Friends director calls iconic guest star ‘unprepared and arrogant’

Friends director Michael Lembeck has a lot of fond memories working with the show’s many A-list guest stars, but don’t count Jean-Claude Van Damme’s guest appearance in the show’s post-Super Bowl episode among them.

In “The One After the Superbowl: Part 2,” Van Damme guest stars as himself in a storyline involving Jennifer Aniston’s Rachel and Courteney Cox’s Monica. While on a movie set, Rachel and Monica happen to meet Van Damme and end up at odds with one another vying for the iconic action star’s affection. After going back and forth with one another throughout the episode, the pair finally come to their senses and show Van Damme to the door after he suggests they partake in a threesome.

While the cameo is regarded as one of the show’s biggest gets from its early years — the episode aired during season 2 before the show hit its stride — it seems Van Damme didn’t exactly leave the best impression on certain members of the series including Lembeck.

During a roundtable-style celebration of the 25th anniversary or Friends‘ Super Bowl episodes with The Hollywood Reporter, Lembeck spoke candidly about the episodes’ many guest stars which included the likes of Julia Roberts, Chris Isaak, Brooke Shields, and Fred Willard. Although Lembeck had nothing but positive things to say about the episodes other guest stars, his experience with Van Damme was far from pleasant.

As Lembeck recalls, Van Damme showed up to set several hours late which left his team scrambling only to be greeted by a less than ideal attitude.

“Having completely blown up our shooting day, we had to scramble. Then he’s unprepared and arrogant!” Lembeck recalled.

Jean-Claude Van Damme left Friends stars feeling uncomfortable

Apparently, though, Van Damme’s tardiness and attitude on set weren’t the only problems Lembeck encountered with the action star during filming on the “The One After the Superbowl: Part 2.”

As part of a bonus scene that was ultimately cut from the episode, when bidding Van Damme farewell Monica and Rachel let their competitive sides get the best of them by sending him off with a kiss. While the scene itself is nothing out of the unordinary, Lembeck recalls the filming of the scene resulted in some troublesome behavior from Van Damme which left Aniston and Cox feeling rightfully uncomfortable.

"“We shoot him and Jennifer first. Then she walks over to me and says, ‘Lem, Lem, would you do me a favor and ask him not to put his tongue in my mouth when he’s kissing me?’ I tell him everything is great but it’s a tight shot so maybe let’s not do that,” Lembeck alleged while speaking with THR. “Then we’re shooting a scene later with Courteney. Here comes Courteney walking toward me and saying, ‘Lem, can you please tell him not to put his tongue in my mouth?’ I couldn’t believe it! I had to tell him again, but a little firmer.”"

While Reps for Van Damme did not respond to THR‘s story, Lembeck’s claims did seem to be supported by Friends executive producer Kevin Bright who added that Aniston had told him about the incident as well and addressed the situation on his end well.