Ludacris has opened up about the circumstances of his last-minute audition for the role of Tej Parker in 2003's 2 Fast 2 Furious. The second installment in the action blockbuster franchise, the story centered on Paul Walker's Brian O'Connor as he teams up with Tyrese Gibson's Roman "Rome" Pearce and Eva Mendes' Monica Fuentes to help bring down drug lord, Carter Verone, in Miami. The film was directed by John Singleton and was the only film in the series not to feature franchise star and producer, Vin Diesel, as he was busy with The Chronicles of Riddick.
With the first film having been a box office success, Universal Pictures looked to capitalize on the potential with a sequel right away, only able to draw Walker back with Singleton choosing to reunite with Gibson after previously working together on Baby Boy. Released in summer 2003, the film garnered generally mixed-to-negative reviews from critics and audiences but was still a box office hit, grossing over $236 million against its $76 million budget. Unable to get any of the original cast to return, the next installment would take the story to Japan with The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, which became the lowest-grossing in the series and would lead to the returns of the main cast in 2009's Fast & Furious.
While chatting with EW for the forthcoming F9: The Fast Saga, Ludacris looked back at the 2003 sequel and how his role and audition for Tej Parker came about at the last minute. The studio originally looked to bring back Ja Rule as Edwin, only to have to change direction when he turned down a $500,000 offer. As he sat in his dressing room during his tour with Eminem, Ludacris got a call from his rep right before going on stage saying he had to do his audition right then and there if he wanted to get the part. Despite the "crunch situation," he realized he didn't "have too much time to even think about being nervous about reading these lines" and sent in the tape that would land him the role. Looking back at the character's first outing, the Grammy winner notes it was very close to his real persona and made it easier to portray him in his first major film role. Read what Ludacris said below:
It's Ludacris in music and then Tej in the movie. But the good thing, humbly speaking, is that it wasn't too far of a stretch from my regular, everyday, ordinary personality. So I kind of was able to play Ludacris to a degree, because if it's my real first movie role, I think that's a great transition to not be able to go too far the first time. It's kind of like you're just learning the fundamentals of what's going on. So I'm not saying I was playing Ludacris in 2 Fast, but it wasn't too far of a f---ing stretch from it.
Given how rushed the studio was in racing to get the sequel out while the iron was still hot, it doesn't come as much of a surprise that Ludacris' audition came at the last minute. If anything, it only shows how impressive of a performer he is that he was able to deliver a strong tape under that crunch situation. Plus, for a first major film role, there are certainly worse places an aspiring actor can start than with Universal Pictures and the Fast & Furious franchise, even when it was still in its early, rocky stages.
Though it may be low on many fans' rankings for the franchise, 2 Fast 2 Furious has continued to have some key implications for the rest of the series. From Brian and Mia's breakup coming around in Fast & Furious to Tej, Rome, and Monica's returns in Fast Five, the 2003 sequel was the last time audiences truly got to enjoy the street racing world with Brian and his friends before the story headed to Tokyo with a new crew and became a globe-trotting adventure in subsequent sequels. Plus, with Diesel's recent teases that Mendes' Monica may return in an upcoming sequel, chances are, defenders of the film may see some vindication in the near future.
Source: EW