FRIENDS reunion: How did the makers get Bruce Willis to guest star on the show? Find out

Bruce Willis is only amongst the several other A-Listers who appeared on FRIENDS at the time of its airing. At the time, he was riding on the success of the Die Hard movies, which had made him a star, and was all set to appear in M. Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable. But, it is believed that the appearance of Bruce Willis on FRIENDS was only made possible due to a bet that he lost to Matthew Perry while they were filming their comedy movie, The Whole Nine Yards. Read on to know more.

When Matthew Perry made a bet with Bruce Willis that Bruce reportedly lost while shooting "The Whole Nine Yards":

As per a report on CBR, Matthew Pretty was reportedly quite confident about the box office success of the film that he was shooting with Bruce Willis, titled The Whole Nine Yards. But, Willis himself was quite skeptical about it. The report goes on to say that this inspired the bet that Perry made. As per the article, Perry made the bet that if "The Whole Nine Yards" becomes a success, Bruce will appear on FRIENDS for free. The film, as per the piece, The Whole Nine Yards went on to debut at #1 on its opening day and maintained its leading position for three consecutive weeks. The film's supposedly surprising box office performance made the appearance of Bruce Willis on Friends as Paul possible. The Whole Nine Yards, in addition to Bruce Willis and Matthew Perry, stars the likes of Amanda Peet, Natasha Henstridge, and Rosanna Arquette, amongst others.

Bruce Willis appears as Paul in a total of three episodes on the Sixth season of FRIENDS. Willis' Paul was the father to Alexandra Holden's Elizabeth on the show. Willis' character on the show is portrayed as someone who is disapproving of Ross, a college professor, who is dating his college-going daughter who he has raised all by himself. But, the very same episode that sees him be the disapproving father also features a moment where Willis' Paul is smitten by Aniston's Rachel Greene, hence Paul must try to make peace with his daughter's new boyfriend if he at all wants to have a chance of dating Rachel.

As far as FRIENDS reunion release date and time are concerned, the special episode will air on HBO Max on May 27th. In the episode, in addition to seeing Matthew Perry in FRIENDS reunion, the rest of the cast will see the original six actors return to the couch. They will be joined in by a number of renowned personalities from the world of entertainment from time to time. A list of almost all the guests who will be seen on the episode in question can be found below.

FRIENDS reunion guest list:

The FRIENDS reunion trailer: