‘Rachel was the hardest to cast’: Friends Star Jennifer Aniston Was The Second Choice for Rachel Green, Studio Originally Pitched Role to This 90s TV Queen
The American sitcom series, Friends is a timeless gem that became popular globally with the actors, Jennifer Aniston as Rachel Green, Courtney Cox as Monica Geller, Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay, Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani, Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing, and David Schwimmer as Ross Geller gained global popularity. Each of them had its different characteristics however there is this lady who stood out from the group and became a leading actress.
American sitcom series, Friends
The ensemble cast which was unknown at the time started gaining major fan followings from around the world with the characters being remembered to this day. Aniston rose to fame internationally because of this series, however, she was not the first choice to play the role of Rachel Green.
Jami Gertz Was Originally Offered To Play The Role of Rachel Green in Friends
The former President of NBC Entertainment, Warren Littlefield in his memoir, Top of the Rock: The Rise and Fall of Must See TV had documented interviews of some of the cast and producers of the popular series, Friends.
In the memoir, he stated the turn of events when show creators were known that the character had already been offered to another actor. Friends creator and executive producer David Crane recalled that the character was offered to Jami Gertz.
“An exec at NBC called to say she’d offered the part of Rachel to Jami Gertz.”
Crane added,
“We didn’t have a Rachel, and Jami Gertz is a really talented actress, but not Rachel. So we held our breath for 24 hours until she passed.”
Even though Gertz was a great actress, the NBC execs and show producers were keen on taking Aniston into the series who did a great job during the audition of the character.
Jennifer Aniston Aced The Role of Rachel Green
In his memoir, he shared his interview with Friends’ writer-producer Marta Kauffman who shared how actress, Jennifer Aniston was not available to play the role of Rachel Green. She commented,
“Rachel was the part that was hardest to cast.”
Kauffman shared with the author adding,
“Jennifer came in, and she was in a show that was on the air – Muddling Through.“
Even though she was not available, NBC Head of Casting Lori Openden opened up that the actress was the perfect one for the role.
“We auditioned other actors for Jennifer’s part, but nobody else was good enough.”
With her skills, Aniston greatly excelled in the role of Ms. Green, who transformed herself from a spoiled, inexperienced “daddy’s girl” into a successful business personality in the series.
Friends is available on HBO Max and Netflix.
Source: Cheatsheet
