Chris Tucker Talks About Only Making $10,000 For His Role in 'Friday'

Shannon Sharpe recently welcomed Chris Tucker to his YouTube channel.

Chris Tucker recently joined Shannon Sharpe for an interview on Club Shay Shay, where the two talked about Tucker's iconic role as Smokey in Friday. Widely regarded as a classic, the movie was filmed on a meager $3.5 million budget. When asked about how the movie came together, Chris revealed just how much of a cut he got for his role. Watch the full interview below.

"It was just a small movie," Tucker recalled glowingly. "We filmed it in 20 days, and I didn't get but about $10,000 for it. I didn't care, I wanted the opportunity."

Luckily for everyone involved, the movie earned over $27 million at the box office and will live on in memes forever.

Tucker recalled just how high the stakes were on set. "I know we had 20 days," he continued, "because the director [F. Gary Gray] reminded me every day. So you better not mess up. We could only take two takes [per scene]. If you mess up, you got one more time or we're going to cut your part."

Despite the restraints, Tucker wouldn't have done it any other way. Considering his career after Friday's debut, that mindset make sense.

"That was the beauty of it," he continued. "It allowed me to get into the character. There weren't any big distractions like big movie sets. You've got light people, sound people, everybody wants to be the star. This movie was just a camera and me and [Ice] Cube on the front porch, and magic things came out of it."

Just his third movie role after an uncredited appearance in The Meteor Man and House Party 3. After Friday, Tucker appeared in Dead Presidents, Money Talks, and The Fifth Element. The following year, he debuted in the Rush Hour franchise.

All's well that ends well.