Ice Cube claims Chris Tucker turned down $12 million to reprise his role in the ‘Friday’ sequel because of a higher power.
via People:
The duo’s 1995 comedy was a hit, spawning two sequels: 2000’s Next Fridayand 2002’s Friday After Next. Tucker, however, did not return to play Smokey in the subsequent films because of what Ice Cube, who was also a producer on the movies, said were “religious reasons.”
“We were ready to pay Chris Tucker $10-12m to do Next Friday but he turned us down for religious reasons. He didn’t want to cuss or smoke weed on camera anymore,” tweeted the rapper/actor, 52, when someone asked Wednesday whether Tucker “quit over money” reasons.
A rep for Tucker did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Last month, Tucker, 50, reflected on his decision to back out from the subsequent sequels.
“Back then, I gotta tell you, one of the reasons why I didn’t do the second one was because of the weed,” Tucker said in an interview with All Urban Central. “Because I said, man, that movie became a phenomenon. I don’t want everybody smoking weed — and I never really told people this because I kind of forgot about it, but it was one of the reasons why I didn’t do it. Because I said, ‘I don’t wanna represent everybody smoking weed.'”
“And that’s one of the reasons why I said ‘nah.’ I didn’t wanna keep doing that character. It probably was good for me because it kept me moving to the next phase and next movies,” Tucker added.
He also mentioned other reasons for his decision not to go back to Friday, saying, “I never thought about doing sequels. I always wanted to do a good job and keep moving to the next movie.”
Tucker starred in three Rush Hour movies with costar Jackie Chan, plus films like 1997’s The Fifth Element and 2012’s Silver Linings Playbook.
Regarding the idea of coming back for a long-rumored fourth Friday movie, Tucker said he would “definitely consider it.”
“I always said — because I know my fans love the movies so much [and] they always bring it up — I said, well, if they come to me with a great script and a great idea, I’d definitely consider it,” he said. “But it’s been so long ago and that character became such a great character. I don’t wanna mess it up.”
It’ll be interesting to see if they ever make a 4th film.
