The story of Ross and Rachel from Friends is one for the ages, with the pair’s tumultuous relationship dominating much of the iconic 90s sitcom. Adding drama to the will-they-won’t-they storyline, a few other romantic interests were thrown into the show. The first was Paolo: the tall, dark-haired Italian man who Rachel has a short-lived romance with in season one.
Ahead of the show’s 25th anniversary this year, Paolo actor Cosimo Fusco opened up about the series, claiming he “made up most of the Italian spoken by Paolo”.
Fusco, who has since starred in projects including Angels and Demons, explained on the Today Show that he was “asked to improvise” all of his lines.
He said, “I was a little bit sceptical, because my English then wasn’t as good as it is now, let’s face it. But I was told not to speak any English. ‘Just say whatever you want in Italian.'”
“When I’m standing by the window with Jennifer [Aniston], and I say, ‘Look at the moon, look at the stars.’ … I just made up those lines,” he added.
Paolo was first introduced in season one back in 1994 as a neighbour who lived in Rachel and Monica’s building. After bumping into one another when Rachel tries to find the owner of a cat who attacked Ross, the two end up having a fling which infuriates Ross. Ultimately, the relationship comes to an end when Paolo begins hitting on Phoebe.
Fusco revealed Jennifer Aniston was “a lovely, adorable young woman” and “very talented” and said he was also impressed with David Schwimmer’s acting skills. Although Fusco was not on the show for long, the cast clearly made a big impression on him as he sang their praises.
“The combination of the six [actors] was amazing, the chemistry was amazing... I think the magic was just the combination of the individuals,” he said.
Fusco, who was born in Matera in Italy, added that the show's stars had welcomed him with open arms.
“They were so generous with me, because they understood that I was a young guy from Italy thrown into a sitcom," he continued.
The show also clearly still holds a special place in Fusco’s heart, as he finished, “I think we can all recognize ourselves in [the Friends’] problems. If you watch an episode of Friends, you can still smile at things. You know, you recognize yourself in there still.”
Friends officially turns 25 this year and the fan base remains as strong as ever, with Ofcom recently revealing that it was the most streamed show online for the second year in a row.
With hundreds of thousands of shows to compete with available through platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime, the show reportedly dominated “around 2 percent of total U.K. streams” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
