The deal with that was: so I had shot The Pallbearer [a romantic comedy co-starring Gwyneth Paltrow] for Miramax, and they had very high hopes for it. And while we were shooting it, they wanted to lock me into a three-picture deal. And as we all know now the movie did not do well. I did not end up doing that three-picture deal with Miramax. But at the time I had a little leverage.And I had always wanted to direct. So I had said, “okay, look; I’ll sign for a three-picture deal if you let me direct my first film, and cast my entire theatre company in Chicago” [which was comprised of his old friends].

So, that was my goal... to bring everyone up with me, to give everyone a shot. And I did it. We negotiated a deal. We did it. And the next year it was set to go into production in Chicago. And it was called Dog Water - now it’s called Since You’ve Been Gone. But I shot my first film and the entire theatre company is in it. And some crazy cameos, like John Stewart, Liev Schreiber.

I told everyone in the theatre company, “you’re all cast, here are your roles , don’t take any other jobs for this six-week period.” So everyone turned down all these opportunities. These teaching jobs. Other plays. You know, everyone was banking on doing this first film with me.

So... about a month before production, I get the call about Men In Black. Which was a direct conflict with directing that film; I just said, “I can’t. These are my closest friends in the world, this is their first shot at a movie, my first shot at directing. I can’t push [the film back] because I’ve gotta go back to work on Friends in the fall.” That’s what ended up happening.