Matt LeBlanc is hailed as one of the comic legends in the history of television. Rightfully so, as his performance as Joey in FRIENDS and in the spin-off named after his career is stamped into every fan’s heart.
Now fans have associated him with TV sitcoms for so long, they would have loved to see him explore more such characters throughout the years. As a result, when it was revealed that LeBlanc turned down a Modern Family role many of his fans were crushed.
However, what many might not know is that even after Matt LeBlanc turned down his role in the groundbreaking sitcom, his association with the series didn’t end. In fact, his advice to one of the actors once started almost a civil war in the studio that could have gone awry.
Matt LeBlanc almost started a civil war on the Modern Family sets despite turning down his role
Matt LeBlanc became a household name with his masterful performance as Joey on FRIENDS. As such, fans were happy when the character got his own show named after himself after FRIENDS concluded its journey in 2004. However, the spin-off, too, finally kicked the bucket in 2006.
Regardless, his performance has made quite an impression in the sitcom circles by then. As a result, the script of Modern Family finding its way to his table isn’t exactly shocking.
Interestingly, though, LeBlanc was confident about not being the right choice for the character. He mentioned USA Today in an interview that he would have done an “injustice” if he had taken the role.
I remember reading it thinking, this is a really good script, (but) I’m not the guy for this. I’d be doing the project an injustice to take this. I know what I can do, I know what I can’t do.
The role eventually went to Ty Burrell, who inspired the character in the first place after a series of failures. However, LeBlanc’s association with Modern Family was far from over. For context, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who played the role of Mitchell Pritchett in the series is an acquaintance of LeBlanc.
As such, when disputes started happening about the cast members’ paycheck for the series he reached out to the Man With a Plan star for advice. Since Matt LeBlanc and the FRIENDS cast went through the same debacle once with NBC, Ferguson was sure he would get sound advice from the same.
As the USA Today report stated, LeBlanc advised Ferguson that the entire cast had to band together and stay committed to truly bring a change.
You have to walk out, or they won’t take you seriously. If you stick together, you have power.
Thankfully, the Modern Family cast followed his advice to a dot. As a result, all of them walked away with millions in their banks by the time the show ended.
Modern Family cast sued the network for their deplorable paychecks despite its soaring success
It isn’t exactly uncommon for the cast of a series and the network to dispute over salary negotiations after a series takes off from the ground. As stated above, Matt LeBlanc’s blockbuster FRIENDS witnessed the same thing happening between the cast and production as well.
However, it is a little worrisome when that dispute reaches the courts in an all-out battle that can go either way. This was exactly what happened in the case of the Modern Family cast when they sued 20th Century Fox TV for their abysmally low paychecks.
As per Deadline, the salaries of Sofia Vergara, Julie Bowen, Ty Burrell, Eric Stonestreet, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson were about $65,000 per episode for Season 3.
Which was, to be fair, far below anything one would expect the stars of such a hit show to take in. As such, just before the fourth season was supposed to start filming, the actors banded together to demand a pay raise.
Ed O’Neill, who was paid around $105,000 per episode at the time, being an established actor in the industry, and was negotiating his contract separately, joined his co-stars with an amended lawsuit in an act of solidarity.
Thankfully, Matt LeBlanc’s advice proved to be true, and the cast members ended up with renewed contracts that increased their salary to around $160,000-$180,000 per episode for the fourth season onward as per the outlet. Moreover, they were also promised a portion of the show’s profits when the time came to weigh it in.
Additionally, their salaries reportedly increased up to $350,000 by Season 8 ( via Deadline), with the bonus from the show’s profits as an extra benefit. Season 9 and forward, though, reportedly saw the stars making about a whopping $500,000 per episode (via Deadline) until Modern Family concluded after Season 11.
Modern Family is streaming on Hulu. Meanwhile, FRIENDS is streaming on MAX.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
