Jennifer Aniston, the beloved actress who rose to international fame for her role as Rachel Green on the 90s sitcom Friends, was replaced in an episode of the show and no one noticed.
New York Post reported,
In Season 9, Episode 15, “The One With the Mugging,” Aniston, 54, was seemingly replaced in a scene and fans had no idea.
The error was spotted by a fan who was rewatching the series starring Aniston as Rachel Green, David Schwimmer as Ross Geller, Courteney Cox as Monica Geller, Matt LeBlanc as Joey Tribbiani, Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe Buffay and Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing.
The discovery was first written about in 2015 on RecentlyHeard.com, pointing out that Aniston is in a shot at the same time as someone who is thought to be her understudy/stand-in.
In the episode, Rachel runs into Monica’s apartment to tell Joey that he got an audition with the fictional famous actor Leonard Hayes (Jeff Goldblum).
But when the camera pans back to Joey, someone who isn’t Aniston is standing in Rachel’s place.
This isn’t the first time that a body double has been used as a stand-in for an actor on Friends. In season 4, David Schwimmer had to miss several episodes due to his commitment to another project and was replaced by a body double in some scenes.
The use of body doubles is common practice in television and film production when actors are unable to make it on set for filming due to scheduling conflicts or other reasons. It allows productions to continue without having to delay or rewrite scenes.
It’s amazing how well these body doubles can pull off their roles! Fans may have noticed something different about this particular scene with Rachel but they couldn’t quite put their finger on it until now.
