Ice Cube continues to have a prolific year in film. After releasing the No. 1 film, Ride Along, with Kevin Hart in January, Ice Cube returns with another potential blockbuster.
As the hard-edged Captain Dickson in the new film 22 Jump Street, Ice Cube attempts to keep Jonah Hill (Schmidt) and Channing Tatum (Jenko) in line as the cops go undercover at a college.
During a recent interview, Ice Cube discussed 22 Jump Street and reveals why Hollywood prefers black comedies over dramas.
You had great moments in 21 Jump Street, but it seems that your role was expanded for 22 Jump Street. How was it working on the sequel?
They gave me more to do. People loved Captain Dickson in the first movie. They responded to the character so they expanded my role. We have a crazy twist in the movie that involves my character.
Why was it important to poke fun at the fact that you all were making a sequel?
We poke fun at movie sequels in general. With the first movie, we made fun of the fact that we were doing a movie on an ’80s TV show. It was like we were doing the movie because we ran out of ideas. With the sequel, we let the audience in on the joke. We didn’t want to pretend that we weren’t making a sequel about a cheesy TV show.
In your earlier years as a rapper, you spoke out against police brutality. How strange is it that you have played a cop in your last two films?
“F— tha police” is talking about dirty cops. It’s not talking about all cops. It’s about the cops that use their power and authority to abuse people. Everyone hates bad cops. The good cops that do their job, you want them around when something bad happens. So playing a cop isn’t a big deal.
When you first got into acting, we saw you in the Oscar-nominated drama Boyz N The Hood. Why have you done more comedies than dramas lately?
Boyz N The Hood was a movie dealing with a subject matter a lot of people didn’t know about at the time. When I decided to do Friday, I wanted to show the fun side of the neighborhood. Friday was a movie that portrayed that. It showed how we saw the hood. When it comes to black movies in Hollywood, they would rather make you laugh than cry. So it’s easier to get comedies made versus dramas. People wanted more comedies out of me and it snowballed into a career. But hopefully we can get back to the dramas. Hollywood wants you to stay in your wheel house because they’re putting up millions and they hope the film works. They know that my comedies work.
