Chris Rock is in the middle of a career resurgence that’s seen the iconic comedian branch out in some unusual directions. He recently starred in the fourth season of Fargo and he’s in the middle of rebooting the Saw franchise, which are all part of Rock’s increased efforts to push himself creatively and truly leave his mark. In a new interview, Rock reflects on his decades-long career that was kickstarted by Eddie Murphy and is now being driven by his daughter’s input who encouraged him to appear in the Lil Nas X video for “Old Town Road.”
During a video feature for the career retrospective, Rock also shared a heartbreaking anecdote about the last time he saw his friend and former Saturday Night Live co-star Chris Farley before his overdose. Via Esquire:
“I did a gig in Chicago. We tried to hang out afterwards but I don’t know if you’ve ever like really hung out with an addict towards the end. Anything that isn’t the drug is a chore… And I remember I was at his apartment and he showed me his apartment and I leave, and I see him out the window, and I was like ‘Ah, that’s probably that last time I’m going to see him.’ Like, I knew. I knew.”
Leaving behind a body of work that will be remembered is a topic that weighs heavily on Rock, so it’s natural that he’d think back to his time with Farley. Even though Rock’s next project is the Saw reboot, director Darren Lynn Bousman says the actor/comedian threw himself into the project, and he was very involved in crafting the message behind the horror film while also delivering some powerhouse acting — with a Chris Rock twist.
“He comes in and he’s screaming and going off and gets really emotional,” Bousman tells Esquire. “We do it in one extremely long take—it’s silent at the very end, and he’s got tears coming down his cheek. And everyone on the set claps and they’re like, ‘Oh my God.’ And he looks directly at the camera and goes, ‘Lest no one forget: I was in Pootie Tang. So what I’m saying is, I have range.’”
(Via Esquire)
