If you've ever listened to actors when they talk about what it's like to film a movie or television show, you'll probably know that there tends to be a lot of "hurry up and wait" involved. Once they're on camera, there's a lot for them to do, but there's often a lot of downtime between those moments. Courteney Cox is now filming her new Starz horror series, Shining Vale, and it turns out that the star is using Friends to help her fill some of that free time.
I know that you're likely thinking, "Who doesn't fill their free time with Friends?" But, it turns out that the former Monica Geller isn't just lazing around in her trailer between takes and reliving her time as the professional chef. Oh, no. Courteney Cox is doing a lot more than that to make her time on the Shining Vale set exciting, and has, seemingly, actually taken on some of her famous character's work hard and stay busy philosophy to do it. Take a look at the video Cox posted to Instagram, and you'll see what I mean:
You see what I'm talking about now, don't you? Courteney Cox appears to have made a firm decision to absolutely fill nearly all of her free time on set with helping out in any way she can. Not only is she, apparently, serving food and giving COVID tests to people as part of her stay-busy plan, but she's also taken the opportunity to give tours around the Warner Bros. lot. This, of course, turns out to be perfect for Cox, seeing as how she's in the same location to film Shining Vale as she was while working on Friends, starting all the way back in 1994. Could there be a more Monica way to handle downtime?
My favorite part of the short clip, though, has to be when Cox is driving that tour vehicle around the lot and narrowly misses hitting an SUV. From the audio, this seems to have, rightfully, caused a lot of consternation among those monitoring her driving of that inconveniently shaped transport. But, when those along for the ride with her congratulated Cox on making it past the parked car she just notes, "I almost hit a car? Oh, I didn't think about that."
I have to say, that is a very un-Monica-like lack of awareness about what's going on around her and what others might think of her. So, good on Courteney Cox for standing firm in her own joy and not letting anxiety over maybe not doing everything perfectly get her down!
Obviously, Courteney Cox's time on Friends has been a major part of her life, so hopefully being a part of Shining Vale, and having the intriguing horror / comedy show film in the same location, will mean that this new series will also lead to a long, happy run for the cast and crew. We don't know when Shining Vale will debut on Starz just yet, but with it filming now, it could arrive around the same time as Courteney Cox hits the big screen in the fourth Scream sequel, which lands on January 14, 2022.
For more to watch in the meantime, check out our 2021 fall TV schedule!
