The Meaning of “Met Man” – The Hollywood Reporter

“I’m Matt Man.” Those were Matthew Perry’s last public words, in a cryptic Instagram post on Oct. 22 accompanied by a photo of himself. Friends The superstar reclines in his hot tub, the lights of Pacific Palisades twinkling on the horizon. Six days later, Perry was found unresponsive in the same hot tub and soon after was pronounced dead at the age of 53.

And the mystery of “Metman” — Perry’s “Rosebud” — will deepen. Was it a code? The inside joke? TikTok conspiracy theorists question whether it is a cry for help.

In truth, Perry was obsessed with Batman. In 2017, he spent $20 million on a 10,000-square-foot “mansion in the sky” complete with a “bat cafe” to store his Caped Crusader memorabilia. It was the biggest condo sale of the year. Perry bought it, he has said, to live out his Bruce Wayne fantasies. (Rihanna bought the property in April.) The final chapter of her 2022 addiction memoir, Friends, lovers, and the big scary thing, titled “Batman”. And the Metman — or Metman, as Perry wrote it in the memoir — was part of that fantasy, too. He was sure it would be his comeback vehicle.

How serious was Perry about the Met Man? In November 2020, on the set of Don’t look uphe approached Adam McKay — who had cast Perry in a small part as a smarmy cable news anchor in a film about an asteroid headed for Earth — about developing the project. .

For Perry, who narrowly escaped death after suffering a ruptured colon from long-term opioid use just two years ago, in a hit movie satire with Meryl Streep, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence and Jonah Hill. The opportunity to be seen was the opportunity of a lifetime.

Casting director Francine Maisler first suggested McKay to Perry. “I was like, ‘Man, I haven’t seen him in anything in a while,'” says McKay, 55. “I knew he had some health issues. And so I met him and he was great. Francine and I talked about the fact that, yes, she is famous for it. Friends character, but he had done many films and other shows, and he was always good at everything he did. It always popped in that special way.

“So I met him and he was great. He talked about how he had some kind of major surgery on his lower intestine and he almost died, and it was a really big deal, but you could tell He was fine. He was back, and I was so excited to film with him,” McKay recalls.

But when Perry showed up to be set, there were clear signs that he was not well. “He had low energy,” McKay says. “He didn’t look healthy. It was just the kind of thing where you’re like, ‘Are you OK?’ It was during COVID and it was pre-vaccine, so it was already a very difficult shoot. I remember being a little worried — like, ‘Hey, did you get a COVID test?’ He was like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m clean.’

McKay had experience working with brilliant comedians who were crippled by their demons. On October 25, 1997, Mack was head writer. Saturday Night Live When Chris Farley returned to the show to host. “Farley’s addiction was so big and obvious and dramatic. And I remember Lorne (Michaels) hosting it because he was hoping it would remind him of the love he had for this work. And it obviously didn’t end well. Farley died seven weeks later, on December 18, of an overdose of cocaine and morphine.

Similarly, McKay had hoped for the role. Don’t look up Perry might get back on track: “We selfishly wanted him in the movie — he’s so talented — but we were also hoping that doing the movie would get him back into the rhythm a little bit. So hopefully he’ll be reminded of how good he was.”

Sometime between takes, Perry approached McKay with his Met Man idea. The pitch went something like this: “It’s about this guy,” Perry said. “You’ll recognize him. His name is Matt and he’s very famous and about 50 years old. His life is a bit of a mess. He’s lost. Out of the blue a distant relative dies and he Leaves $2 billion – and uses it to become a superhero.

McKay was fascinated by the pitch — not because he wanted to make Mattman, but because it offered a window into Perry’s mind. “Any film idea is like someone telling you their dream,” he explains. “And there’s obviously some kind of meaning behind it. And when I heard the idea, I was like, ‘Oh, it’s interesting that this is the idea that he wants to do.’

McKay wondered if Perry’s fixation on superpowers was somehow an appeal to his own superpowers. Perry may suffer his death. But, like Batman, Perry devoted much of his life and his millions to helping others. He wanted fellow addicts to find solace. And that work will continue posthumously with the newly announced Matthew Perry Foundation.

Perry pictured himself playing the lead role, but was flexible on whether it should be a film or a series. McKay countered with his idea—somewhat less high-concept but no less autobiographical.

“My idea was just to do a show about being this incredibly popular, well-known TV guy who’s dealing with addiction,” says McKay. “Because the world has changed. You can actually do that show now. Ten years ago people would say you’re crazy. But now people can be more open about their mental health issues, their addiction issues, And that’s kind of amazing.

“Why don’t we just do a show that’s a fictionalized version of what you’ve struggled with,” he emphasized to Perry. “The idea that everywhere you go, people shout your catchphrases about your past, your addiction, what it’s like, because everyone sees you through this lens of this happy, bright, colorful show. . And then, in the meantime, you’re a human being dealing with real addiction, real pain. It can be an incredible show. It can be really funny. It can really touch people’s lives.”

But Perry had no interest in the show. “And it’s not the kind of idea you push on someone,” McKay says. “So I was like, ‘Okay.’

As Don’t look upPerry completed a scene in Boston before flying by private jet to a treatment facility in Switzerland, where she feigned pain symptoms to convince doctors there that she should receive 1,800 a day. Prescribe Gram OxyContin. McKay eventually cut Perry’s role from the film, “which was really bad.”

“I actually didn’t know Switzerland had a recovery,” says McKay. “I thought it was like a health cleanse or something. Tell me.”

A version of this story first appeared in the Nov. 8 issue. The Hollywood Reporter Click here to subscribe to the magazine..