Friends star David Schwimmer has talked about how he couldn’t bring himself to listen to the show’s theme tune after years of global fame that he found uncomfortable.
The actor played Ross Geller throughout the show’s ten-year run, being nominated for an Emmy and becoming a household name around the world. Despite the success, he has often discussed his discomfort at the level of notoriety the role brought him.
On the latest episode of the Making A Scene podcast, he said: “I’ll be really honest, there was a time for quite a while that just hearing the theme song would really … uggh”. ‘I’ll Be There For You’ by The Rembrandts was written specifically for the sitcom after use of the producers’ first choice, ‘Shiny Happy People’ by R.E.M., was turned down by the band.
“You know what I mean?” he continued. “I just had that reaction. I just had heard it so many times. Any time you’d go on a show or a talkshow or an interview, that would be your intro song. So I just didn’t have the greatest response to it”.
He then went on to discuss how being on the show affected him. “It took me a long time to get adjusted to that kind of fame. You had three cars following you everywhere you went, staked outside your house. You had absolutely no privacy ever”.
Happily, a family connection meant that he started to look back on his achievements more favourably. “I never watched the show after we finished it. For me, it’s like: ‘I did it. I’m moving on’” he said. “Then my kid discovered it around age nine or something, and started watching it. And I’d be making breakfast or whatever, and I’d hear my kid’s laughter. My whole relationship to that song and to the show changed again”.
Recently, Friends came under scrutiny after it was revealed that an actor experienced a racist incident on set.
English (US) · 