Elizabeth Hurley: It Was a ‘Nightmare’ Working With Matthew Perry on ‘Serving Sara’

Elizabeth Hurley and Matthew Perry starred in the 2002 movie Serving Sara, and the film didn’t do well critically or commercially. While speaking to Yahoo! Entertainment this week, Hurley detailed her experience working with the Friends star who recently released a memoir where he opens up about his issues with drugs.

“I have very fond memories of him,” Hurley, 57, said, per Us Weekly. “To be honest, it was a nightmare working with him at that time and, as it’s now known, our movie was shut down because of his addiction.” Hurley went on to say, “We were in a force majeure and had to all sit at home twiddling our thumbs for some time.”

In the memoir, Perry mentioned that the production of Serving Sara was shut down so he could go to rehab. He said Hurley and director Regina Hudlin were “pissed off” over the shutdown, and he understood why they were angry. Perry also revealed other issues surrounding the film, including recording the movie dialogue because he was slurring his words the first time around. 

“Of course, the movie tanked anyway,” Perry wrote. “I was paid $3.5 million to do the movie and I got sued for the shutdown, even though it was a health issue. At the mediation table a team of insurance flacks faced me down, so I just wrote them a check for $650,000.”

Hurley said when Perry returned to set “he was fabulous.” Perry stayed in the rehab center for two months, and Hurley mentioned that Perry “revoiced everything that we shot before.” Serving Sara also starred Bruce Campbell, Vincent Pastore, Amy Adams, Terry Crews and Cedric the Entertainer. The movie was released on Aug. 23, 2002, and made $20.1 million at the box office. It has a 4% score on Rotten Tomatoes and an audience score of 26%. 

When Serving Sara hit theaters, Hurley and Perry were two of the hottest stars in Hollywood. Hurley started in the first two Austin Powers films, EdTV, and Bedazzled. While Perry was seen in the films The Whole Nine Yards, Three to Tango and Fools Rush In along with Friends. Hurley can be seen in the film Christmas in Paradise which will be released on Nov. 15. Perry was last seen on the TV special Friends: The Reunion last year.