Mary Robertson’s Netflix documentary looks beyond Chandler Bing through Perry’s family, private archive, and the long struggle with addiction that defined much of his adult life.
For many people, Matthew Perry will probably always be Chandler Bing. That was both the gift and the trap. He became one of the most recognizable TV stars of his generation while spending much of his adult life dealing with addiction, relapse, recovery, and the increasingly public disconnect between the guy making millions of people laugh and the person struggling behind the scenes.
That divide sits at the center of Netflix’s “The One About Matthew Perry,” a new three-part documentary that now has its first trailer. Directed by Mary Robertson, the series uses interviews with Perry’s family, close friends, and collaborators, along with material from the family’s private archive, to look past both the “Friends” mythology and the headlines that followed him later in life.
The trailer’s biggest headline comes from Perry’s sister
The trailer’s biggest headline comes from Perry’s sister Mia Perry Bowick, who says her brother spent $7 million trying to get sober. Perry was unusually open about his addiction in his 2022 memoir, “Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing.” Still, there is an obvious difference between hearing him recount those years himself and hearing the people around him describe what it looked like from the outside.
Perry Bowick also gets at the contradiction that followed her brother for decades: he could be enormously funny, magnetic, and successful while still carrying around a sense of emptiness that none of those things fixed. The documentary appears less interested in separating the “real” Perry from Chandler Bing than in showing how both could exist at once—and why being beloved by millions did not necessarily make his private life any easier.
As previously reported, “The One About Matthew Perry” also includes unreleased photographs and videos from the Perry family archive. Perry died on October 28, 2023, at age 54 from the acute effects of ketamine.
Robertson, whose credits include Quiet on Set, directs
Robertson, whose credits include “Quiet on Set,” directs and executive produces alongside Lisa Kalikow, Eli Holzman, and Aaron Saidman. Lora Moftah serves as co-executive producer, and Jessica Call produces. Maxine Productions, part of Sony Pictures Television, produces the series.
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“The One About Matthew Perry” premieres globally on Netflix on October 27, one day before the third anniversary of Perry’s death. Watch the trailer below.
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