Matthew Perry has revealed that a major health scare forced him to drop out of acting opposite Meryl Streep in Adam McKay’s star-studded, world-ending satire Don’t Look Up, after his heart ‘stopped beating for five minutes’.
He has now acknowledged it as ‘the biggest movie I’ve ever gotten’ and would have marked his return to the big screen for the first time since 2009’s comedy 17 Again with Zac Efron.
The Friends star was first reported to be a member of the sprawling cast in October 2020, and even confirmed his involvement in a rare series of excited tweets that same month.
When it was released, fans were anticipating him making some sort of appearance, especially following a picture of him on set filming in Boston, Massachusetts being released in December 2020.
It showed his character – understood to be a Republican journalist – stood next to a Kid Rock lookalike and dressed warmly in a suit, black overcoat, grey scarf and leather gloves for a political rally scene.
However, it sadly didn’t make it into the final cut of the movie, and Matthew has now shone a light on what happened.
The actor recalled the health emergency that had forced him to leave the role (Picture: CBS)
Matthew would have been in four scenes with Meryl Streep (Picture: AP)
Speaking about the harrowing experience that forced him to quit the movie, the 53-year-old told host Stephen Colbert on The Late Show: ‘I got CPR and the guy who saved my life broke eight ribs in the process.’
Expanding on what had happened, he added: ‘They were doing a procedure because I had pain in my stomach and they gave me propofol… and my heart stopped for five minutes.’
When Colbert asked if he was legally dead, the actor said that he ‘didn’t flatline’ but his heart had stopped for five minutes, but later admitted he wasn’t sure what the difference was between the two.
The star was in too much pain to return to the film’s set (Picture: Mark Sagliocco/Getty Images)
Matthew then said he woke up in a different hospital 10 hours later.
‘I had to give up the biggest movie I’d ever gotten. I had four scenes with Meryl Streep,’ the Whole Nine Yards star shared.
He joked that Meryl was asking after him on set.
Confirming his casting at the time, he had jokingly tweeted: ‘I just booked a movie with Meryl Streep! If you need me, I’ll be on the treadmill for the next 6 weeks. #Don’tlookup.’
Making a quip about his co-star Leonardo DiCaprio a day later, he added: ‘I am not sure why Leonardo DiCaprio is billed ahead of me in the upcoming film Don’t Look Up.
Matthew had already reportedly filmed a scene with Jonah Hill (L), who played the president’s son and advisor (Picture: Niko Tavernise/Netflix via AP)
‘But I don’t want you guys to worry about it. I know some people. We’ll figure this thing out. #Couldnotbemoreexcited’
According to his newly-published memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big, Terrible Thing, via Variety, Matthew over-emphasised the pain he was in with his stomach while at rehab in Switzerland to get prescribed painkillers.
It was the combination of those the night before and the propofol before surgery that stopped his heart.
‘I was told that some beefy Swiss guy really didn’t want the guy from Friends dying on his table and did CPR on me for the full five minutes, beating and pounding my chest,’ he wrote in his book.
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‘If I hadn’t been on Friends, would he have stopped at three minutes? Did Friends save my life again?’
He then said he was in too much physical pain to return to the set of Don’t Look Up, and made the ‘heartbreaking’ decision to exit the film.
Don’t Look Up is available to stream on Netflix now.
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‘I had to give up the biggest movie I’d ever gotten.’
