bing, but only after making the actor write her a paper on quantum physics first. Could she be anymore demanding?

While marking the episode's 25th anniversary, the show's executive producer Kevin Bright told The Hollywood Reporter, "Do you know the story of how we got [Julia Roberts]? Matthew [Perry] asked her to be on the show. She wrote back to him, 'Write me a paper on quantum physics and I'll do it.' My understanding is that Matthew went away and wrote a paper and faxed it to her the next day."

"Getting Julia Roberts was incredibly exciting," co-creator Marta Kauffman added. "We knew she would have the right touch for it. And when she said yes, it was pretty awesome."

The special episode also featured guest stars Brooke Shields, Chris Isaak, and Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Meanwhile, the cast of Friends is due to reunite in an unscripted reunion special, which is set to debut on HBO Max later this year.

Jennifer Aniston staged a mini Friends reunion last September for the Emmys. After completing her Emmys presenting duties, the actress invited Courteney Cox and Lisa Kudrow over to her home.

In the Friends reunion special, the cast will reunite, revisit the set, and share behind-the-scenes footage, but they won't be reprising their original characters. They'll be appearing as themselves. HBO Max recently confirmed in a statement, "Lastly, in order to avoid any misunderstanding about what this special is, we want to make it very clear that this is not a new, original episode of the series. The cast will be appearing as themselves, not as their beloved characters."

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