David Schwimmer Recalls How It Felt Turning Down Huge Film Opportunity: ‘Brutal’

David Schwimmer appeared on a recent episode of Sony Music Entertainment’s Origins with Cush Jumbo podcast, where he discussed his career and some trade-offs he had to make in the process. Aside from Friends, David starred in other career-defining productions like The Wonder Years, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Big Nothing.

He recalled prioritizing his directorial debut in Since You’ve Been Gone over a role in Men In Black, which featured Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. According to David, who played Ross Geller in Friends, his career would have played out differently if he had taken the offer.

Did David Schwimmer regret turning down ‘Men In Black’?

While the offer for Men In Black was on his table, David had just filmed The Pallbearer with Gwyneth Paltrow and was preparing to close the deal for his first self-directed movie. He eventually agreed to make three movies with Miramax, with him directing the first.

Contrary to speculations, his Friends schedule was not the reason for his absence on Men In Black. David’s friends had sacrificed a lot— including their jobs, to join him on his first movie as director, and he was not going to disappoint them.

David believed Men In Black would have given him another big break as a movie star, seeing the franchise’s success. However, he would have lost amazing friendships and his theater company in the process. He has no regrets about turning down the 1997 movie, as his trade-off gave his career a learning curve.

He went on to direct more movies like Nevermind Nirvana, New Car Smell, Run Fat Boy Run and even directed ten episodes of Friends. After half a decade mostly directing, he returned to TV as a guest star on the British comedy series Come Fly With Me, alongside Matt Lucas and David Walliams.