Matthew Perry Said He Wasn’t In Don’t Look Up Because He Had Briefly Died
Matthew Perry's scene was cut from Don't Look Up after his heart stopped and CPR was necessary.
Actor Matthew Perry was supposed to have a brief cameo in Adam McKay’s satirical film Don’t Look Up. McKay and company even filmed the first part of Perry’s scene with Jonah Hill, and the Friends star reportedly was looking forward to it. In a recent report from IndieWire(via Screenrant), Matthew Perry revealed why he was ultimately cut from Adam McKay’s satirical film. He revealed that he struggled with a long battle with addiction and that his health problems resulted in eight broken ribs and while the actor stated he didn’t suffer a heart attack, he did say “nothing had been beating” when he underwent CPR.
Matthew Perry’s health struggles followed him throughout the ’90s. His Friends co-star, Jennifer Aniston, recently spoke about Perry’s admission during the Friends reunion special that he suffered from anxiety while filming the series. In an interview with the Today Show, Aniston admitted she “didn’t understand the level of anxiety and self-torture” that was put on her co-star.
During the Friends reunion special, Matthew Perry said that he’d sometimes feel anxious and “go into convulsions” whenever his castmates wouldn’t laugh at a line he said. The actor admitted he’s struggled with substance abuse throughout his tenure on the series, even saying that his memories between season 3 and season 6 were foggy. Perry entered rehab twice and opened up his sober-living facility called the Perry House.
It definitely must be heartbreaking for an actor’s work to be affected by their personal demons. Similar to Matthew Perry, Ben Affleck dealt with his own alcohol addiction while filming projects in Hollywood. The actor even revealed that his alcohol abuse and other stressors ultimately led him to leave the role of Batman.
While Ben Affleck and Matthew Perry may be different actors, they both share a bit of the same struggles that have halted their careers. In the case of Perry, the actor also had to deal with the financial repercussions of his abuse. Perry admitted he paid close to $9 million during the rehab process. Perry was also put on an ECMO machine which substituted for his heart and lungs.
Thankfully, Matthew Perry has overcome his struggles and appears to be in a much better place today. While the Don’t Look Up cameo didn’t work out the way he probably imagined it, all of that is mute compared to Perry’s health and well-being.
Since starring in Friends, Matthew Perry has appeared mostly on television. He played a role in the CBS legal drama The Good Fight and had a reoccurring role in the political television series The Good Wife. He was also an executive producer on a few projects, including Go On, The Odd Couple, and The Kennedys: After Camelot.
We’ll see where Matthew Perry’s career goes now that he’s in a healthier place. The actor was hoping to star in a big movie like Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up, which was nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Hopefully, Perry will someday team up with McKay on another project somewhere down the line.
