After a hilarious and memorable performance in the cult classic Friday, Chris Tucker, who played the role of Smokey, failed to make a return for the movie’s sequels. The comedian explained his decision to depart from the popular franchise during a recent interview. “I never really told people this ’cause I kinda forgot about it … I didn’t want to represent everybody smoking weed,” he said. “I kind of made it more personal than a movie … I wanted to move on because when I did something, I never wanted to do it again. Back then, I was all about going to the next level. I had a good sense of like, ‘OK, now it’s time to go do an action movie.’” As Tucker mentioned in prior interviews, he was only paid $10,000 to portray Smokey. However, he revealed that he was just eager to get an opportunity at the time. “It’s one of those things — it was just a small movie,” he explained. “We filmed it in 20 days. I got about $10,000 for it or whatever, I didn’t care. I wanted the opportunity. It was that small of a movie, but that was the beauty of it.” “It allowed me to get into character. It wasn’t no big distractions like big movie sets,” he continued. “You got light people and sound people and everybody wanna be a star. But that movie was just a camera and me and [Ice] Cube on the porch. Magic came out of it, thank God.” After the release of Friday, Ice Cube went on to release Next Friday and Friday After Next, replacing Smokey with Craig’s cousin Day Day Jones, who was played by Mike Epps. Plans to put together another film, Last Friday, have been halted due to conflicts with Warner Bros. See Chris Tucker’s explanation below. Template:Tem need tplate:Infobox Smokey in 'Friday' Smokey (real name Clarence) is the deuteragonist in the Friday film series. He is portrayed by Chris Tucker. Friday (1995)[]Smokey appears in Friday as Craig's best friend and was a drug dealer working for supplier Big Worm Smokey himself was a heavy marijuana user and when he and his friend Craig , spent a Friday morning and afternoon together, Smokey got him to smoke some of the marijuana that he was supposed to be selling for Worm, however, he apparently had smoked more of it before. Later in the day, Big Worm paid a visit to the boys' neighborhood. Smokey told him that they smoked up all of his weed, even though Smokey smoked more than Craig did. Big Worm then threatened Smokey, saying if they didn't pay him the money they owed him by 10 PM, he would kill both of them. So Craig and Smokey made up strategies to see how they could come up with the money. Craig asked his mother, Betty, and sister, Dana and they both turned him down. When Craig's father, Willie, found out about the threat Big Worm sent Smokey, he kicked Smokey out of the house, but Craig followed him. As they went outside and saw a van, which contained Big Worm's friends, who have machine guns, and fire them at Craig and Smokey. Craig fired back with a pistol, but missed. To avoid the gang, the boys then hid in a truck. On their way back to their part of the neighborhood, Deebo, has beat up Debbie s sister Felisha in a display of domestic violence. Deebo became heated over Debbie confronting him and calling him out and he slaps Debbie for the comments she assaulted him with. Then Craig came and pushed Deebo, starting a fight, which Craig ended up winning. The film ends with Smokey in his room talking to Big Worm on the telephone talking about the events that occurred on that day. Smokey finally tells Big Worm he is going to rehab. Then lights up a joint and says: "I was just bullshittin', and you know this......MAN!" Friday: The Animated Series (2007)[]Smokey did appear in Friday: The Animated Series as Smokey & Craig in the animated series. it focuses on Craig and Smokey in South Central. He appears in all episodes mostly sitting on Craig's porch. Episodes :' Hardly Working', Notorious T.R.E.E., Go with the Flow, Experience the Happy, When Craig Met Condi, The Spirit of 420, Great Moments in Black History & Uncle Craig's Cabin. Absence from sequels[]Smokey did not appear in any of the two sequels, although he was briefly mentioned by Craig who says that since the first film he had gone to rehab and that he would miss him. His supporting place in the story was taken by Craig's cousin Day-Day, who is almost the polar opposite of Smokey by being extremely sensitive and immature. Chris Tucker was offered a chance to reprise his role in both Next Friday (2000) and Friday After Next (2002), but he refused twice because he became born-again in his roots of Christianity after Money Talks (1997), his payment being only $10,000 for his role as Smokey which is a small wage for an A-list actor, and also calling his own character a bad role-model to his image while aspiring to move on to better roles such as Detective James Carter. Tucker also once stated that the Rush Hour Trilogy (1998 - 2007) would be his last starring performance. Quotes[]
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