Before Adam McKay worked on purely silly movies, he got to work with some incredible comedic actors like Chris Farley during his time writing for Saturday Night Live. And in more recent years, he also worked with Matthew Perry, who passed away at 54 in October, on the film Don't Look Up. (Though Perry's scene was ultimately cut.) Given those two experiences, McKay knows what it's like working with actors who've had struggles with addiction. The former SNL scribe recently recalled working with Farley on the iconic sketch series during the height of his addiction while also discussing his hopes for Perry in the apocalypse movie.
After Chris Farley was let go from his post at SNL in 1995, he returned to host two years later. At the time, his health was noticeably declining due to his drug addiction. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Adam McKay was the head writer of SNL during at that point, and he spoke about his experience seeing the Tommy Boy actor return to Studio 8H to host:
Farley’s addiction was so large and obvious and dramatic. And I remember Lorne [Michaels] had him host because he was hoping it would remind him of the love that he has for this work. And obviously that one didn’t end well.
This is sad to hear, and many would agree the comedian was taken from us far too early. Chris Farley was fortunate to be part of one of SNL’s best single-season casts. As one of Season 19's stars, he worked with greats like David Spade and Adam Sandler. He was in one of the funniest sketches as well, as he played wild motivational speaker Matt Foley. Farley also had a prominent movie career, with films like Tommy Boy and Airheads under his belt. Tragically though, he passed away due to a “speedball” overdose on December 18, 1997. At the time, many stars honored him, with Adam Sandler even singing “The Chris Farley Song” numerous times in his honor.
The Anchorman director seemed hopeful that the Beverly Hills Ninja star would be able to turn his life around. And it seems he had that same optimism when it came to his work with Matthew Perry. At the time the actor was casting, he hadn't been doing much acting. The filmmaker discussed how he hoped Perry’s small part in Don’t Look Up (which is available with a Netflix subscription) would provide him with a good comeback role:
We selfishly wanted him in the movie — he’s very talented — but we were also hoping that doing the movie could be a little toehold to kind of get some degree of working rhythm back to hopefully remind him how good he was.
Just as he was hoping Chris Farley's SNL return would encourage him to get clean, it seemed like Adam McKay was keeping the faith that his Netflix satire would do the same for Matthew Perry. The Talladega Nights director revealed that the Friends icon was able to shoot one scene -- in which he played a Republican journalist -- before he had to leave for rehab:
I actually didn’t know that Switzerland was rehab. I thought it was like a health cleanse or something. Call me naive.
Matthew Perry faced his fair share of obstacles during his lifetime and was incredibly candid about them. In his memoir, which was released just last year, he opened up about how Friends may have saved him during a medical emergency, during which his heart actually stopped. He also got candid about how former co-star Jennifer Aniston approached him about his addiction struggles and voiced her concerns. All in all, the late star truly had a number of people in his corner.
Adam McKay was very lucky to work with Chris Farley and Matthew Perry, and we were fortunate enough to have them on our screens. While the deaths of these two extraordinary talents were very tragic, their legacies will remain intact, and fans will surely continue to enjoy their work for years to come. You can stream Farley's best episodes of Saturday Night Live with a Peacock subscription, and episodes of Friends are available for Max subscription holders.
