These days, there are lots of ways to flirt with someone: Slide into the DMs, sending a saucy text, leave a suggestive emoji on a post, etc. But back in the 90s, options were limited.
In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Friends creators revealed that there was once some flirty faxing, yes FAXING, going on between series regular, Matthew Perry, and Julia Roberts, who ended up guest starring on a 1996 episode called “The One After the Super Bowl.”
“Getting Julia Roberts was incredibly exciting,” said Friends co-creator, Marta Kauffman. “We knew she would have the right touch for it. And when she said yes, it was pretty awesome.”
“Matthew asked her to be on the show,” co-creator Kevin Bright recalled. “She wrote back to him, ‘Write me a paper on quantum physics and I’ll do it.’ My understanding is that Matthew went away and wrote a paper and faxed it to her the next day.”
Former Friends writer, Alexa Jungle, also revealed to the outlet that the faxes were hardly just about scientific finding swaps.
“They may have met before the episode, but she was interested in him from afar because he’s so charming,” Jungle said. “There was a lot of flirting over faxing. She was giving him these questionnaires like, ‘Why should I go out with you?’ And everyone in the writers’ room helped him explain to her why.”
“He could do pretty well without us, but there was no question we were on Team Matthew and trying to make it happen for him,” she continued.
“I remember standing with her on the sidelines. She kept saying, ‘Chandler’s so funny!’ And I’m like, ‘I wrote every one of those lines!’ I don’t know if she fell in love with Matthew on the spot but they soon started dating,” episode co-writer, Jeff Astrof, added.
In the memorable episode, Roberts played Susie Moss, a former friend of Perry’s Chandler Bing who fakes a hook-up with him to get revenge for a childhood prank. After filming wrapped, the Emmy nominated actor and future Oscar-winning actress continued their relationship off scene and were spotted out on a number of dates from 1996 to 1997.
Roberts, who split from husband, Lyle Lovett, in 1995, of course went on to marry cameraman ,Danny Moder, in 2002. Perry dated Masters Of Sex actress, Lizzy Caplan, from 2006 to 2012 and got engaged to literary manager, Molly Hurwitz last November.,
