David Schwimmer doesn’t quite regret turning down the blockbuster franchise “ Men in Black ,” but he knows that his career would look very different today if he did star in the 1997 film . The “Friends” alum said during Sony Music Entertainment’s podcast “Origins with Cush Jumbo” that he opted to direct his first feature instead of joining “Men in Black.” When asked if the film conflicted with his “Friends” production schedule, Schwimmer said, “That’s not why I turned it down.
” He continued, “[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.
So after months of negotiations, they finally said that I would act in three more movies for them but I got to direct my entire theatre company in the first film. All these unknown actors but I was going to put them on the map, basically. I was going to let everyone discover the talent of this amazing company.
” That project, however, is what overlapped with “Men in Black.” And Schwimmer had to make a tough, career-defining decision. “We found this amazing script and we were developing it.
We started pre-production. All my best friends in the world in my theatre co.