Lisa Kudrow, who played the role of Phoebe Buffay, found the iconic American television sitcom ‘Friends’ to be ‘a lot of work’ because her character was so different from who she is in real life.
The sitcom ran from 1994 to 2004. However, the role didn’t come easy to her because she and her character were such different people. She said she was determined to be a ‘good student’.
Speaking to actress Parker Posey at the Variety’s ‘Actors on Actors’ series, Lisa said, “It became fun. It was fun the whole time because the cast had fun. Phoebe was so far from who I was as a human being, it was work - I needed to justify everything she was saying in my head so that it felt like she meant it and it was real to her. It was a lot of work. I remember Season 2 or 3. I went, ‘Oh my God, I’m not doing the work’. And Matt LeBlanc went, ‘What’s the matter with you? You are her. You don’t have to’. The worst thing was wanting to be a good student. That’s what hurt me the most.”
Parker was most recently seen playing wealthy matriarch Victoria Ratliff in the latest season of ‘The White Lotus’ and she asked Lisa to pitch for a role in the next instalment of Mike White’s satire anthology, reported ‘femalefirst.co.uk’.
She said, “Oh, Lisa, you should be in Season 4. If there’s a big enough ‘TikTok’ campaign, then it’ll happen.” Lisa quipped: “Because that’s how it works. No, it doesn’t.” Parker agreed: “It doesn’t. Because who knows what Mike White is writing or where these stories are going to go?”
Lisa would like to work with Mike, but she said she has reservations about taking on projects that are ‘too dark’. She said: “Work with Mike White? Yes. I love Mike White. I hung out with him at a party. He’s social. And ‘Brad’s Status’ was my favourite movie that year. I emailed him to let him know because I had to - it was so good, I had to. I don’t do that a lot. I might not be his cup of tea, which is allowed to happen too.”
“But I do get nervous about inhabiting things that are too dark - I try to avoid that. But you didn’t really have to, except for the scenes where your head’s blown off. But it’s pretend,” she added.