Matt LeBlanc was offered the role of Phil Dunphy on Modern Family and turned it down. Before Ty Burrell made Phil one of TV’s most lovable dads, the pilot script landed on the desk of the man best known as Joey Tribbiani on Friends, and his answer was a polite no.
Why Matt LeBlanc Turned Down Phil Dunphy
LeBlanc has said the script came to him around 2009, not long after his Friends spin-off Joey had ended. He liked what he read, but he didn’t see himself in the part. As he put it: “I remember thinking, this is a really good script, but I’m not the guy for this.”
It turns out the creators had someone else in mind all along. Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd had written Phil with Ty Burrell in mind, but ABC needed some convincing, and more than 200 actors reportedly auditioned along the way before Burrell finally landed the role.
It Worked Out for Everyone
Burrell made the character his own, from Phil’s-osophy and real estate obsessions to his magic tricks and endless dad jokes. He won two Primetime Emmys for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for the role, in 2011 and 2014, and became one of the faces of the show across all 11 seasons.
Matt LeBlanc did just fine too. He went on to star in the Showtime and BBC comedy Episodes, playing an exaggerated version of himself, and won a Golden Globe for the role. He later starred in the CBS sitcom Man with a Plan. Still, it’s fun to imagine what a Joey-style Phil Dunphy might have looked like, even if it’s hard to picture anyone but Burrell shouting “Hey hey hey!”
Learn more about why LeBlanc passed on the role at CinemaBlend.
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