David Schwimmer Reflects on Turning Down Men in Black Lead Role: ‘That Would Have Made Me a Movie Star’

Imagine a world where Friends star David Schwimmer, not Will Smith, was saving the world from alien invaders in Men in Black. Schwimmer recently looked back on what could have been a major turning point in his career, revealing that he was originally offered the lead role in the 1997 blockbuster but turned it down for personal reasons. During an appearance on Cush Jumbo’s Origins podcast, Jumbo asked Schwimmer about passing up the role. “It would have been a big decision because the filming schedule would have been completely different to do a film and do Friends,” Jumbo noted.

Schwimmer confirmed the story, explaining that while the conflicting schedules with Friends may have seemed like a reason to turn it down, that wasn’t the real issue. “Oh yeah, [but] that’s not why I turned it down,” Schwimmer said. Instead, it came down to a commitment he had already made to direct his first film, featuring the Chicago-based Lookingglass Theater Company, which he co-founded. After shooting The Pallbearer with Gwyneth Paltrow, Schwimmer locked in a three-picture deal with Miramax on the condition that he could direct his first movie, starring his entire theater company. “We started pre-production… hired the whole crew, everything’s going, and that’s when I was offered Men in Black,” Schwimmer recounted.

Faced with the decision between honoring his commitment to his theater company or taking the lead in what would become a box office juggernaut, Schwimmer chose loyalty. “My summer window from Friends was four months… and Men in Black was going to shoot exactly when I was going to direct this film with my company,” he explained. It was a “brutal decision.” Schwimmer acknowledged that turning down Men in Black likely changed the trajectory of his career. “I’m really aware — whatever, 20 years later,” Schwimmer said, that 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.”

The sci-fi comedy became a massive hit, catapulting Will Smith’s movie career to new heights and securing its place as one of the most successful franchises in film history. Reflecting on the decision, Schwimmer admitted, “I don’t know if I made the right choice,” though he added that it likely preserved his relationships with the friends and collaborators at Lookingglass. Schwimmer didn’t disappear from the big screen after turning down Men in Black, appearing in films such as Six Days, Seven Nights and Apt Pupil, and directing Since You’ve Been Gone, which featured several Lookingglass actors. Still, his choice cemented his path as a television star, most notably through his iconic role as Ross Geller on Friends. Despite wondering “what if,” Schwimmer continues to enjoy a successful acting career, with recent roles in projects like Darren Aronofsky‘s dramedy Little Death, proving that while he may not have donned the Men in Black suit, his career is still going strong. https://galborow.com/product/los-angeles-dodgers-real-women-love-baseball-smart-women-love-the-dodgers-t-shirt/