Tyrese Gibson Once Changed His Phone Number Because John Singleton Kept Calling Him to Do Movies
John Singleton helped put actor Tyrese Gibson on the path to becoming a movie star. But at one time, Gibson was so against working in Hollywood that he changed his number to avoid the filmmaker.
Tyrese Gibson changed his phone number so John Singleton would stop calling him about acting
Although Gibson has proven himself to be more than a capable actor over the years, at first Hollywood was far from his mind. In the earlier days of Gibson’s career, he was an artist focusing on an extremely successful music career. And if he had it his way, Gibson would’ve stayed a musician.
“I think we’ve all had that moment where we either see something, or exposed to something, or someone says something and they’re like, ‘I see something in you that you may not see yourself,'” Gibson once confided on The Rich Eisen Show. “And at the time I was only a singer. I was so excited about my singing career, the last thing I wanted to do was act.”
But Singleton saw another side to Gibson that he felt was perfect for films.
“And John Singleton chased me for five years and just kept saying, ‘You’re gonna be an actor. I’m gonna put you in a movie,'” Gibson recalled.
Gibson, however, was still reluctant to be an actor. So much so he briefly tried to sever communication with Singleton.
“He blew my phone up when he was doing Shaft. I ended up changing my number because he figured I could do Shaft while I was in town hosting my show on MTV,” Gibson confided to Black Film.
How John Singleton finally got Tyrese Gibson to do ‘Baby Boy’
Singleton went to extreme lengths to convince Gibson to star in the 2001 feature Baby Boy. For the reluctant singer at the time, it took an unexpected visit from a frustrated Singleton to finally get Gibson on board.
“I’ll never forget, he came to my house in Hawthorne, showed up at my house, he was telling me all about Baby Boy, and I was like, I can relate to the story, but I still wasn’t interested in acting,” Gibson once told Hollywood.
It wasn’t the response Singleton was looking for, and Singleton couldn’t help lash out at the future actor.
“Then he was like ‘Man f*** this! Read this script, man!’ And then I was just like ‘What do I have to do?’ Guy come over here snapping on me,” he added.
Gibson agreed to do the film, and since then it’s led to a highly lucrative career for the actor.
“So that was it, man, but it’s like the outcome of Baby Boy and the other two films we did together, this one and 2 Fast 2 Furious, it’s just like, ‘Damn, man, I can’t even believe that I’m doing it,'” he said.
John Singleton felt Tyrese Gibson reminded him of Tupac
Although Baby Boy was Gibson’s breakthrough role, the part originally wasn’t the singer’s to take. Singleton tapped another hip-hop artist for the film, but then tragedy struck.
“John walked up to me at one of these BET parties or something and said ‘I got this movie idea called Baby Boy‘. And he was supposed to do it with Tupac, and Pac got killed. So John just put it on the shelf. He was done with it,” Gibson told TV One TV.
Singleton shelved Baby Boy for a long time. But encountering Gibson helped resurrect the project.
“And then John met me. John said, ‘Man, you remind me of Tupac.’ I thought he was just saying some s*** to make me feel good. I’m like, ‘Me, Tupac, don’t really see it, but I hear you,'” Gibson recalled telling the director.
After Gibson accepted the role, Singleton paid homage to the late rapper in the film. This made sure Tupac’s presence was still a part of Baby Boy.
“So, we did Baby Boy, and because the movie was supposed to be a movie that was done with Tupac, that’s the reason why we have this big mural of Tupac in my bedroom. Because that was John’s way of saying, ‘You were supposed to be in this movie. You were my original baby bro,'” Gibson explained.
