David Schwimmer turned down a lead role in 'Men in Black' to direct a movie with his friends. He missed out on being in one of the biggest movies of the '90s.

• David Schwimmer told the "Origins with Cush Jumbo" he turned down a role in the "Men In Black."
• Schwimmer said the role, which Will Smith took, could have made him a movie star.

David Schwimmer said he turned down a lead role in "Men in Black" to direct a movie with his friends. Will Smith took the role, cementing his status as a Hollywood star.

Schwimmer told Tuesday's episode of the "Origins with Cush Jumbo" podcast that he was offered the lead role in the 1997 movie during a four-month hiatus from filming "Friends."

But Schwimmer had already committed to directing his first feature film, "Since You've Been Gone." He said he negotiated the opportunity with Miramax and cast actors from the Lookingglass Theatre Company he co-founded in 1988 to "put them on the map."

"All my best friends in the world in my theatre company quit their jobs so they could be in this film over the summer, which was going to be a six-week shoot in Chicago," Schwimmer said. "Budget set, we're in pre-production, hired the whole crew, everything's going and that's when I was offered 'Men in Black.' It was a direct conflict."

Schwimmer said he couldn't postpone his film because he had to return to "Friends" in the fall and couldn't let his friends down.

"That was a brutal decision," Schwimmer said. "Of course, it was an amazing opportunity. You have to follow your gut. You have to follow your heart."

The role eventually went to Will Smith, and made the actor one of Hollywood's biggest stars. Director Barry Sonnenfeld told Business Insider in 2022 that he always wanted Smith in the role.

"Men In Black" became one of the highest-grossing films of the '90s and a hit movie franchise in the following decades.

Meanwhile, "Since You've Been Gone" never got a theatrical release after Miramax sold it to ABC as a TV movie. While Schwimmer is still a popular actor after playing Ross in "Friends," but he didn't achieve movie stardom like some of his costars from the show.

Schwimmer told the podcast: "If you look at the success of that film and that franchise, my career would have taken a very different trajectory."

He added: "However, my theatre company and that relationship with all those people would probably have ended. I don't think it would have recovered. Those people had quit their jobs to do that movie. I don't know if I made the right choice."