Matthew Perry: Life After Chandler

Matthew Perry is a guy poised to reinvent himself....

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STEPHEN REBELLO: How did you feel once they yelled "Cut!" on the final Friends episode?

MATTHEW PERRY: Like I was just about to cry for six hours. It was a mixed bag of emotions, going from utter sadness to a little bit of relief. In terms of story, it was the right time to end. In terms of the people I worked with, I'd sign up for another 10 years just to have that experience again. I felt driven by the sense that a page was turning, but it's sad it's come to an end.

Q: Matt LeBlanc will star in a Joey spin-off. Why no Chandler spin-off?

A: I had voiced rather loudly to everyone that, having been in one of the best TV shows ever, why go do another one? And Matty is, in my opinion, the really top-notch guy right now--not only the most improved player but, more annoyingly, even better than some of the rest of us. [Laughs] It was like, "What happened? Why are you being funnier than me?"

Q: Have you had any fears about the show ending?

A: There's always a certain amount of fear that creeps in, like the actor's mantra, "I'll never work again." Although a big part of me said, "This show ends on January 23--get me on some set somewhere on January 25." I have smart business people around that said, "No, don't show up in something stupid," which is great because I get these Love Boat movies offered all the time.

Q: Love Boat movies?

A: Boy meets girl, they have some kind of problem that, in the end, they work out, kiss, say "I love you" and the camera pans across the whole city.

Q: Your journey's led you back to Bruce Willis and Amanda Peet in the sequel The Whole Ten Yards.

A: This one is more of a road picture than the first one, and the bulk of it is Bruce, Amanda and me. Bruce and I have chemistry on screen, which came right back. Amanda and I have a sick chemistry that actually carries more into life as well. There's some world where Amanda and I should be married, but it just hasn't happened yet.

Q: Have you had any real-life brushes with the Mafia?

A: [Laughs] I've done a little bit of sports betting in my life, but I've been aware that when you lose, pay up because they're going to break your legs. I've never really had any close contact with that stuff, though.

Q: Your Emmy-nominated performance on The West Wing suggests that playing Chandler so long may have aced you out of more different roles.

A: There are two sides to being pigeonholed. There's "Oh, no, I'm going to be Chandler for the rest of my life," but there's also the fact that getting to play Chandler opened up doors to me. It's now my job to find things that shake it up a little bit. I went in and read for the Keanu Reeves part in Something's Gotta Give and in a very kind, nice way, the writer-director said I was the guy from Friends and too many people would know me from that. I did David Mamet's Sexual Perversity in Chicago in the West End and, though the reviews were mixed, there wasn't a seat to be had for the whole run.

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