[THE MAIN EVENT]
Seasoned filmmaker Ice Cube explains why he went with a far-from-festive Christmas storyline for Friday After Next
UpRising: As a writer, Cube, how did you land on the Christmas premise for Friday After Next?
Ice Cube: I wanted to do a California Christmas movie. No one would ever do a Christmas like us. I've seen Christmas [on the West Coast] my whole life. And so I set out to blend the two from not just being a Friday movie but wrapped up in a holiday so I can really show how we celebrate Christmas on the West Coast where there’s no snow on the ground. It's Christmas lights on palm trees and shit like that. I just wanted to cinematically show how we do Christmas on the West Coast.
Do you recall the studio’s reaction to the script?
When it comes to Friday movies, I really don't need the studio reaction because it is nuanced comedy. The way that I'm trying to [deliver the] comedy is not the average stuff you would normally laugh at or see, but if you're from the neighborhood, you see it all the time and it is funny. So I just think their perspective is not as welcomed in those situations as it is with an action movie or something different. I might really be into the collaborative stuff [in those kinds of films], but with a Friday movie, we know how to do this.
As much as people enjoy Hallmark Christmas movies, audiences look forward to holiday films that fall into unexpected genres. It’s how we get debates over Die Hard being a Christmas film.
I'm not a big fan of Christmas, to be honest. So beating Santa Claus’ ass with a Christmas tree is funny to me. That’s just the hood version of some of the Christmases we've had to go through or experience or heard about. Everybody heard about all the presents being gone and stolen from somebody. You just know some kids are going to be crying. People are going to be yelling, talking shit, mad at the community for breaking in their house. So I wanted to go on that. I think that's more of a Craig and Day-Day story and the fact that they're security guards at Christmastime just adds to their chaos. Could you imagine a guy working a little mall or a strip mall as security during Christmas when it's crazy people fighting over parking spots. His Christmas ain't good, he ain't having fun. I just wanted to have an anti-Christmas theme in the Christmas movie.
Katt Williams appears in the next MACRO film, One of Them Days. Director Lawrence Lamont recently spoke with UpRising about his gift of improvisation. Did you realize Katt Williams was such a special talent when you filmed Friday After Next?
Yeah, I mean just seeing him in his costume and wardrobe, you just started laughing, hearing that voice. Some people got a voice where they can almost say anything and make you laugh. It's the sound of their voice. Chris Tucker is another guy who can do it with the voice. Even John Witherspoon. So when you got people like that, you could tell very quick that whatever we give them is going to snap and pop. It's going to have that energy that you want in a movie.
What we did was have him run the script as-is and then we say, okay, once you comfortable with it as-is, how would you do this scene? Go for it. We ready for [your character to say] anything. And in those readings, sometimes you get the jewels, you get the ad-lib parts that are not scripted but works perfectly with the scripted lines. The more you do that, the more jewels you get for the editor. It's really the editor who has to balance what's in the script and where the ad-libs can enhance the script.
You said you don’t really enjoy Christmas movies, but if you were forced to watch one that wasn’t Friday After Next, which would you select?
I love Home Alone. That's the top to me. [National Lampoon's] Christmas Vacation is pretty cool, you know what I mean? I like the Vacation style filmmaking. Die Hard is dope and I consider it a Christmas movie. And to be honest, I look at Trading Places as a Christmas movie because it is done at Christmastime.
You’ve released a new album, Man Down, and masculinity is a theme throughout the work. What are your thoughts on masculinity and where it stands today?
There's a line between true masculinity and being an asshole, right? For some reason when you hear the word masculinity, you think somebody want to be an asshole, a bully, somebody pushing his weight around, that's where masculinity is. But that's not what that is. It’s being your true comfortable self. You know what I mean? That's what it is. Men are apologizing for being themselves and that shit gotta stop. There's no survival in that. There's no future in that. We need men, youngsters, and boys for the world, for the infrastructure, to stay together in this world. So it's a bad word now that we got to turn around.
Speaking of masculine personas, you and Busta Rhymes worked together on John Singleton’s Higher Learning. You two reconnect on “Ego Maniacs.” His lyrics, along with Killer Mike’s, salute you. What was your reaction when you first heard his verse?
I was honored when I heard the verse. I was blown away that he could spit all the facts in a quick 16 [bars]. I was amazed at his wordplay on the record. It was all love from him and Killer Mike—love that I didn't expect. So it was very cool. You doing something right when you got two ferocious MCs giving you props, you know what I mean?
The West Coast is having a moment. You have an album in cycle, Dr. Dre and Snoop just released Missionary, and Kendrick’s GNX album debuted No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 319,000 sold in its first week. The city also has the Olympics coming in 2028. DJ HED recently said this West Coast reign could run several years, so people should get comfortable.
We’re having a moment for sure. Whether it would last two or three years, I don't know about that part. The thing is, you keep releasing good music, keep doing cool stuff, and hopefully the attention stays. But this is hip-hop. The tides flow. You got to understand that you don't have two years. You got a moment, so take advantage of it. You never know a whole new sound can come from somewhere that just blow people away. I remember when everybody thought they had a moment and then Nelly came out from St. Louis and just put the moment somewhere else. We can't sleep. We got to keep doing good stuff, keep doing good music.
What is it about the West that unifies those participating in the culture? That unity appears to be different than other regions.
I think you got a major gang culture out here, so people are used to linking up and we've had major movements like gang truces and peace treaties and things like that. When you have the feeling of brotherhood and unity, it just makes it feel larger than life as a connection. And so we've had those moments. Kendrick with The Pop Out was a moment where you see there's unity in the air, it looks like an army of people all moving in the same direction. That's very powerful. I don't think other regions have the gang culture in a way where if it ever linked up and locked up and connected that it could be as formative. And it is all up and down California and then you feel it in Arizona, you feel it in Vegas, you feel it in Seattle. We've all unified it behind the W, that West Coast symbol. It gives the perception of major unity.
—Jermaine Hall
Revisit Friday After Next this holiday season and spin Ice Cube's new banger, Man Down, as you ring in the New Year.
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