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When he signed on to star in “Rush Hour 3” for $25 million, Chris Tucker became the highest-paid actor in Hollywood. But after that, he disappeared, staying off-screen until the new David O. Russell drama “Silver Linings Playbook,” in theaters on Friday.
According to Tucker, his absence came down to one thing: a dearth of quality roles. “The scripts I was getting didn’t connect with me,” he tells The Post. “Some were action, and I did that with the ‘Rush Hours.’ I wanted something different and challenging. It was me saying, this needs to be perfect.”
Given his wisecracking “Rush Hour” persona, the script he selected was as different for him as he is from Jackie Chan, his hard-kicking former co-star. In “Silver Linings,” Tucker plays a friend of star Bradley Cooper, who just completed a stint in a mental institution.
While not intentionally seeking a shift from comedy to drama, Tucker wanted to broaden the impression audiences have of him.
“I know I’m capable of doing serious movies. I did ‘Dead Presidents’ in ’95,” he says. “I want people to see more of that. They haven’t seen enough of my serious, dramatic side.”
Director Russell says that despite the “wild look” in Tucker’s eye, he’s really a “super sweet, soulful, present person.” Recalling a scene in which Tucker teaches Cooper to dance, Russell notes he the capacity to surprise.
“He’s such a great dancer,” says Russell. “It’s like he flicked a switch, and this person who’s such a different level of dancer in terms of looseness took over for a minute. There’s such a great energy to the scene.”
Tucker’s financial blessing after his big “Rush Hour” paydays turned into a curse a few years back, when he wound up in debt to the IRS for $11.5 million (much of it from 2001 and 2002), leading to foreclosure papers filed against his $6 million, 10,000-square-foot waterfront estate in Lake Apopka, Fla.
Most stars would stay mum on the subject, but Tucker, who began his career as a stand-up comic, took his misfortune to the stage, joking to audiences last year, “That’s the last time I let Wesley Snipes help me out with my taxes.”
This was the actor’s way of turning a dire financial setback, which he says has since been resolved, into cathartic stage fodder.
“People can relate to it, because everybody goes through their own issues,” says Tucker, who will perform at the Apollo Theater Dec. 13 and 14. “Stand-up comedy’s about telling the truth. Being a celebrity, your business is pretty much out there, so people kinda know about it, and they identify with it.”