Veteran actor Chris Tucker shot into the limelight following his portrayal of the character Smokey in the 1995 Black cult classic movie Friday. But despite the movie’s success, the 50-year-old did not appear in the two sequels – which obviously came as a surprise to fans.
In a recent interview on the movie podcast “Flix Talk”, the Rush Hour actor bluntly explained why he decided not to feature in the sequels, saying he took the moral high road, New York Post reported. In the movie, Tucker’s character, Smokey, is a habitual marijuana smoker and dealer who gets into the bad books of a neighborhood drug supplier he owes.
Tucker said his decision to not return to the franchise was because he did not want his persona to be affiliated to weed. “Back then, I gotta tell you, one of the reasons why I didn’t do the second one was because of the weed,” he said.
“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.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Tucker also said he wasn’t really into movie sequels at that time of his career, per Complex. The 50-year-old, however, gave props to the movie’s co-creator, Ice Cube, for bringing the sequels alive without his character.
“I never really wanted to do another one,” said Tucker. “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. But it’s been so long ago and that character became such a great character. I don’t wanna mess it up.”
Though it was initially announced a fourth installment of the Friday franchise was in the works, The Wall Street Journal reported production had hit a snag because of creative differences between Ice Cube and WarnerMedia.
