Chris Tucker Nearly Died While Shooting 2Pac's "California Love" Video

Chris Tucker gets nostalgic on James Corden's 'Late Late Show,' opening up about his role in the iconic "California Love" video.

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2Pac's Mad Max-esque "California Love" visual is one of the fastest paths known to man for getting hyped. Just ask Chris Tucker, whose hype-inducing starring role in the award-winning video nearly cost him his life. Tucker opened up about the process of bringing the classic 1995 track to life on Thursday's Late Late Show, telling James Corden his life was saved by none other than Michael Clarke Duncan.

"That was great," Tucker said of the shoot. "It was fun and dangerous at the same time. Tupac just got out of jail and Suge Knight was walking around with a Rottweiler. I didn't know if I was gonna get bit or what. I almost fell off a jeep. Michael Clarke Duncan saved my life, my good friend. He saved my life! I was so young."

According to Tucker, the main source of danger on the set could be summarized in one word: dunes. "I was on the jeep and I was acting," Tucker recalled. "I was overacting… and they went over a dune in the middle of the desert and I was like 'Ah!' and Michael said, 'Come here, little boy, come back here,' and I said, 'Thank you, God. Thank you!'"

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Speaking of 1995, don't get Tucker's nostalgic Late Late Show chat twisted by thinking there's a chance he'll revive Smokey for another Friday movie. Tucker told Global Grind's BlogXilla last month that revisiting F. Gary Gray's iconic film probably isn't in the cards for him. "I was flipping through the television and I was watching it," Tucker said while promoting the new Ang Lee film Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk. "It was, you know, a moment in time. I was a young kid. I was laughing through the whole thing, too. And I was proud of that, making myself laugh. [But] I don't know if we could do another one. I don't know if I could do another one because I was so young and it was a moment in time, but we'll see."

 

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