45 Fun Facts About Friday Movie

Who plays Smokey, the small-time weed dealer, in the original Friday?

Chris Tucker flopped his first audition, turning up unprepared straight off the road, and won Smokey only after the casting director sent him away to study and let him read again.

What does Craig's father, Willie Jones, do for a living in the original Friday?

Dog catcher Willie Jones nags his jobless son to learn the trade, yet he also gives the film its moral, telling Craig to put down the gun, use his fists and live to fight another day.

How much money do Craig and Smokey owe Big Worm, and by what time?

Smokey has smoked the weed he was meant to sell, so Big Worm demands his $200 by 10 p.m. that night, or else.

Who directed Friday, in his feature debut after a career making music videos?

F. Gary Gray had shot Ice Cube's music videos, and Cube chose him as 'a talented director from the hood' who needed no teaching about the world of the script; he later made The Italian Job and Straight Outta Compton.

Ice Cube co-wrote the Friday screenplay with which DJ and producer?

DJ Pooh co-wrote Friday with Ice Cube, basing Smokey on his own stint dealing weed, and was originally going to play the part himself.

Which actor plays Craig's father Willie, famous for telling Craig to use his fists instead of a gun?

John Witherspoon plays Willie Jones in all three films; he said the scene made his comic character serious, a father who finds a gun on his son and tells him to use his fists and live to fight another day.

Which actress plays Debbie, the neighbour Craig ends up with at the end of Friday?

Nia Long plays Debbie, and she is the reason for the climax: Craig finally squares up to the neighbourhood bully after he knocks Debbie to the ground.

Which catchphrase that swept social media in the 2010s began as a line in Friday?

'Bye, Felicia' is Craig's brush-off to Felisha, the neighbourhood mooch forever asking to borrow things; Ice Cube called it a throwaway line, and the meme even misspells her name.

Who plays Big Worm, the drug supplier who gives Craig and Smokey their deadline?

Faizon Love plays Big Worm, who deals from an ice-cream truck with rollers in his hair; Love said he picked the look himself, hoping to wear 'one of the great perms'.

In Friday, where does the cash that Deebo pockets after strong-arming Smokey come from?

Burgled from neighbour Stanley's house, the haul matches Smokey's debt to the dollar, but Deebo, who forced him into the break-in, keeps every cent and the debt stands.

Which line does Smokey deliver straight to the camera to close Friday?

'I was just bullshittin'!' comes seconds after Smokey swears down the phone to Big Worm that he is through with weed; he hangs up, lights a joint and adds, 'And you know this, man!'

Which studio, nicknamed 'the house that Freddy built', financed and released Friday?

New Line Cinema put up about $3.5 million but, Ice Cube says, would not have the co-writer pencilled in as Smokey, judging him short of screen experience, which threw the part open.

Which better-known pair, one an SNL alumnus, did Friday's director pass over for Smokey?

Chris Rock and Tommy Davidson were the bigger names, but the director fought for a newcomer instead, later saying Rock was 'very New York' for a story set in South Central Los Angeles.

Which actress, Friday's neighbourhood mooch, coached the future Smokey over a home-cooked dinner before his second audition?

Angela Means put a pot of spaghetti on and, with a castmate, drilled him line by line after his first reading flopped; by the time the food was gone, she said, he had become Smokey.

Friday was written partly as a reaction to which kind of film?

Ice Cube wanted to counter the grim image of South Central in violent hood dramas like Boyz n the Hood, in which he had starred; 'We had fun in the hood,' he said.

What cost-saving idea did Friday's writers briefly consider before a studio signed on?

Ice Cube and his co-writer briefly considered shooting Friday in black and white to save money, and had even thought about financing it themselves.

For its 20th anniversary, Friday returned to U.S. cinemas for one night only on which fitting date?

April 20, 2015 fell on a Monday, but the stoner comedy's one-night director's-cut return was booked for 4/20, weed culture's unofficial holiday, rather than for any Friday.

Which director, who made his debut in 1992, named Friday among his 20 favourite films released since that year?

Quentin Tarantino ranked only the top of his list: Battle Royale came first, and he said The Matrix would have been second had its sequels not spoiled it; Friday sat among the unranked rest.

Which rapper turned Deebo, Friday's neighbourhood bully, into a verb on a 2024 diss track?

Kendrick Lamar raps the bully's name as a verb on Not Like Us, boasting that he can do it to any rival rapper as easily as a free throw; the song went on to win Record and Song of the Year at the Grammys.

In Next Friday, Craig is sent to live with his uncle and cousin in which city?

Craig's father ships him off to Uncle Elroy's house in suburban Rancho Cucamonga after the bully who terrorised their street breaks out of prison seeking revenge.

Who plays Craig's cousin Day-Day in the sequels?

Mike Epps plays Day-Day in both Next Friday and Friday After Next, his first major film role, and went on to star with Ice Cube again in All About the Benjamins.

Why has Craig's uncle Elroy moved to the suburbs by the time of Next Friday?

He won the lottery and bought a house in the suburbs, but by the time Craig arrives the winnings are gone and the place is about to be seized over unpaid property taxes.

What are the three criminal siblings in Next Friday known as?

The Joker Brothers, Joker, Lil' Joker and Baby Joker, are drug dealers, and Craig ends up stealing their cash to pay the back taxes that threaten his uncle's house.

How did Next Friday explain Smokey's absence after the actor declined to return?

He checked into rehab, Craig says in the opening narration, which makes an honest man of Smokey: the first film ends with him promising to get clean and then lighting up. He is seen only in old footage.

What is the name of Ice Cube's production company, which made Next Friday its first film?

Next Friday was the first film produced by Cube Vision, the company Ice Cube founded to make his own projects; it later produced the Barbershop and Ride Along franchises.

Which music-video director, later of Daddy Day Care and Paul Blart: Mall Cop, made his feature debut with Next Friday?

Steve Carr made his feature debut with Next Friday after directing music videos; Marcus Raboy then debuted with Friday After Next, so each film had a first-time feature director.

Next Friday, made without Smokey, opened at No. 1; how did its box office compare with the original's?

About twice as much: the 2000 sequel took $59.8 million worldwide against the original's $28 million, even though the first film's scene-stealer had refused to come back.

Deebo escapes prison in Next Friday with which relative?

His brother Tyrone, played by Onyx rapper Sticky Fingaz, breaks out with him, and the two set off after Craig still shackled together.

Friday After Next takes place on which day?

Friday After Next is set on Christmas Eve; it opens with a burglar dressed as Santa Claus robbing Craig and Day-Day's apartment of their rent money and presents.

What jobs do Craig and Day-Day take in Friday After Next?

Security guards at a strip mall is the work the cousins grab after a thief makes off with their rent money and the landlady demands it by nightfall; their fathers' rib joint sits in the same mall.

Which comedian plays the pimp Money Mike in Friday After Next?

Katt Williams plays Money Mike, the pint-sized pimp who runs a clothes shop in the strip mall and fights off the far bigger Damon with a pair of pliers.

In Friday After Next, who is Damon, the hulking character played by Terry Crews?

The landlady's ex-con son, fresh out on parole, is her enforcer: Ms. Pearly warns the cousins that Damon will come for them if the rent is not paid by the end of the day.

Which comedian plays the Santa-suited burglar who robs the cousins in Friday After Next?

Rickey Smiley is credited simply as 'Santa Claus', the thief who cleans out the cousins' apartment before dawn and then spends the rest of the day being hunted by them.

What is the name of the rib restaurant Willie and Elroy open in Friday After Next?

Bros. BBQ advertises with a slogan about ribs good enough to make you slap your mama, and while filming the commercial Willie takes it literally and knocks his own mother out.

In Friday After Next, how do Craig and Day-Day try to raise the money a burglar took from their apartment?

Throw a party is the plan: the cousins turn the holiday bash they had already planned into a rent party, because their landlady wants the stolen cash replaced by the end of the day.

Friday: The Animated Series lasted just eight episodes in 2007 on which channel known mainly for music videos?

MTV2 carried the cartoon, which Ice Cube executive-produced, yet none of the films' actors returned: voice veterans Khary Payton and Phil LaMarr played Craig and Smokey.

What working title did Ice Cube give the long-planned fourth Friday film?

Last Friday is the name Ice Cube has used for the project for years; he said the studio passed on two of his scripts, then reported in 2024 that it had 'finally got some traction'.

Which two Friday stars died in 2019 and 2020 as a fourth film stalled?

John Witherspoon and Tommy Lister Jr. died in October 2019 and December 2020; at Witherspoon's memorial Ice Cube apologised that the sequel had never been made.

Through which TV showcase did Friday's writers discover their eventual Smokey?

Def Comedy Jam is where Ice Cube and his co-writer caught the comic's stand-up set and called him in to read; the studio pushed better-known faces from In Living Color, but they wanted someone fresh.

Craig's firing on his day off was based on a relative of Ice Cube who worked for which delivery firm?

UPS really did fire someone on his day off: Ice Cube has said it was his brother, and that nearly all of the script is autobiography.

Which earlier comedy's success convinced Friday's writers that its studio would understand their film?

House Party, the Kid 'n Play comedy, had come from the studio they approached, and Ice Cube reckoned that made it a good bet because it already understood the black movie market.

Which Sandra Bullock film kept Friday off the top spot on its opening weekend?

While You Were Sleeping took $10.5 million on 1,907 screens in April 1995, but Friday, on just 865, earned more per screen than any other film in the top ten.

In Next Friday, what does Roach slip the neighbours' guard dog Chico so Craig can sneak into their house?

Cannabis, baked into brownies, leaves Chico too stoned to guard anything, and Roach ends up smoking beside the dog and chatting away to it.

What is the name of Craig's jealous girlfriend in Friday, played by Paula Jai Parker?

Paula Jai Parker plays Joi, Craig's jealous girlfriend, whose suspicious phone calls run through the film until Craig finally dumps her.

Who plays Cookie, Elroy's latest girlfriend, in Friday After Next?

Sommore plays Cookie, who waits tables at the family rib joint; Elroy took up with her after splitting from her sister Suga, his girlfriend in the previous film.