Mr. Showbiz Interview
Mr. Showbiz: You've established yourself as a big TV star, but Fools Rush In is your first leading role on the big screen. That transition has been difficult --impossible, even-- for many television performers to make. Are you feeling any pressure?
Matthew Perry: The predominant pressure I felt was to be good in the movie, and that's all I focused on. I hope it's a good movie and that I am good in it. The other stuff is out of my control. I would go crazy if I started obsessing about that. I saw Fools Rush In and I really liked it. I don't know how people do all these publicity rounds if they don't like the finished product. It would just be four days of lying.
Mr. Showbiz: You've undoubtedly had a lot of movie roles offered to you over the past couple of years. How did you decide on this one?
Matthew Perry: My favorite genre currently is a romantic comedy that has something bizarre in the middle of it. I love the movie Splash. That's what Tom Hanks did coming off Bosom Buddies, and that's not a bad blueprint of a career to aspire for. I wanted to pick something that wasn't too far away from what I was doing on Friends because I want people who like what I do on that show to like the movie. Yet I also wanted to be afforded the opportunity to have some serious romantic scenes. Because the script for Fools Rush In was so good and I got so invested in it while reading it, it seemed to afford me all those opportunities.
Mr. Showbiz: Fools Rush In is loosely based on the true-life story of the film's producer and co-producer. How did you feel about performing scenes from someone's life with the real person sitting right there?
Matthew Perry: That was extremely helpful, because I lot of bizarre stuff happens in this movie. A lot of strange things are put in my character's path, and you wonder sometimes how somebody would react. And the guy it had all really happened to is standing right over there. But because he's the producer, of course, he was mostly on the telephone. But when he got off the phone, I could ask him how he reacted to a certain situation, and then go play it.
Mr. Showbiz: You're the last of the Friends stars to take a shot at movie stardom. Has it been frustrating to watch the others come back to the TV set after appearing in movies that haven't done well?
Matthew Perry: I think people are in search of a hook or an angle when they say that members don't do well. Courteney Cox's movie (Scream) has done seventy million dollars. Nobody talks about that. I saw The Pallbearer. I thought it was a really good movie. David Schwimmer did his job. If it wasn't successful, that's not his fault. I though Matt LeBlanc did a good job in Ed. I thought it was a high-concept movie that didn't necessarily work. You have to understand that six months before these things started, we were all auditioning for small parts in movies and not getting them. And then all of a sudden we were getting offered all these movies. It's a very strange time. You have to try to pick a movie out of those offered to you that you think is going to be successful. I feel that I was really lucky with Fools Rush In.
Mr. Showbiz: In the film, your character gets his first real exposure to the Mexican culture. Have you had any personal experience with Mexican families yourself?
Matthew Perry: No, I haven't really. My first experience with a Mexican-American was with Selma, so my hope, basically, is that everybody looks like that.
Mr. Showbiz: Your real-life father (John Bennett Perry) plays your dad in Fools Rush In. How was it performing with him?
Matthew Perry: It was fantastic for two reasons. First, just as a kid, it was so cool to have your dad around. It was surreal. It's like, "What's your call time, Dad? You want to go over lines together?" That was kind of a dream come true. And as a lead in a movie, I was so happy to be surrounded by such a talented group of supporting players, him being one of them. He is so funny in this movie, and in a very un-fatherlike way, steals every scene he's in. He has been an actor for years.