Ice Cube Reveals ‘Last Friday’ Plot Idea With Chris Tucker and the Status of the Movie
It’s been more than 25 years since Friday came out, but it still holds up as one of the best comedy movies of all time. Starring Ice Cube and Chris Tucker, it follows two best friends who spend a Friday together in Los Angeles. Though the premise is simple, the movie was a huge success, earning positive reviews from critics and spawning multiple sequels.
There’s supposed to be one more film to cap the story, but the fourth Friday movie has been stalled for years. In an April interview, Ice Cube opened up about the project, sharing his plot ideas, the status of Last Friday, and more.
Ice Cube on ‘Last Friday’ and why it’s taken so long to come out
Cube, 51, was on Kevin Smith’s podcast, SModcast, when he was asked about Last Friday. The rapper repeated his past claims that Warner Bros. Studios doesn’t want to do any more movies, despite fan interest. “Me and New Line [Cinemas] (which is under Warner Bros.) own it together, but of course they got the rights to put the f*cking sh*t out,” he said around the 12:00 mark.
Cube went on to reveal that he created two “crazy” scripts for Last Friday. “One they just wouldn’t do because it was before cannabis was legal,” he explained. “Craig (Cube) and Day Day (Mike Epps) had a dispensary and they had a flash mob in there who stole all the sh*t, and we ended up f*cking up some kids and going to jail. In jail, we see all the motherf*ckers we put there … so our whole thing was trying to survive in jail with all these motherf*ckers locked in with us. Then we get sent to a rehab run by Smokey (Tucker) and it’s a f*ckin’ scam. They back there smoking all the dope they find on people.”
“It was, to me, great for the time, but them motherf*ckers were like, ‘They spending too much time in jail. Jail’s not really funny.’ You know all this bullsh*t,” Cube continued, noting he now finds it ironic considering all the jail-centric programs that later came out, like Orange Is the New Black.
Ice Cube says his second ‘Last Friday’ idea was also shot down
Despite his frustrations, Cube took the criticism in stride, going back to create another script that he says was absolutely “perfect.” He didn’t detail the storyline, presumably because that’s the plot he intends to use if Last Friday ever gets going, but he did say it featured a love story.
“And for whatever reason they were like, ‘Well the love story part, I don’t really understand.’ I was like, ‘What the f*ck?’ … That sh*t is so minute in this whole story. It’s so small. What are you holding up a whole franchise for?” he added. “It was all bullsh*t.”
While Last Friday remained in limbo, the cast lost two of its biggest stars: John Witherspoon and Tiny Lister. Cube believes he can still come up with a good story, but he’s ready to get the ball rolling now. “I want the f*cking movie back,” he said after reflecting on their deaths, which came in 2019 and 2020, respectively. “You know, I want my sh*t back, so I can go make my movie.”
Even though the movie remains stalled, Cube thinks it’ll eventually get out. His hope is that the studio will release the rights to him so that he can take it elsewhere and finally give fans the “happiness” they’ve been waiting for. We’ll see what happens.
