Comedian Chris Tucker is speaking out about why he took a hiatus from Hollywood following the success of his “Rush Hour” movies. Tucker sat down with Classix 102.9 ATL on March 30 to discuss his return in the new film about NBA star Michael Jordan, “Air.”
Tucker revealed that he stepped back from Hollywood to pursue other interests, including traveling and doing stand-up.
“The way I kind of stepped back from Hollywood at one point, you know, being the highest-paid actor in Hollywood,” said Tucker. “But I felt like, you know, it was a ceiling right there and I wanted more. It wasn’t enough. So I stepped back and lived a little bit, traveled the world, and did a lot of humanitarian stuff that really broadened my perspective on the world.”
Tucker says “Rush Hour 4” is in the works, and the 51-year-old also discussed his role as Nike executive Howard White in “Air.”
“My people told me that ‘they want you to play this part, Howard White’ so, I said, ‘Cool, that’s my friend. Let me call Howard.'”
WSB TV in Atlanta also interviewed Tucker and he explained that his part was small and not even in the original script, but after director Ben Affleck met with Jordan, the role was added.
“My character wasn’t in the original script. Ben Affleck went down to talk to Michael Jordan and asked him what did he want in this movie. He said ‘you gotta have Viola Davis as my mama and you’ve gotta have Howard White in this movie,’ because he was Nike’s bridge to Michael,” said Tucker.
“I knew Howard White, so I had all the insight and information I could talk to him about. He had me talking to people about when he was 5 years old riding on bikes in the street with, playing basketball with, high school coaches, teachers. I talked to each and everyone for at least an hour.”
Tucker did co-star in several small roles during his hiatus, including the 2012 film “Silver Linings Playbook” as well as “Billy Flynn’s Long Halftime Walk back in 2016. He also was busy doing stand-up and recently announced that he would be performing two shows in Las Vegas over the summer.
The comedian will perform on the strip in the Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas on July 14 and 15.
