Lisa Kudrow has one big request for whoever is the next owner of Warner Bros. Discovery.
During a recent interview with Architectural Digest, the Friends alum asked that the iconic studio lot in Burbank, California, where she filmed the beloved sitcom, be “preserved as is.”
“It’s hard for me to tell whether Warner Bros. is just special to me, or if it’s special to the whole city or industry, and I think it is,” she said. “Everything changes ownership all the time and you don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Kudrow continued, “I think most people really really hope whatever happens next is that this studio lot is preserved as is. It works. I mean, we just shot here. Whoever buys it, you don’t need to change anything! It works. It works great! It really does. So congratulations, whoever’s next, please don’t change a thing. Please, please don’t remove Jack Warner’s roses.”
The No Good Deed star named Warner Bros. — which is known as the filming spot for dozens of legendary projects, including Casablanca, Inception, Blade Runner, The Matrix and The Goonies — as one of her favorite spots in Los Angeles, notably because she called the studio lot home for at least 10 years, filming Friends.
The beloved sitcom ran for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004, and also starred Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer. It was filmed on Stage 24 for the majority of its run, which was nicknamed “The Friends Stage” following the series finale.
Kudrow’s comments came amid Netflix and Paramount Skydance’s ongoing fight over Warners. In December, Netflix, run by co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters, announced a deal to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, including HBO and HBO Max, for nearly $82 billion. In response, David Ellison’s Paramount Skydance launched a $108.7 billion hostile offer for the entire company, including its cable networks.
When Warners ultimately rejected Paramount’s offers, favoring Netflix’s proposal, Ellison’s company filed a lawsuit looking to force Warners into giving Ellison’s company more information about how it chose the competing offer. This prompted Netflix to amend its bid to make it an all-cash deal, putting pressure on Paramount.
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