Matthew Perrys Interview on ET - from the set of "Three To Tango"


Jann Carl: First of all, tough assignment here, Neve Campbell, hot and heavy.

Matthew Perry: They told me they were going to get someone pretty.

Jann Carl: Now, who signed up first?

Matthew Perry: I signed up first.
Jann Carl: So you knew going in. She was the brave one.
Matthew Perry: She was the brave one.

Jann Carl: She is so adorable. I mean, I look at her I'm like "ah!" I don't know what it is about her face.

Matthew Perry: Everybody's been saying that since we've gotten started and I've yet to see it. And to me she seems kind of, well not ugly, certainly not ugly but she's mean-spirited. Whenever you talk to her and stuff she just kinda has this venomous thing come out. To me it makes her unattractive.

Jann Carl: So then your acting really has to come into play here.

Matthew Perry: Oh, yeah, substitution work is intense. Don't tell her I said all that.

Jann Carl: I won't. I'll just play back the tape.

Matthew Perry: Oh, she's beautiful, wonderful.

Jann Carl: The character, Oscar, tell me about this mess he gets into. It's a doozie.

Matthew Perry: It's a doozie. That should be the new title.

Jann Carl: 'It's a doozie!'

Matthew Perry: We should call it that. He's a kinda innocent, kinda nervous guy, who through a bizarre set of circumstances gets himself into a doozie of a mess. Zany-ness ensues. What happens in this movie is . . . through a series of circumstances everyone in the Chicago area thinks that my character is gay--including the women he has fallen in love with, and his parents and his friends.

Jann Carl: Oh, even his parents?

Matthew Perry: Oh, yeah. They're very approving of his gayness, to the point where whenever he says he's not gay they assume its denial. And nobody believes that I'm not.

Jann Carl: Including this woman you're in love with.

Matthew Perry: Including this woman I'm in love with. But what's neat about this story. What ends up happening is these two people that ordinarily would have all these emotional walls up with members of the opposite sex. Because she thinks I'm gay, those walls come crashing down right away because the level of comfort. And because I know she thinks I'm gay, and she thinks I'm gay we end up becoming really really close and learning what its like to have a great relationship.
Jann Carl: So what I wanna know is at this point, will there be kissing? Will there be a love scene?

Matthew Perry: Well, I don't want to ruin it for all the people going, but hopefully. I have it in my contract on all movies, that I have to kiss a beautiful woman once.

Jann Carl: This is good. And in how many takes? I hope that's in there too.

Matthew Perry: Well what you do when you really enjoy kissing a girl, is right after you kinda stumble on your line or fall down and you have to go back. That's the secret I've learned.

Jann Carl: And so you turn to the director and you go, 'You know I didn't feel too good about that one.'

Matthew Perry: Exactly. So that's the trick and you get thirty-five takes.

Jann Carl: Now everyone asksabout the making of love scenes, what did you think of them?

Matthew Perry: It's great! It's just top-notch! Well, everyone talks about this and it's true. The actual shooting of it is not that romantic of a thing. If you're doing a love scene and there's ninety people named Chuck surrounding you and the director is saying 'No, no, put your elbow here, kiss her there, no, don't kiss her don't kiss her neck there.' So it's not that romantic a thing. But there are certain aspects of it that are great! Top Notch!

Jann Carl: How sexy do you make it?

Matthew Perry: I think you go for as sexy as you can on a scene like that. I suppose, I mean we're not doing 'Last Tango in Paris.' So you do the PG-13 version of how sexy you can go.