Chris Tucker Breaks Down His Most Iconic Characters | GQ

foreign [Music] decline for somebody I think because of the Wardrobe and because Prince had his own style Rush Hour it was so much fun man working with Jackie Chan man this guy he's amazing man I definitely uh prepared myself because I knew it was Jackie Chan I didn't want to you know uh let him down I worked out lift weights ran you know the first one uh made sure I was in tip top shape so whenever he was like come on you know right I was ready but he made it so easy man with the

martial arts and all you know stuff he was just swinging me around basically just following him man go this way kick this way look this way made it look like I knew what I was doing so it was good I mean one day I think I just walked into a real police station like through the back door acting like I belonged there I was I don't know what I said I don't remember but I was like this is Carter you know I gotta go find him you know I wanted him to be smart he was

doing things his way uh differently you know and breaking the rules a lot of the scenes was just off the script I mean the Improv Jackie followed me a lot but he was so good the chemistry was so great man he knew when I went off on something he was right there with reaction and all that stuff and with the action you know he's the man that with that so I just like what we're gonna do what you want me to do he's like just uh just follow me with the clothes I think back then

that was Versace on The Stylist had me like some regular like stuff that everybody wear I was like no no Carter got a little more edging than this then uh I got this other stylist who went and got me some like Versace belt and a couple of Versace things and the suit was tailored and man I said this is Carter let's go in hey fire to him honey cut that don't get the clothes okay I'll pull some items Little Kim I'll be back you see that he likes you yeah it was fun man that was

so much fun every time I go to Vegas and go into the Coliseum Mall I'll be like that's what the shop was we we went in and Jeremy was we had a lot of fun doing that so [Music] Friday break yourself fool look what you did to my curtain you better watch when do you climbing that food before you get blasted on with what that was my first like star and roll co-starring role and I was like my shot to let people know I can carry a movie uh alongside Ice Cube so I remember just

the preparation focus and we only like you said we only had two takes small budget in 20 days working with Gary gray was great you know smart you know he really found the great music for the movie The Great tone I mean he was just jeans with that and putting it together it was really just me being you know the Young The Young Chris Tucker just I knew I would bring that energy and then take it up a notch and animated it a lot and make it fun and funny [Music] Craig hold up a heartbeat

man that's what it's supposed to do and the casting with everybody with tiny Zeus Lester I don't know if I mentioned him when he passed away one of my good friends legendary uh tiny juice lesson who played Debo casting him man as like the big villain coming through like uh the shark you know from Jaws and working next to Ice Cube was a pleasure man because Cube you know uh I was a fan of his being a rapper the legendary iconic John Witherspoon and Bernie Mac those guys comedy Legends and godsmen you had Ronaldo Ray

and Yvette Wilson so many Legends uh that was in this movie that passed away and so so uh honored to have worked with them Fifth Element lupusan said he wanted a flamboyant character and he wanted like sexuality and all this stuff I thought of Prince I thought of because Prince was supposed to play the part decline for some reason I think because of the Wardrobe and because Prince had his own style and in fact he told me one time in person he heard I was doing the movies I I didn't want to do it you

know I was like oh and and all that I said okay all right so then I was the second choice it was definitely different for me uh but I'm so so glad I tackled it and did it because man it brought us you know range in me I only use probably on stage so working with Luke bassan man was unbelievable he we filmed in London he had all these stages you know at Pine Woods and it was like he really was you know in another world and uh man putting on the outfits and the costumes

and all the stuff man it just really turned me into a ruby Rod character and I really was able to just really let loose [Music] but I'm so glad I didn't because it was it's one of my favorite roles I definitely did some uh different type of all you know tell them uh to try to make this that way but they were speaking French and it kind of gave me the 52 fakes I didn't they did what they wanted to do but I'm glad they did because that's what Lupa son wanted and that was with

the character was and it made me go uh into the character more if I would have did it my way so I'm glad they didn't listen to me I love working with directors uh who write their own scripts and then they know it from back focus they can really tell you what they want and I like when sometimes they dictate it to me because I could just give it right at to them [Music] Money Talks hold up man wait a minute wait a minute you that silly ass reporter from the Channel 5 News ain't you

Channel 12 actually although I knew it was up man James Russell how you doing all right what's up well first of all it was great working with Charlie Sheen he was man the best and Charlie actually fought for me to have first bill in new line wanted Charlie Sheen to be first building but I kind of brought the project uh my team brought the project the new line we found it some kind of way and then they got uh Charlie for us and Charlie said no no no he should have First Billing and I never

forget that you know that he did that for me early in my career I was slappy man I would slap the hell out of you you don't play with me you don't know who you're messing with I don't even know when I almost slap somebody my reflexes just slap people I'd be like damn why did I do that I don't even know what I'll be slapping people I don't know what I'm gonna slap somebody you keep messing with me I'm dangerous I'm scared of myself I was just going all out trying to get the laughs

trying to make it fun I just wanted to bring my energy to the screen man I was young I just won every thing to be you know energy a character was on the run and I just wanted to just be fun and I was all out whatever I could you know it didn't matter I was holding nothing back man my registration everything what's up man what's up now the prison scene was something we came up with on the spot on that day of because we were so young we didn't think about it till that day

like we got this I'm right we we're close friends and and we were really close back then and we just wanted to do something that's iconic memorable because we was like Hey man we got to do something that's crazy because we can't let this scene Get By Us Dead Presidents all I know is my blood cells all up some nights I wake up in cold sweats and you don't look at me like that man it ain't the heroine the heroin ain't never did nothing to me I was happy that I got Dead Presidents because I

want to show a different range that I could play dramatic roles early in my career so that was a lot of fun I was looking forward to doing that because I did that right after Fridays I think so working with the Hughes Brothers was great because they had the 60s 70s music all around the setup the whole time man and they really put us back into that period man the Wardrobe it was just all the stuff they put around us man that really made it work oh move mister I've been I've been wanting to get

next to you baby you see sometime I have four moms I say and they had to put these contacts in my eyes to you know make it seem like I was passed away for a while and then I had to walk I remember in real life I had to walk across this cold Street in New York I was freezing that day and I couldn't see anything I think they had me on with the robe and already on and I'm walking through traffic to get to the building where I supposed to be and I remember that

and I was like oh my God what is this all about air the key to Phil is make them afraid he'll get us both damn fine Phil got a hundred million dollars in a life supply of them damn pink nut hugging jogging shots the hell is he afraid of let's say you get feel how the hell you gonna get Michael my part wasn't Howard white part wasn't in the script so my dialogue and my scenes had to make sense with the script he had to make the movie move the information that I gave in the

scene had to work for the for the story and also for my part I said yes because Ben was like you know we'll fix it whatever you want to do we'll we'll make it work I've called been the player coach because he's an actor and a director and he knows you know what it takes you know for actors to feel comfortable to get the best out of them and give them that room to do their thing and great team and it really had a great time working with them you got them all there the greatest

high school players in the country you might have forgot about this but I was invited best day of my life then I blew out my damn knee yeah they don't matter about what feel is thinking or anybody's thinking all that matters is how much do you believe I believe in you and Michael said he had to have Howard in the movie because how was a big part of Nike Howard was pretty much the bridge from Nike to uh Michael I wouldn't have did it without talking to Howard it was just amazing how it came about

just a blessing because you know how it's still here how it had a heart transplant so he he might have not been here I spent hours on the phone with Howard white my friend Hal and talking about you know him and then he put me on the phone with his childhood friends when he was five years old and doing Hot Scotch in the neighborhood riding bikes to his high school teachers and coaches High School coaches and friends all the way up to when they mentored Charles Barkley so he gave me a lot all this information

and I had to put it all together and I pretty much wrote All My scenes I put all that stuff together and Ben gave me the room to to do whatever I wanted to do so I I got all the information and embodied his spirit and in dialect it was one of the hardest parts I ever did Jackie Brown now you must be out of your mind if you think I'm gonna get in this dirty ass truck we ain't going the weather to Korea Town man you ain't gonna be in here no more than 10

minutes man I ain't riding no goddamn trunk for no minute man well I can't ride up front with you okay right up front with me the surprise element is 90 of it I'm sorry man but I ain't getting no goddamn trunk they put me in that trunk though I didn't know they was gonna do me like that in that truck my fans got mad cause they was like hey we come to see you in the movie and you get you know knocked off in the first scene they got mad at me at that time because

I was like starring in movies and they wanted to really see me and then they did it with the strawberry lettuce that was just every time I hear that song I think about that scene you know I wanted to do it because you know Quentin Tarantino and the hottest directors and you just wanted to work with him to say you worked with him so it was fun I knew it was just gonna be a quick scene I remember Samuel Jackson working with him and it was worth it it was a lot of fun and Clinton

you know he was basically like um you know telling me uh what he wanted hot because he talked the way he writes so it's so natural that's one of the few directors I kind of said his words kind of word from word because it was kind of like the way I talk a little bit yeah seven Linings he wrote about you all right but he say he said you guys was helping each other out and you were nice and you you had a mouth on you but whoa whoa whoa okay no please tell me more

about what he said on the line yeah anything you want to know I'll just tell you in the letter was nothing I love movies that I can learn something from you know mental health uh is a big big thing and I learned a lot from doing this movie I love working with directors like David O Russell because like I said you know the script so well he'll tell you to do something he's off camera throwing stuff at you he would go around with you like a monitor and like I say this they'll throw stuff at

you throw stuff that you throw stuff so I love that you know as a coming from a comic world [Music] When You Love You Rock My World I remember Tupac just got out of jail we were filming in the desert he came it was like unbelievable he brought all this great energy to the set and we always having fun because we were celebrating him getting out to it Michael Clarke Duncan saved my life I'll tell everybody that because we were going over this Doom in the Desmond and I had my hands up we hit a

bump and then Michael Clarke Duncan grabbed my back of my shirt of vests and kind of pulled me back down I think I was going over and I was like thank you man thank you Michael thank you so he's all he always got a special place in my heart oh look at that hmm she looks homeless rock my world was a mini movie it was a a movie like he always did it's a lot of fun I think the theme was we were in Cuba or something Michael uh Jackson just a part of everybody's life

growing up a big influence I noticed that you know back all the way from Fridays I would be doing a dance or acting or something out uh sounding like him in a song and in Def Jam even before that and Def Jam I did a Michael Jackson joke and then a lot of comedians in Def Jam everybody had to have a Michael Jackson joke because he's just so huge in everybody's life