Here's Why Bruce Willis Had Reservations About Kissing Jennifer Aniston in his 'Friends' Cameo
Fans and 'Friends' regulars alike were thrilled by Bruce Willis' surprise appearance. Bruce spent a good chunk of his time on set filming sequences with Jennifer Aniston. Paul and Rachel embarked on a number of dates, but their relationship ultimately fizzles out once Paul started to show his feelings. It was terrific television and demonstrated Bruce Willis' versatility as an actor.
The actor in 'Die Hard' played the character of Paul Stevens, Ross' girlfriend's father, in the sixth season. His appearance added a new dimension to the program. The fantastic reception to his appearance on 'Friends' was tarnished, however, by speculations regarding one of the show's main actors. Willis only appeared in three episodes, but he was also required to kiss Jennifer Aniston in a scene.
In the show, Rachel and Paul end up dating, however, Willis was afraid to kiss Aniston, report The Things. It's fortunate that Aniston didn't take offense to Willis' explanations, which had nothing to do with who she is as a person. Instead, one of her closest relationships at the time may have played a glaring role in his reluctance.
After being asked by Rolling Stone in 2000 whether he had ever kissed Jennifer Aniston, Willis made it clear that they had never truly made lip contact. "It's the illusion of a kiss, I actually didn't kiss her. I kissed her on the cheek. I would've liked to, but, you know, Brad [Pitt is] a friend of mine. And Jennifer's his wife."
Working together on the 1995 film '12 Monkeys' brought Pitt and Willis closer. Willis's decision to turn down the chance is reasonable, given their close relationship. He then immediately added, "It just didn't seem appropriate, But she's a babe."
Bruce Willis handled his guest appearance on Friends with grace and dignity, but acting in front of a live television audience is never easy. The vibe was more akin to a theater production than a movie set, according to others. According to what Aniston said, this shook up a few of the guest stars. "By the way, every actor who was a film actor who came onto our show, they were terrified. It was like, ‘Who are these people laughing at what I’m saying," in an interview with Variety, Aniston revealed to Sebastian Stan.
Even the famous Tom Selleck, who portrayed Dr. Richard Burke in many episodes, claimed he was 'scared to death' by the show's tone. Tom Selleck, who previously had comedy experience, said on The Kelly Clarkson Show how daunting it was to join an established group like Friends. He said, "I was scared to death. I had done Taxi a long time before, but I hadn't done a sitcom. And so, I was really nervous. Courtney helped a lot. Courtney's a big help. But that group's an incredible group of friends. They obviously became friends in life as well as on the show. And it shows. It was a wonderful place to work."
Matt LeBlanc, on the other hand, shared Aniston's opinion. The actor also said that guest stars usually weren't all that great, but the show's great script made up for it. "Still, on Friends, we had some guest-stars who were less than spectacular, not the stunt-casting, but just regular guest-stars, and they weren't particularly great actors, but the material was so good that they scored. It's the writing," LeBlanc revealed during an interview with Glamour.
References:
https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/bruce-willis-171842/
https://www.glamour.com/story/matt-leblanc-talks-candidly-al
