David Schwimmer Turned Down 'Men in Black' Role

A red carpet photo of David Schwimmer; a 'Men in Black' still of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones wearing black suits and pointing futuristic guns — David Schwimmer recalls nearly being cast in 'Men in Black'. Angela Weiss/AFP/Courtesy Everett Collection

David Schwimmer can’t help but wonder how different his life would have been as Agent D.

The Friends alum recalled the “brutal decision” of turning down a role in 1997’s Men in Black, which ultimately starred Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, as he questioned if he “made the right choice” in passing up the franchise.

He explained on the Origins with Cush Jumbo podcast that the opportunity came after his role alongside Gwyneth Paltrow in 1996’s The Pallbearer, which paved the way for his 1998 directorial debut Since You’ve Been Gone, featuring actors from his Lookingglass Theatre Company.

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“There were high expectations of that, which didn’t come true,” he said of The Pallbearer. “It was kind of a bomb. But there were high expectations and the studio, which was Miramax, wanted to lock me into a three-picture deal at a fixed price and I said I would do that if I got to direct my first movie.”

Schwimmer added, “All my best friends in the world in my theater company quit their jobs so they could be in this film over the summer, which was going to be a six-week shoot in Chicago.”

Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones in *Men in Black* (1997).

Although he was offered a part in Men in Black, “it was a direct conflict with — this was my summer window from Friends, I had a four-month hiatus, and Men in Black was going to shoot exactly when I was going to direct this film with my company.”

After the sci-fi blockbuster ultimately launched Smith into movie star status and spawned a four-movie franchise, Schwimmer admittedly wondered what could have been.

“Of course it was an amazing opportunity,” he said. “I mean, you have to follow your gut, you have to follow your heart. And look, I mean I’m really aware — whatever, 20 years later, maybe more — that would have made me, I think, a movie star. If you look at the success of that film and that franchise, I would — my career might have taken a very different trajectory.”

Schwimmer continued, “My theater company and that relationship with all of those people would probably have ended. I don’t think it would have recovered. I mean, those people had quit their jobs to do that movie.”