‘Friends’ animal trainer slams David Schwimmer for complaining about Marcel the monkey
Mike Morris—the trainer of two capuchin monkeys for the role of Marcel in Friends—has called out David Schwimmer for saying he hated working with the animals in the sitcom.
In an interview with The Sun, Morris slammed Schwimmer for his remarks about his character’s pet during the highly anticipated Friends: The Reunion.
“I just don’t agree with it… Schwimmer was fine with the monkeys for the first couple of episodes and happy to be there. But people would laugh at the monkey and I think he got jealous because it wasn’t him getting the laughs,” Morris said.
Morris also claimed that Schwimmer “seemed to get a little bitter” about the monkeys’ presence during filming and wouldn’t rehearse scenes with them.
“We had to rehearse with the monkey by herself. Then, he would come in and things wouldn’t be the same so it made it harder. It got to the point where he just really resented the monkey being there, he obviously had a problem with her since he’s talking about it now,” he added.
According to Morris, one of the monkeys who played the role of Marcel recently passed away from cancer. He then accused the actor of “talking ill of the dead."
The animal trainer noted that Jennifer Anniston (Rachel Green) and Matt LeBlanc (Joey Tribbiani) got along with the monkeys during filming.
During the airing of Friends: The Reunion, Schwimmer recalled that the monkeys were difficult to work with. The actor also complained about their eating habits and how they would “miss the mark.”