Jennifer Aniston Aveeno© GettyImages

‘Friends’ director pranked Jennifer Aniston during a scene for this reason

Directors used a specific tactic to get Aniston to scream in horror for a scene.


Senior Writer
OCTOBER 12, 2020 11:56 AM EDT

The ‘90s sitcom, “Friends” is one of the most beloved TV shows to this day. The funny and relatable storyline is one almost everyone can agree is one of the best storylines in TV history. Aside from the belly laughs, the show is also filled with sad and happy moments. To evoke different emotions on the show, the directors would sometimes have to get creative to capture genuine reactions from the actors. The directors recently revealed how they got  Jennifer Aniston , who played Rachel Green on the show, to scream for a particular scene.

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In Season 7 Episode 16, “The One with the Truth About London,” multiple plots are going on. Chandler and Monica are preparing for their wedding by trying to choose a minister. At the same time, Rachel is given the responsibility of babysitting Ross’s son, Ben. She’s apprehensive about it and ends up teaching him practical jokes that she learned as a kid. Although Ross isn’t happy about his son learning these pranks, Rachel doesn’t want to stop teaching them to Ben as she wants to be considered the fun aunt.

Ross decides to give Rachel a taste of her own medicine by pulling the ultimate prank on her. Directors used this opportunity to also pull a prank on Aniston to capture a real scream on camera.

For this scene, Ross chases Ben out of the apartment and up the stairs of the building. Rachel follows and watches what she thinks is Ross’s real body falling down the stairs. She screams in horror only to realize it’s a dummy who fell down the stairs and not Ross.

The funny thing about this scene is that Aniston didn’t know about this particular on-camera prank and actually believed David Schwimmer, who plays Ross, actually fell down the stairs, according to Cheat Sheet.

The prank clearly worked like a charm and made the scene a memorable one that “Friends” fans will forever remember.

In other Aniston news, the actress just rescued a new puppy! The 51-year-old actress took to social media on Sunday to share a video of her adorable new addition named Lord Chesterfield.

Aniston captured the post, 👋🏼 Hi! I’d like to introduce to you the newest member of our 🐾 family….this is (a very tired) Lord Chesterfield ❤️. He stole my heart immediately. A HUGE thank you to @wagmorpets for the incredible work you do. Grateful you take such great care of these rescues and find them their forever homes🙏🏼.”