Terrence Howard Didn’t Want to Work With Taraji P. Henson in ‘Hustle & Flow’

Empire stars Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson are well known for playing love interests Lucious and Cookie Lyon in the show. But the pair’s relationship goes way before Fox’s hit show. They initially connected in the movie Hustle & Flow. However, Howard initially didn’t think he and Henson were a good match for the movie.

How Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard met

Henson and Howard starred in a much different project based on the hip hop industry in 2005. Hustle and Flow saw the Iron Man star playing a pimp and drug dealer with aspirations to be a successful rapper. Meanwhile, Henson played a sex worker who’d help support his lifestyle and dreams. Both were critically praised for performances that were seen as Oscar-worthy. But although they brought out the best in each other, Howard originally didn’t think Henson was a good match for him at first.

“Terrence didn’t want me for the part,” Henson recalled in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. “He had another agenda. But when I read for the role, I gained his respect right away. He thought he was going to steal the scene and wasn’t anyone going to take it away from him. But that’s what I did. From then on, he was intrigued.”

Henson might’ve even saved the movie when it came to the characters’ relationship. Howard wanted to rehearse a kissing scene they were supposed to do. But Henson felt the kiss would’ve felt more natural if they didn’t practiced the scene beforehand.

“I said, ‘You dummy, you’re going to ruin the whole movie. Don’t you know everyone is waiting for this kiss, and if we do it now, that will ruin the movie. You’re an idiot,’” Henson told Howard about the scene. “So the film goes to Sundance and the kiss happens and everyone goes nuts and Terrence looked over at me and said, ‘I’m so glad I listened to you.’”

A decade later, their friendship would come in handy. Henson recommended Howard for Lucious, a role Wesley Snipes was briefly considered for. Although Howard had reservations about the show, he turned his Empire character into an icon once he committed to the project. Additionally, he and Henson quickly found their groove as a couple on the show thanks to their past.

“Terence and I have a history. We have a bond that you can’t write. You can’t write this kind of chemistry, you just can’t. If we hadn’t already been through Hustle & Flow, Cookie and Lucious would be less interesting,” Henson said in a 2015 interview with Entertainment Weekly.

Terrence Howard regretted not joining Taraji P. Henson on the Oscars stage for their ‘Hustle & Flow’ performance

Hustle & Flow was recognized by the academy at the 2006 Oscars. During the ceremony, rap group Three Six Mafia and and Taraji P. Henson performed the movie’s record “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” live on stage. Although Howard was a part of the record in the film, he was told not to perform the song at the Oscars with Henson. But in hindsight, the actor believed he made a mistake.

“I wish I had. And my manager at the time said, ‘No, you’re gonna sit here in your tux and you’re gonna receive this award. You’re not gonna get up there and rap,'” Howard once said on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. “And I was siting there trying to play ‘good boy’ at the time, which sometimes we do in this business — we try to play ‘good boy.’ But it was one of the few things that I regret not doing in my career was not performing at the Oscars ‘Hard out Here for a Pimp.'”

The song would eventually go on to win an Oscar for Best Song, which Howard also wished he had a hand in. Although Howard performed the song in the movie, he didn’t write down his part on the record. Because of this, he wasn’t eligible to win an award for the track.

“Taraji was up there and I’m watching Juicy J and them do my song,” he said. “And whether they wrote half of it, ’cause my stuff I didn’t write down that I wrote. I should have. If I had written down what I wrote, I would have that Oscar too. But I should have gone up there. You always finish what you start. I should have finished it,” he said.