LOS ANGELES — Actress 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 to 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’re 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 installment of Mike White's satire anthology,
reports 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, 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’ve hung out with him at a party.
"He’s social. And Brad’s Status was my favorite 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."
