Mary Robertson was writing letters, trying to gather interest in a Matthew Perry documentary, well before the Friends star died in 2023. A longtime fan of the hit sitcom and a prolific documentarian, she recognized potential in Perry’s life story when she read his memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing back in 2022.
“I read that memoir in one big gulp,” Robertson remembers. “He opens by saying, ‘I should be dead,’ which was a hard statement to read, but it was also delivered with this sense of humor. It was an indication that the book was going to be frank, funny, and unsparing.”
Upon finishing the memoir, Robertson wrote many letters to people connected to the book, and while she never received word back, Perry’s life story, one that juxtaposes the highs of Hollywood success with his decades-long battle with addiction, stayed with her.
“I was devastated when I learned of his passing,” she tells Gold Derby about his shocking death at 54. But by that point, Robertson had established her own production company, Maxine Productions, so she sent out a second wave of letters asking Perry’s friends and family if they’d be interested in telling his life story with her.
“They were truly shots in the dark,” Robertson says, but this time, she started to receive emails back. “People who were close to Matthew were grieving, trying to make sense of what had happened, and wanted to foster a sense of Matthew’s legacy in total, rather than simply focusing on his death.”
Eventually, Robertson received an email from Perry’s sister Mia Perry Bowick. “I screamed when I got her response,” Robertson says. The pair, both nervous to meet one another, scheduled a Zoom and began to discuss the ways they could tell the story of Matthew Perry. The result, several years later, is Netflix’s three-part docuseries, The One About Matthew Perry.
For those who primarily know Perry through his portrayal of Chandler Bing on Friends, Robertson’s series may hold some surprises. Perry was far from just a comedic actor. In addition to starring in films and TV shows, he created, wrote, and produced several series, penned an off-Broadway play, and wrote the unflinching memoir that led to this docuseries.
Perry also spent nearly 30 years in a daily battle for sobriety. Following a Jet Ski accident on the set of Fools Rush In in 1996, Perry became addicted to Vicodin, beginning an on-again, off-again dependency on drugs and alcohol that would ultimately lead to his death from acute ketamine effects in 2023.
The One About Matthew Perry never shies away from the heartbreaking truths of Perry’s life, even as it celebrates his tremendous sense of humor. Much of that is thanks to Perry Bowick, who becomes the central voice of the documentary. At the beginning of the filmmaking process, Robertson spent two full days interviewing Matthew Perry’s sister.
“We agreed at the beginning that we were going to go through the whole story from Mia’s first memory of Matthew to her last memory of Matthew,” Robertson tells Gold Derby ahead of the series’ release. “There was nothing considered off-limits, and I think Mia was incredibly brave to be that vulnerable.”
With Perry Bowick on board (Robertson would eventually wrap filming by talking to her a second time), Robertson and her team at Maxine Productions began reaching out to others who knew Perry. “Our research process was extensive,” Robertson says. “We made spreadsheet upon spreadsheet, trying to name everyone who had ever worked with Matthew, who was his close friend, who’d been mentioned in the memoir. Then we made cold calls and just leaned into relationship building and the slow exercise of building trust.”
The lineup of voices Robertson assembled is impressive. In addition to Perry Bowick, Robertson spoke with Roger Castillo and David Pressman, two of Perry’s longtime friends who hadn’t previously spoken about their friendships with Perry on camera. Castillo drove Perry to his Friends audition, while Pressman was in a group of aspiring actors who hung out at L.A.’s Formosa Cafe before Perry booked his big role. The One About Matthew Perry also features Warren Littlefield, the former NBC Entertainment president who greenlit Friends, and Jeff Strauss, a writer and producer on the show’s first season.
While Robertson managed to track down many of Perry’s former co-stars and several of his ex-girlfriends, his fellow Friends castmates are notably absent. “We did reach out to them, and they declined to participate,” Robertson says. “We know the cast of Friends were very close with Matthew in real life, and they are grieving.”
In lieu of new interviews, the docuseries relies on archival footage of Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, and David Schwimmer, along with stories from Perry Bowick, who’s known the cast for years.
Despite all the logistical work that goes into creating a documentary of this size and scope, Robertson says the most difficult part of the process was facing the pressure she felt to get it right. “Working with Netflix is an incredible honor, but it’s an incredible responsibility too,” she says. “I know this will be seen by millions of people around the world who love Matthew, and I want to get it right.”
Of course, this isn’t the first time that Robertson has traversed massive fandoms and difficult subject matter while making a pop culture documentary. The Emmy Award-winning documentarian directed and produced Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, which examined Dan Schneider’s tenure at Nickelodeon and received two Primetime Emmy nominations. She also produced The Fall of Diddy and served as the showrunner and executive producer for The New York Times Presents, which aired Framing Britney Spears.
And yet The One About Matthew Perry is unlike her other docuseries, thanks largely to Perry’s sense of humor. “This was a very different experience,” she says, comparing it to her previous work. “While there’s so much darkness in Matthew’s story and while we are grieving his passing, there is also so much light. Matthew was luminous. Matthew was hysterically funny. Matthew was generous with his friends. It was an absolute delight and gift to spend time with Matthew through working on this film.”
Despite being a glossy Netflix production, The One About Matthew Perry does not ultimately come to any easy conclusions about Perry’s life, work, or death. “I wish there were an easy one-sentence takeaway,” Robertson says. “I wish we could say with certainty why Matthew ended up struggling with addiction or why anyone struggles with addiction. I think these are questions with unknowable answers.”
Instead of answers, Robertson hopes that by spotlighting Perry Bowick’s deep love for her brother, the documentary will encourage others who are supporting loved ones through addiction and will, in turn, deepen viewers’ love for those who are struggling.
“This film is for people who love Matthew who want to love him more,” Robertson says. “Not because he was perfect or flawless or never stumbled, but because you understand the totality of him, which includes his stumbles.”
The One About Matthew Perry premieres on Netflix on Oct. 27.
