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David Schwimmer revealed the reason why he turned down Will Smith‘s role in Men In Black back in 1997. While on Cush Jumbo‘s Origins podcast, he was asked if he turned it down because of the Friends production schedule, he said, “That’s not why I turned it down.” Keep reading to find out more… He then 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. 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.” “We found this amazing script and we were developing it. 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,” he said. David‘s directorial debut, Since You’ve Been Gone, ended up airing as a TV movie on ABC in 1998. 1997′s Men in Black became a huge success with Will Smith eventually taking on the role. David reflected, “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.” Find out the richest Friends star.
