Actor Paul Rudd has said he felt like an “accessory” during his appearances as Mike Hannigan / Crap Bag on Friends.
The Ant-Man star, who portrayed Phoebe Buffay’s (Lisa Kudrow) love interest in the hit US comedy from 2002 to 2004, spoke about her character when speaking to fellow Avengers actor Chris Evans.
Speaking to the leader of Captain America, Rudd indicated that he felt Mike was never important compared to the show’s main cast, Matt LeBlanc (Joey), Jennifer Aniston (Rachel Green), Courteney Cox (Monica Geller), Matthew Perry (Chandler Bing), David Schwimmer (Ross Geller) and Kudrow.
“In something like Friends, the show was about them. I was only there for a moment, ”Rudd told Evans when the stars gathered on the Variety actors.
“I felt, ‘I’m like an accessory in this show. It’s not about Mike Hannigan, “he added.
“But there is a very interesting feeling of being part of something that has that profound impact on pop culture.”
However, Rudd’s experience as part of a larger cast in the Marvel Cinematic Universe doesn’t seem much easier.
“There is pressure in every movie you are making in the Marvel world. You don’t want to be the weak link. A character like Ant-Man, yes, very few people knew about it, ”said Rudd.
“They would say, ‘Well, what does Ant-Man do?’ And I would say, ‘He can be reduced to the size of an ant, but he also retains strength, and he can control ants and talk to ants,’ and people would just laugh. ”
Despite feeling a bit out of the way on Friends, Rudd was lucky to be a regular star on the show. As the actor previously revealed, he was only supposed to do it in a couple of installments.
“I only signed up for two episodes, but they kept writing more and had more ideas for that character,” he told Metro.
“It was certainly exciting, but it was a strange phenomenon to work with this very well established and highly recognized group of people known throughout the world.”
