Former Friends guest star Freddie Prinze Jr has revealed he wasn’t actually the first choice to play male nanny Sandy in his famous episode.
Back in 2002, the actor had the distinction of guest starring in the 200th episode of the sitcom, which saw him playing the nanny of Ross and Rachel’s daughter Emma (much to the annoyance of Ross).
However, in a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Freddie admitted the role wasn’t actually written with him in mind, as two-time Oscar-winner Tom Hanks was offered the part first.
“I wasn’t even supposed to be [Sandy], that was originally offered to Tom Hanks but he wasn’t gonna make it back from his film on time,” he recalled.
Following this he was offered the role at the very last minute, adding: “My agent called me and said, ‘Do you want to be on Friends?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll do an episode of Friends. That’ll be great.’ He said, ‘Yeah, it shoots tomorrow’ and I was like, ‘What?’ He said, ‘Yes, tomorrow so I’ll send you the script’.”
Freddie went on to say he had a great time on set, adding: “I went in and I was totally nervous because it was on the day of shooting. I didn’t even get to do a read-through. And David Schwimmer walked into my dressing room and he was so cool and so passionate and he had so much energy.
“He came into the room and was like, ‘You’re going to love this, man. It’s like a little two-act play and the crowd is so engaged, and so into it. You’ll have a ton of fun, don’t worry about a thing’.”
Freddie’s experience differs somewhat from other actors who guest starred in the hit sitcom, including Kathleen Turner, who admitted last year she wasn’t exactly made to feel welcome during her two-episode stint as Chandler’s dad.
