I wouldn’t be able to pick Matthew Lawrence out of a line-up, even though he’s been acting since he was a kid. He’s arguably famous for Boy Meets World, Mrs. Doubtfire and being Joey Lawrence’s brother. Back in the 1990s, he was cast in a TV movie alongside Gabrielle Union. He would have been around 19 years old, and Gabrielle would have been in her mid-20s. Apparently, she asked him if they could rehearse their lines and he said “nope” and so she “reported” him to the director or whatever. This is the story he’s telling this week and it’s getting a lot of attention.
Matthew Lawrence recently said on the “Magical Rewind” podcast that the only time he got into trouble on a film or television set was when Gabrielle Union allegedly reported him. According to Lawrence, the incident occurred after he declined Union’s offer to rehearse their lines together on the set of their 1999 TV movie “H-E Double Hockey Sticks.” Lawrence starred in the film as a hockey player who becomes the target of a young devil, played by podcast co-host Will Friedle.
“There was this one moment where — and, again, I’m oblivious, I had no idea — and [Gabrielle] wanted to rehearse. And I was like, ‘No, I’m good,’” Lawrence remembered (via Entertainment Weekly). “And she got angry and went and reported me to the director and the studio. The only time in my entire career, because usually I’m, like, the advocate, and I’m fighting for kids and, like, you know, women’s rights. This is the only time in my life when I was called into the office for something I did on set. And I had no clue.”
Lawrence explained that he declined Union’s request to rehearse their lines together because he wanted the scene to feel as fresh as possible when the time came to shoot it. He no longer thinks that way as an actor.
“At that point, in my mind — now I can do whatever, and nothing’s gonna faze me — [but] at that point in my mind, I really loved memorizing the lines, knowing all the beats,” Lawrence said, “but hated running it, cause it felt like it took all the freshness out of it.”
“H-E Double Hockey Sticks” aired on ABC in October 1999 as part of “The Wonderful World of Disney” series. It was the same year that Union starred in the popular teen comedies “10 Things I Hate About You” and “She’s All That.” Lawrence said that everybody on the set of their TV movie knew Union would go on to be a star.
What’s funny is that Gabrielle was probably so annoyed with this guy. She didn’t want to deal with his nonsense, so she went to whoever was in charge and she was like “you deal with this because he’s on my last nerve.” Again, this was the ‘90s! It was a TV movie! She was standing up for herself in a time when most actresses would have felt like they just had to “get over it” when a costar wouldn’t rehearse with them. Anyway, Team Gabrielle.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
