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Tate Donovan’s Joshua entered the Mates universe within the 1998 episode “The One with Rachel’s Crush”. He performed mentioned crush, a shopper of hers at Bloomingdale’s with sandy curls and woolly jumpers – and the primary man Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) ever asks out. She fancied him a lot she couldn’t cease repeating his identify: “Josh-ooh-ah. Josh-ua.” That mentioned, Joshua spent most of his five-episode arc completely oblivious to her emotions.
Their behind-the-scenes dynamic couldn’t have been extra completely different – in actuality, the 2 actors had been relationship for 2 years, and had been within the technique of breaking apart when Donovan was solid on the present. There have been definitely emotions concerned, and nobody was oblivious to them.
Talking 26 years on from sunny Texas, after a profession that’s seen roles in The OC, Argo and Rocketman, Donovan tells me about his expertise of filming the present, from how exhausting it was to shoot his scenes together with his ex-girlfriend to why he considered Matthew Perry because the “beating coronary heart” of the sitcom.
I’ve to confess, I’ve cherished rewatching Mates in preparation for this interview.
English folks usually are simply obsessive about Mates. It blows my thoughts. Jen and I dated for 2 years – after we went to England collectively, it was like being with a Beatle. We needed to say we had been having reservations at one restaurant after which go to a different. There have been faux automobiles and every part, all to keep away from the paparazzi.
Then I did a play with Judi Dench on Broadway [Amy’s View in 1997], and it was directed by Richard Eyre, a titan on the earth of theatre. We went out for dinner at this lovely restaurant and I’m simply imagining all of the questions on theatre I may ask. So, we sit down and he’s like, “Inform me about Mates.” He was obsessive about f***ing Mates and all he wished to learn about was Joey and what Courteney Cox is basically like, and this episode right here and that scene there.
I couldn’t imagine it. I didn’t get a phrase in edgewise. I believed we had been going to speak about Shakespeare and the Globe, however nothing. The Nationwide Theatre? Overlook about it. Nothing may high Mates.
You joined Mates 26 years in the past – what was it like starring on it so quickly after breaking apart with Jennifer Aniston?
I’d been relationship Jen for years, and I knew the solid. Each Friday evening it was similar to a ritual – I’d go over there and watch the taping, and it was at all times such a blast. Then Jen and I broke up, however we didn’t actually inform anybody.
I had at all times talked about to the producers that it’s at all times hilarious when Jen, who’s this attractive lady, is head over heels in love with any person and the man simply doesn’t see it. It cracked me up. I’d seen it after we first began relationship – she did an episode the place Rachel was on a date with a man and the man was simply not into her, and she or he was falling throughout herself. It really works as a result of that’s not likely how she is in life, however she will act it so effectively.
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And so, the producers got here to me and mentioned, “Hey, we wish you to do a five-episode arc the place you guys are relationship and also you’re not likely that into her.” And I used to be like, “Oh, so that you’re gonna do that factor.” We had been simply breaking apart and I, for some bizarre cause, thought that possibly working collectively would ease the breakup. Possibly we’d grow to be mates faster. I simply wished to go gently into the nice evening – we each did.
You thought it could change the dynamic in a great way?
Sure, but it surely was very robust. Everybody was so supportive, but it surely was exhausting. It’s like going to class whenever you’re in highschool and also you’ve damaged up with the woman who you sat subsequent to and… argh, it’s robust.
But it surely makes you a professional – it’s like, OK, we acquired over it. No one is aware of; the viewers isn’t gonna know; the viewers is gonna assume simply the other. Once I look again on it, I’m like, “Wow, good for you, man. That was fairly good.”
There have been experiences that you simply two had been engaged, are they true?
No, that wasn’t true. We did dwell collectively for a short time, however we had been by no means engaged.
Watching it again, there’s no trace of heartbreak. You each disguise it very effectively.
Wanting again at it now, the factor that simply kills me is that Matt Perry was the beating coronary heart of that entire solid. He was the funniest.
If you do a sitcom, you do your scenes and you then get out – you don’t actually take note of the opposite scenes. However Matt Perry watched each scene that everybody was in. He definitely watched each scene that I used to be in. He was such a champion of mine. He was so candy. He was the one one who referred to as me when me and Jen broke up. And we bumped into one another all through the years, and he was at all times so extremely supportive.
It meant a lot to me [that he was kind on set] as a result of I used to be actually heartbroken, and also you don’t know the way effectively you’re doing, and also you’re simply making an attempt to outlive at that time. It’s such a tragedy that he had such a tough time in life as a result of, for me, Matt Perry was simply… all of them imitated his humour.
You joined Mates the 12 months after Perry’s jetski accident, which was a catalyst for his worsening dependancy points and led to an opioid dependence. Might you inform issues had been starting to unravel?
By no means. It’s loopy. And we went out. I used to be there each Friday, and we’d take journeys collectively. I had no concept. It didn’t present. Possibly Jen knew and the opposite solid members knew, however they definitely stored it very quiet. I bear in mind birthdays and going out to dinner and large events the place folks acquired f***ing hammered, and I by no means noticed Matt extra wasted than anyone else, that’s for certain. Tremendous-high-functioning man.
Do you ever watch Mates now?
I used to be flipping by the channels at a lodge just lately and I noticed it, like, “Oh God, there’s Joshua.” I watched a little bit of it and thought it was actually good, and humorous – for a few years it was too painful for me to observe these scenes. I preferred that my efficiency wasn’t too broad. It was a grounded scene – and that’s precisely how I prefer to see comedy, the place the actors are extra targeted on the scene moderately than getting laughs.
My son is nineteen and he couldn’t be much less excited by Mates or actually any tv present. It’s wonderful to me. He’s into TikTok, and he barely sees films. He’s an enormous jock and he’s a superb pupil. I’ve introduced him onto units – after I shot Rocketman, he got here to England and he was on the set day by day however he couldn’t be much less excited by a profession in leisure. It’s sort of hilarious.
There have been so many humorous moments in your bunch of episodes – particularly Joshua’s worry of the geese at Joey and Chandler’s flat.
Does the duck bit work? I bear in mind them saying, “So, there’s a duck, and also you’re afraid of geese.” And I used to be like, “Who’s afraid of geese? That’s not a factor.” I didn’t know learn how to make it work, however I simply went for it.
Have been there moments the place it was exhausting to not chuckle whenever you had been filming, or was it too emotionally bizarre filming together with your ex to search out issues humorous?
I used to be by no means near corpsing on these episodes. All through the 2 seasons earlier than, you may hear me laughing on the chuckle observe off stage as a result of I’d be hanging out with the assistant administrators, watching the scenes.
Did you get any attention-grabbing insights from being behind the scenes and watching the tapings?
All of the solid had been obsessive about the schedule, particularly Courteney Cox. She was hilarious. She may have been an air visitors controller at JFK. She was so targeted on once they’re doing a scene, when she must be in hair and make-up, and when she will go away, when she will return house, [and] when she will come again.
Mates remains to be being watched on a regular basis, all all over the world. On the one hand, you’ve acquired numerous folks discovering it for the primary time and falling in love with it. On the opposite, there’s been a reappraisal of the sequence, with criticisms over its lack of range and its homosexual jokes.
I’m sort of shocked that individuals are nonetheless having fun with it as a result of a lot of the tradition has modified for the higher – like, who actually cares about all these privileged white youngsters? It’s the identical with The OC. I’m positively prepared for there to be much more various voices heard. It’s such a breath of contemporary air.
If you look again, the place does Mates sit within the puzzle of your profession? I do know it got here after Ally McBeal and Inside Monkey Zetterland, however earlier than The OC and Argo and Damages.
I’m so fortunate that I’m nonetheless performing and directing, and Mates was an ideal jewel within the crown for certain. However in my profession, nothing’s actually led to the rest. I can’t see a by line. I’m simply making an attempt to get one other job – I’ve been that approach for over 40 years and, effectively, I’ve been fortunate.
