Ice Cube is definitely one of today’s movers and shakers in the entertainment industry.
After making a name from himself as a bad-ass rapper with his group N.W.A., Ice Cube shifted easily into acting with a stunning debut performance as a doomed gangbanger in John Singleton‘s 1991 Boyz ‘N the Hood. Since then, the rapper-turned-actor has not only starred in such high-profile films as Three Kings and Higher Learning, but he directed The Player’s Club. He also formed a successful production company, Cube Vision, which has churned out such hits as the Friday trilogy, Barbershop and Barbershop 2: Back in Business.
Ice Cube now has decided to aim his attention at his youngest fans with the comedy Are We There Yet?. Ice Cube plays Nick, a smooth operator trying to land a date with a young, attractive divorcee, Suzanne (Nia Long), who has two kids, 7-year-old Kevin (Philip Bolden) and 11-year-old Lindsey (Aleisha Allen). When Suzanne is stuck in Vancouver on a business trip, Nick gallantly volunteers to drive the kids from Portland, Ore., to Vancouver in his new Lincoln Navigator. What Nick doesn’t know is that Suzanne’s children think that no man is good enough for their mom and will do everything they can to make the trip a nightmare.
Hollywood.com spoke with Ice Cube about his motives for making a PG-rated film and discussed this enterprising filmmaker’s thoughts on what it takes to make it in the business.
First of all, was it tough to destroy a Lincoln Navigator?
Ice Cube: It was, man. We went through about 14 of them. At the beginning, I was thinking, “I’m gonna get about three of these … One for my sister, my brother-in-law needs a car.” And the director was like, “Man, you aren’t going to want any of these cars after we are finished with them.” I was like, “Fourteen cars! How can you mess up 14 cars?” But they did. It was hard to see a car like that taken apart. You get in and it’s all fresh and you come back after lunch and they had cut the car in half.
Is it true what they say that kids are the hardest to work with?
Not these two. This wasn’t their first time around a movie set. They’d been around the track and were actually more professional than some of the adults I’ve worked with in the past. At least we could get [the kids] out of their trailer. They were always ready to go. I thought maybe they might lose interest after awhile, wanna go home, go back to school, be with their friends. But that never happened.
Were they excited to be working with you?
Yeah, a little. But I wanted to put them at ease at the beginning. Just me and them went into a room and starting talking. I let them ask me all kinds of questions. They actually asked me about my records, the new one I’ve got out. What was I gonna do next and was there gonna to be a part two [to Are We There Yet?]. I was like, “We haven’t even started shooting part one yet.”
Was the concept of the movie something you’ve experienced personally?
The attitude [my character] Nick has in the beginning [of the film] is kind of the way I was before I met my wife. I was pretty much into cars, jewelry, clothes, rapping. I wasn’t into trying to be a family man, you know what I’m sayin’? But then I met her and things change. Now I’ve got four kids.
Have you ever been on a road trip from hell with them?
Nah, not really, because we get to go in style now, you know? They’re spoiled. We took a road trip one time and chartered a tour bus. Which is nothing like what I had to endure [as a kid]. Back then it was sit on the hump and look out the window. That’s all the entertainment I had as a kid on the road. But these days, the kids got DVDs, PlayStation, Game Boys. They’ve got it easy. But when I was a kid, it wasn’t stressful to me. I was having a ball in the backseat. But I guess I was driving my parents crazy ’cause they just kept telling us to shut up all the time.
From Boyz ‘N the Hood to the Friday movies to a kids’ movie–do you enjoy the variety?
I do like to mix it up, man. I mean, I’m not trying to take Eddie Murphy‘s spot, be the next kid’s movie king or anything. I’m just trying to establish a rapport with the movie-going audience. When they see my name up there, they know it’s a safe bet they aren’t going to waste their time and money. And the only way to do that, in my opinion, is to do a wide range of work, you know? Not just one thing. But it’s not like I’m leaving one thing to do another. With this one in particular, we thought that the success of Barbershop and Barbershop 2, with a more PG, broader audience, we could test the boundaries on how general an audience we could draw. Also, it was an opportunity to do something for my youngest fans.
What do you think about the whole rapper-turned-actor phenomenon?
A lot of people don’t think rappers should act. But banking on rappers who got the chops to act, to me, is something Hollywood has always done. They’ve always gone with popular people to push a movie through. Going even further, if you remember the history of Hollywood, there was time you couldn’t get a job if you couldn’t sing and dance. I mean, there was Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Elvis Presley–musicians, singers have always done movies. It’s nothing new. It’s just kind of our time now is all.
Having done it all–acting, directing, producing, rapping–which do you like doing the most?
All of it. It’s freedom. Movies are a collaborative effort and there’s a lot of compromise. You can’t always do what you want. Those actors who say they are only going to do one thing, their careers are sputtering. They aren’t going with the flow of Hollywood, they’re going with their own creative juices. But Hollywood has its own tempo, and I’ve been able to ride that wave.
What advice would you give?
You gotta believe in yourself, can’t hold yourself back. Even if you hear negativity from people around you who should be in your corner, you gotta pull the tigger and go for it. Don’t tiptoe through a career. Try to look for those opportunities that help you take leaps and bounds. But nothing is going to work without a plan. A lot of people come in not knowing what they want to do. Some stars live day to day. They don’t know what direction they want to take their career. And they don’t have a clue on how get it to where they want it to be. They just hope it’ll fall into place, so they end up doing everything … or nothing. It’s all about having the courage to look for opportunities. Get a plan and execute it.
Are We There Yet? opens in theaters Jan. 21.
