Friends director James Burrows mourned the loss of actor Matthew Perry in an exclusive Today Show interview this morning. “It took me a few days to just let it sink in,” Burrows said on the NBC morning show. “He was part of a family and he was the first to no longer be part of that family.”
Burrows, who directed the first four episodes of the long-running series, said that when he heard the news of Perry’s death last Saturday at age 54, he reached out to some of the series’ cast members – Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox and Lisa Kudrow.
“I had been texting the girls the day we found out,” Burrows said. “They were destroyed. It is a brother who dies.”
“He was incredibly inventive,” Burrows said of Perry’s standout performance as Chandler Bing. “He was imaginative in how he did a line.” The director said Perry was similar to the character in some ways.
“He was really funny,” Burrows said. “He was also a bit clumsy. Chandler was awkward. And Matthew was awkward. So it was a perfect, perfect mix.”
Burrows recalled speaking to the cast shortly before “Friends” premiered. “I took her to dinner at Spago and it’s a true story. I said to the six of them, ‘Buckle up, because this is your last chance for anonymity,'” Burrows said.
The director also recalled an episode he particularly liked in which Perry’s Chandler is stuck in an ATM vestibule with Victoria’s Secret model Jill Goodacre.
“His facial expressions were great and Matthew could always get into his face,” he said. “He was always aware that he was in front of the camera, even when he wasn’t speaking.”
Of Perry’s lifelong struggles with addiction and alcoholism, Burrows said, “We were so proud of him over the last few years for his remarkable recovery.”
Watch the interview with Burrows above.