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Paul Rudd’s Character Mike Wasn’t Supposed To End Up With Phoebe On ‘Friends’

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 23:59 PST, Sep 20, 2016

Paul Rudd has once again proved that he is a charming man, according to The Independent. So charming, in fact, that he can even change a plot of one of the most popular TV shows of all time.

As it turns out, Paul Rudd’s charm and his magical influence on the audiences changed the entire course of Friends, the popular NBC show that ended its run in May, 2004. Phoebe, played by Lisa Kudrow, was never actually meant to be with Mike, portrayed by Rudd, at the end of the comedy show.

But Paul Rudd made such an impression on the show’s creators that they decided to alter the ending. Hank Azaria, who played Phoebe’s intended love, David, is the one who revealed the news in his interview with the Huffington Post.

The actor revealed that even though Phoebe and David went their separate ways after the science-loving David departed to Minsk, Belarus, to pursue his career, his character was intended to come back later in the show and rekindle their romance. But Paul Rudd and his charm got in the way.

As Friends creators saw the audience falling for Paul Rudd’s character, Mike, they decided never to rekindle Phoebe’s relationship with David, even though the character did make another return, and adjusted the screenplay so that Phoebe would fall for and marry Mike.

Azaria himself admits that he wasn’t aware that David’s Minsk departure would mean the end of his character, as the original screenplay stated that David would eventually come back and rekindle their romance.

“I think, honestly, what happened was Paul Rudd is so awesome that they sort of found a groove with him and became more of just the grist for that mill. As opposed to the other way around.”

When asked how it felt to have his character replaced by Paul Rudd’s character because he was more “awesome,” Azaria admitted that it “actually did sting a little bit,” adding that part of him wanted to be with Kudrow’s character at the end of Friends.

While admitting that Paul Rudd is an “annoyingly handsome devil,” Azaria says that his character proved that he was more “comedically deserving” of Phoebe’s love on the show.

“He’s a handsome devil. He’s actually annoyingly handsome. He shouldn’t really be allowed to be that handsome. He’s like the Tom Brady of comedy.”

Even though Paul Rudd’s success on Friends led him to be cast as Ant-Man in Marvel movies, Azaria’s acting career is no less successful, as the actor has just earned an Emmy nomination for his role on Ray Donovan.

In other news, could Ben Affleck actually replace Paul Rudd as Ant-Man? That is the kind of question comic book fans are asking themselves after seeing the recently released Hot Toys figure of Ant-Man, according to Hit Fix.

Even though Paul Rudd has appeared as Ant-Man in two Marvel films already, in a standalone film in 2015, and earlier this year in Captain America: Civil War, Hot Toys still managed to mess up the character’s new figure.

In the new Hot Toys figure, Paul Rudd looks exactly like Ben Affleck, who plays Batman. And even though many have previously compared the Ant-Man actor to Affleck, the likeness in this toy figure started a hot topic for discussion.

Even though Hot Toys creates the best figures of movie characters, the likeness is not always 100 percent perfect. And this time, the firm probably switched their drawing sketches with Ben Affleck’s image while developing Paul Rudd’s figure by mistake.

But many fans noted that it was all about the figure’s lack of emotion, as the previously released figure by Hot Toys actually looked like Paul Rudd with a grin.

[Featured Image by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images]

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friends paul rudd Ben Affleck Lisa Kudrow
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