David Schwimmer Says Rejecting MEN IN BLACK Was "Brutal" as It Would Have Made Him a Movie Star, but He Decided to Direct Instead

When you think of Men in Black, you think of Will Smith, but that almost went a very different way. At the time the movie was made, one of the most popular TV series on air was Friends, which was a few seasons in. The stars of the show were seeing their own movie careers take off, and David Schwimmer was offered the role of Jay, which ultimately went to Smith.

Schwimmer was at a fork in the road of his career, and he explained his decision to pass on the role during a recent interview on the “Origins with Cush Jumbo” podcast. He explained:

“[It] was a brutal decision. I had just finished filming The Pallbearer, my first film with Gwyneth Paltrow, and there were high expectations of that which didn’t come true. It was kind of a bomb but there were high expectations and the studio, which was Miramax, wanted to lock me into a three-picture deal at a fixed price and I said I would do that if I got to direct my first movie.”

Miramax finally gave him the chance to direct a movie and he found the script for Since You’ve Been Gone, a comedy about a group of adults reuniting at their 10th anniversary class reunion.

“We started pre-production. All my best friends in the world in my theatre company quit their jobs so they could be in this film over the summer, which was going to be a six-week shoot in Chicago. We’re in pre-production, hired the whole crew, everything’s going and that’s when I was offered ‘Men in Black.’ It was a direct conflict with this. My summer window from ‘Friends’ was four months. I had a four-month hiatus and ‘Men in Black’ was going to shoot exactly when I was going to direct this film with my company. And of course, it was an amazing opportunity. […] However, my theatre company and that relationship with all those people would probably have ended.”

Schwimmer’s directorial debut was supposed to be a theatrical release but premiered instead as a made-for-tv movie on ABC in 1998. Men in Black went on to cast Smith in the role initially offered to Schwimmer. Smith was coming off the blockbuster Independence Day at the time, and the success of Men in Black turned him into one of the world’s biggest stars. Schwimmer added:

“You have to follow your gut. You have to follow your heart. Look, I’m really aware, whatever 20 years later maybe more, [‘Men in Black’] would have made me a movie star. If you look at the success of that film and that franchise, my career would have taken a very different trajectory.”

Things just seem to work out the way they’re supposed to. Smith brought something really funny and special to that role, and though Schwimmer didn’t get launched on that same trajectory, he can still say he starred on one of the biggest and most beloved TV series of all time. Plus he went on to star in several other roles, and he has many other director credits under his belt.

via: Variety