So this weekend while you’re drowning in episodes of ‘Friends’ because you know them by heart and they wont distract you from the cleaning you should be doing… Try sporting the ‘stand in’.
A tiktoker noticed recently that in the episode of Friends where the gang goes to Massapequa for Ross and Monica’s parents anniversary, a very strange blooper is seen. Jack Geller temporarily turns into a much shorter man with glasses and dark hair.
But the explanation makes sense.
When the show was filmed in the late 90’s, the format of the film fit the standard square tv screen. Now that we’re watching it in wide screen, we see just a wee bit further on the sides than we were supposed to see. And that unknown man is just the stand in actor for Elliot Gould, who plays Jack Geller.
But it’s not the first time this mistake has been seen on Friends.
Way back in 2015, the website RecentlyHeard.com posted about two times they noticed the stand in stumble.
Here we see Joey and Rachel in Monica’s kitchen.
But here we see Rachel has been replaced with another woman. Likely done at a much later time than the first scene and because Rachel was never intended to be seen in that frame, they just have anyone stand in to help the actors find their blocking and direct dialogue.
And here Monica is replaced while speaking with pheobe.
So this weekend, take some time to look out for the unsung heroes of Friends… the stand ins.
