Terry Crews Breaks Down His 10 Most Iconic Characters | GQ

I would much rather have a tiny role in an awesome movie than to be the head guy in something that's just training day I was doing security for years in Hollywood and I had a friend who was part of with a location manager because that's what they would do they would do the locations and it would need security well he's like dude we're doing this really intense movie at the jungle right now with Denzel Washington you gotta come check it out I came on set as a visitor I always realize that you just have to

go like if you just show up a lot of times your opportunities are there I was watching them self prepare and I was studying him and I was like this is how an actor at the top of his game does his thing or the director walks over to me Antoine Fuqua and he says hey man you want to be in this movie I said yeah I was like sure whatever you need me to do it was WOW he said look I want you to take your shirt off it says the Sun is going down I'm

gonna get you up on the roof and I want you to flip some pigeons and the whole I was like okay whatever took my shirt off I went up on the roof of his house and he said Terry come back every night for the next week and he said I'm gonna find ways to use you in the movie and I was like whatever you need and I didn't get one dime for training day I just showed up I volunteered I said whatever I can do I just want to help the movie I want this to

be the best thing ever oh you okay I remember when when when the scene got played at the Oscars my mother called me just screaming like yeah the Oscars I'm like no I'm not I am NOT at the Oscars mom I'm in the Oscars but I'm not at the Oscars this is thing a small role like that I was so happy to be a part like I cannot describe to you to satisfaction of being a movie that good you know to me it's that iconic and forever and ever now at the time that was gonna

be my career trajectory I was going to be the heavy I was going to be the mean guy in the movies and that's the way everybody was seeing me at the time there's a stereotype about big muscular african-americans that make you security guards there like he's big he's me or rip you to shreds and I wanted I love the fact that I have killed that trope and you have to see us as real people three-dimensional happy family and I'm happy to be one of those guys that provides that now Friday after next I actually did

security on next Friday I remember watching cubes car and his trailer and I was like good morning mr. cube and he'd be like yeah I may get out the way oh my god I thank you and what's wild is this is before I was acting I started acting and did a show called battle dome and they did another movie called the 6-day and then I was an extra in training day and they recognized me from that cuz you know training day was one of the ice-cubes favorite movie but they remembered me so I got a

chance to audition for Friday after next and I remember sitting in the waiting room me and Kat Williams hoping praying one day we would be able to you know be in this movie Katt Williams and I decided we were gonna go all in there was gonna be no holding back you look at the scenes with Katt Williams and I'm it's almost like a intense drama you're not and it's really really interesting to to bring up the the me to aspect of this thing because it was comedic but yet here I was this guy who was

sexually assaulting [Music] at the time it was beautifully big comedy when you look back at it in a new light you can almost see it it's like oh my god like this this is really the attitude of you know when you're talking about male-on-male assault the attitude about this thing was comedic and tonal which has made it really really hard for men to be believed and I think about it now in retrospect and you kind of go that's really it's deep you know even I was a part of that at the same time I think

when Kat and I were doing it we wouldn't play it as a comedy and this is why it worked in a lot of ways when I look at Kat and his career and how he's gone and what it did for me people say this guy is willing to be a true actor and put it on the line and because we were we were playing it as if it was dramatic I remember I had the two fox me you know a lot of people to this day like you ruined that song for me man you ruined

it but what's so great I remember being on the set and just I had a little bit and I started dancing and they were like keep it going keep it come on keep the film rolling keep it going this is what I learned to go ahead and do it a lot of times as actors a lot of times when you're doing things you go well you know they may not use that so I won't do it and then you you missed an opportunity Terry Crews will never miss his opportunity white chicks Damian wins we said

man I gotta introduce you to my uncles I kind of introduce you to my uncles and all that okay cool cool and he said they got this movie coming out we think you'd be right there was one day I had an audition for wife and kids and I thought I was gonna do it and I bombed it I mean it was the worst audition ever I was like man I wouldn't pick me my agent at the time told me you have another audition for another movie it's white chicks and I went and just blow it

was like and this is the same day right after a bomb you don't care anymore you stop caring and you just go and Keenan was like wow this is pretty good I thought maybe he's being nice because I'm a friend of his nephew you know I mean I said okay cool I get the job I'm in Vancouver and let me tell you something Keenen Ivory Wayans these are the Jacksons of comedy this was the the iconic Here I am the great Keenen Ivory Wayans and he's like Terry whatever you did in an audition he said

do whatever you want to do for my I just like whatever he said man it's your I ran with it I have never ever that was the first time I was fully confident as an actor I did that Vanessa Carlton 1000 mile song in the car one take making my way downtown walking fast faces pass and I'm home bound and every scene I was in was just comfortable and following and then the premiere happened and my life changed forever the the producer of the movie called me he said Terry your life will never ever be

the same he said that you stole this movie all out I was like oh my god it was incredible bureaucracy we had just wrapped white chicks and I was auditioning what was weird is that I kept auditioning like I had an audition for this movie probably seven different times which is really unusual usually if you get a callback it's cool you know and you might get two or three at the mo for me to go in there so almost seven times I was like what in the world I remember what Mike just said you got

the gig the casting director Mary Renu she said Terry if I told you who and how many other people were going for this gig you would be intimidated she was like you wanted and she's like there were some big big names going for this president role and I was like oh my god they were like and but Mike wanted you that's why we kept calling you back I knew this guy would I tell you I knew president Camacho because this really reminded me of my time of growing up in Flint Michigan in church where you

had a pastor or a preacher who you knew was a hustler you knew he wasn't telling you the truth but he can say it was so much charisma if you just put $5 in the box $5 will get you what's your wall he's fooling America I said this is the biggest bombastic personality he's a wrestler he's an ex-porn star he's a he's a charismatic person who's just bigger than life and he wants to he wants to run the world and I tell you I went in again it was one of those things when we did

the speech and I was like he don't oh you know I was doing all of those stuff [Applause] [Music] my judge was like dude this is it I lost myself and when you lose Terry Crews and you become you know this this you know president Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho I said this is this is my life and what was so disappointing is that it was a bomb I was telling everyone this is the big one Maya Rudolph that Shepard all these got Stephen Drew my judge it's gonna be great to creator of eNOS

and Butthead and the rumor was is that we you because we use real corporations in our comedy I mean Starbucks was giving hand jobs and these companies gave us their name thinking never gonna get pumped up and then when I welcome to Costco I love you welcome to Costco I love you all these real corporations are like wait a minute wait a minute well Carl's jr. would you like to try our there are a lot of people who are like backing out but it was too late and so Fox who was the who owned a

cup the movies decided we're gonna release this and it's few theaters as legally possible so we got a release in probably three theaters over one weekend and it was sucked out into the Vortech years later I had major major stars coming up to me and going Camacho oh my Will Ferrell was like that performance blew me away oh my god people that I admired and loved for years were like idiocracy is my jam [Music] The Longest Yard I like to call the longest shot my revenge on the NFL I heard that there was this new

movie longest char and I'm waiting for other roles that I met with their director Pete Siegel as where can I be what can I go and they didn't know where they were gonna put me well they had a role for Cheezburger Eddie now originally cheeseburger Eddie was supposed to be 400 pounds that was the joke the joke was he eats cheeseburgers he's a big big guy Adam said wait a minute what we're gonna do we're gonna make you cheeseburger Eddie but you're gonna be in shape in fact it's like cheeseburgers make you more muscular he

was like and you are gonna be hustlin this cheeseburger this McDonald's is contraband in our art our prison and number two this is the biggest production I had ever been on today you had wrestlers from a WWE you had comedians Chris Rock and you had all these stars here I was in Santa Fe and I'm not oh my god I am cheeseburger Andy I remember putting on my little knit cap and I Chilton it to the side and I knew that's who I am when I started pulling those cheeseburgers out and I saw the reactions

from everyone and the way and I treated goes beginning I never treated like it was a comedy I was really really like going at it as I am in prison and this is as good as cocaine or drugs or a woman you want a little taste of the outside I knew to really come at it that way and let me tell you a week doesn't go by and people you go to cheeseburger and then I reach for my pants and it's like Everybody Hates Chris came from being on the set of the longest shot Chris

took notice of me he said he noticed that I was a father he noticed you know cuz I had my kids on set I was bringing up and I hold would think he also and this is the thing when I tell you people are watching you he also noticed how I was around other women and around other people and he was saw that he was like this dude is about his family he said I got something for you now I was at home probably about three weeks later I get a script no heads-up no warning

no nothing open it up and it says Everybody Hates Chris now I'm laughing already because the show Everybody Loves Raymond was already on the air and I was like Everybody Hates Chris hilarious just just that joke when I open it up it was one of the funniest thing I ever read in my life 30 pages of pure gold and I was like oh my god now I wanted it I was the first guy higher on that show Everybody Hates Chris took over that year the buzz was good everything was great and it was four wonderful

seasons of being this wonderful african-american dad I Julius and the only character named after a real family member because that's how much Chris's dad meant to his comedy and I mean to play such an iconic character in his life and for him to trust me with that Chris has other brothers and sisters that are like man thank you thank you for representing our dad the way you did I mean I get a little choked up these are real people were talking about you know his father died before he could see all of his success and

when I look at everybody is Chris now I'm beyond proud The Expendables The Expendables the first movie was supposed to be direct-to-video you understand where Stallone was at the time he was trying to get this thing done that I do in your sixties how are you gonna do an action movie all the studio's turned it down so sly starts calling people and he starts getting the buzz going and this is also in the first days of Gooding viral energy on the Internet so what slice started to do was tweet out how would you like to

see me Arnold Schwarzenegger Bruce Willis and a movie together and the internet went crazy and then he called me now listen I was probably the fourth choice in the movie to be honest but okay fourth in the world is okay me I was like and I got a call and I met sly in his office and he was like it was a good I doing there I need you for the movie right we're gonna do this thing and I'm thinking it's an audition he's telling me we're shooting in about three weeks and be ready and

I'm going like I got like I mean I'm in the movie and he was like yeah you're the movie we're done well there you go we get ready about three weeks get your bags back okay so there I am I'm in Brazil gently comes in Jason Statham comes in Randy Couture Dolph Lundgren oh my god yeah if every time in Bruce Willis Arnold Schwarzenegger and sly and Here I am and it took over it was the I remember when at the summer it came out it was so manly people were like be careful you know

you're gonna get pregnant if you watch this movie it was like the manliest man late movie of all time what I was on the movie set I was very disappointed I remember I didn't feel like I was being used enough I've wanted to do more and they were like no and I got a bad attitude this is the moment in the road the fork in the road where I was like always giving all I had showing up for free no problem into I want my money and then I remember sitting you know I remember I

think it was some kind of quote that I heard it was something like you know there is no way to happiness happiness is the way and all of a sudden I said you know what Terry change this is I'm telling you man this is what happened it was literally in my room it said tomorrow act like you're getting twenty million dollars I started to shift my attitude when people go hey Terry I'll go hey how you doing how are you hello everybody what do I need to say they say one line I would go out

say my line and give my all just like I did when I when I started out just like on training day all of a sudden so I started to notice and let me tell you something he we wrote the script the script in the original script there was no tunnel scene he rewrote the script he said Terry you're gonna save my life and I remember coming through that tunnel with that with my big you know a a 12 shotgun and I'll bum bum bum bum bum and I ended up saving the whole crew it's one

of the iconic moments in the movie where everybody literally I when I watched it in the theater guys were jumping up like yeah oh you know and he gave me a moment I killed maybe 30 people at once probably in the course of like 10 seconds I kill like 45 people and then I said to the conic line more like yeah and I was like all because I shifted my attitude and I changed my trajectory I think everything could have went wrong at that time in my life that fork in the road but it didn't

did I learn forever and ever be the solution don't be a problem on the set don't be the issue cuz you know what the job is hard enough you know what I mean and I don't need you don't need to be the one making things harder and I knew that that was gonna be my key and it sure was Expendables with a giant hit and it made me truly a worldwide star bridesmaids wow that was a Judd Apatow Kristen Wiig got a call cuz they were like hey we're looking for his just fitness trainer and

you know we got this joke here we want to do it was a one day thing I am a Kristen Wiig fan we actually did an episode of drunk history together everything she does she goes and see I can respect that because I'm the same way she does her comedic things as if she was doing drama and when we were able to do do this stuff in bridesmaid and Maya we just started out living and just started going and they're over there and at redoing their workouts and I'm like what y'all do you know I

remember to see the scene how I would feel if you saw somebody jacking your workouts you know I mean it was one of those cameos again like I said I would much rather have a little part in a gigantic movie and it was gigantic what I said when bridesmaids hit I had no idea how big that would be I mean it was enormous and again I'm proud to be a part and honored to be a part of that whole thing it's like being a part of Hollywood history [Music] sorry to bother you I've met with

Nina bon jovi who is Forest Whitaker's producer and they said we're doing this new one sorry to bother you with boots Rolly I've been a big fan of boots since the cool and I said let me see the script and I started reading and I was like it started out pretty good and then it went off the rails and the spirit went bonkers like oh my god did I was like I have to be a part of this he started talking about the character started talking about what Sergio was and here he's this uncle and

and perceived Oakland and Flint Michigan I like sister cities and I'm from Flint I knew Sergio because he reminded me of so many people that I grew up with who had kind of traded in theirs their dreams for the security of a factory and all of a sudden have that factory just just totally jerk you and I was like man I know Sergio I lived around Sergio I know these guys to be a part of this thing it was one of those things where I was like again small role but big big impact let me

tell you when I got done when we got there I was like dude this is gonna be groundbreaking when I saw it at Sundance it reminded me of the first time I saw do the right thing and you just go man this is gonna change the game this is the movie that's gonna influence all the young filmmakers of color for the next 20 years Brooklyn nine-nine I had got with Mike Shore and Dan Gore and we had a meeting and they said we're doing the new Andy Samberg pilot and I didn't even have a name

and I was like oh I love Andy Samberg right so I this is one thing I knew I said Andy is the future of comedy and I said this is good but there were some other things Mike and Dan called me up and they say Terry we have named the character that we want you to play in our script Terry so if you don't take it you are gonna feel horrible knowing that someone else is walking around with your name I was like damn it you bastard you bastard you got me I said my god

that was a very wise move because you're right I would have felt horrible knowing that this guy's name Terry and it was really supposed to be my you know we did the pilot it felt like we had already been together five years and lo and behold we got to pick up and then we won the Golden Globe that's a whole nother thing then to go five seasons get canceled and then have the internet bring you back from the dead the internet the internet flips out from Guerra Guillermo del Toro from lin-manuel Miranda a mark Mark

Hamill Sean Astin they are flipping out like we gotta have a booklet nine nine back the internet flip we were number one trending all over the world and it just made me feel so good and then NBC picks us up thirty hours later a man you you just you got to understand something about my life what's so crazy about my life is this B Road it no one will believe it they would say it's contrived they would say no way this it's to this doesn't happen but that's how life is truth is stranger than fiction