Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article said that the report from Esquire UK is “new.” This story actually came from a previous Huffington Post interview from 2015. The article below has been amended.
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How you doin’, Vince Vaughn?
A report from Esquire UK says the actor was originally up for the role of Joey Tribbiani in Friends. The casting director for the NBC sitcom ultimately turned down Vaughn in favour of Matt LeBlanc and the rest is TV history.
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Vaughn, now 46, instead went on to star in the indie hit Swingers alongside actor Jon Favreau. Coincidentally, Favreau turned down the part of Chandler Bing in the historic television series before Matthew Perry snagged the role.
The live-action Jungle Book director did eventually appear in Season 3 of Friends as Pete Becker.
Who knows what the landscape of Hollywood would look like had Vaughn and Favreau been cast instead of LeBlanc and Perry?
The cast of Friends all became international stars off the show’s success, with Jennifer Aniston breaking out as a big-time movie star.
LeBlanc got his own spin-off Joey, which ran for two seasons, then took a long hiatus from acting before returning as a fictionalized version of himself in Episodes. He also stars in the sitcom Man With A Plan (airing on Global) and as a host for British motor vehicle show Top Gear.
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Vaughn’s success in Swingers led to being cast in Steven Spielberg’s The Lost World: Jurassic Park and the 1998 remake of Psycho. More recently he earned plaudits for his role in the Mel Gibson war drama, Hacksaw Ridge in 2016.
Favreau continues to act, but these days is more known in Hollywood for his work as a director and executive producer, with credits including Elf, Iron Man, and The Avengers.
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