Worries daughter has doubts about the man in red
Rapper Chris Bridges in Fred Claus, which opens on Friday.
“She’s analyzing the whole situation about reindeer flying … I can’t handle it, man”
Chris Bridges has a Christmas-related problem.
The hip hop star-turned-actor — better know to his fans as the platinum-selling recording artist Ludacris — stars as a DJ elf in the new film Fred Claus starring Vince Vaughn (The Break-Up) and Paul Giamatti (Shoot ‘Em Up).
He’s proud to discuss his first family comedy, but Bridges’ big concern is explaining to his six-year-old daughter, who’s already beginning to question her belief in Santa Claus, his seeming relationship with the man in red and white.
“She’s analyzing the whole situation about reindeer flying and everything now so I can’t handle it, man, it’s hard,” Bridges chuckles during a recent interview at Warner Bros. studios in Burbank, Calif. “I thought it was going to be hard, me explaining to her how I’m an elf in this movie, but she’s already trying to put it together about Santa Claus not being real … I’m trying to hang on as long as I possibly can in making her believe it.”
Fred Claus is Bridges’ sixth film and the followup to the critically-acclaimed Hustle And Flow. As far as the transition from music to movies and television is concerned, the 30-year-old has had a considerable degree of success following in the footsteps of hip hop impresarios such as Ice T, Eminem and Ice Cube.
Others like 50 Cent have found less success on the silver screen, but Bridges admits he was genuinely surprised with the discovery that he was able to act.
“I didn’t know this was something I was good at until I did my first movie (2001’s The Wash) and people were like, you’re good, you should do more, then came (the Oscar-winning) Crash and Hustle And Flow and this being my first comedy.”
But Ludacris fans shouldn’t worry that his musical career is nearing an end — the rapper’s eighth album, Theater Of The Mind, is due out next year. While he’ll never give up on music, Bridges the actor understands that his professional focus is shifting.
“I’m almost so curious to know how far I can go with (acting), I feel like I don’t have any limitations. That’s why I continue to take on roles that are different from the previous ones. I’ve accomplished and said so much, I’m trying to balance the two out, but I’m in that transition of trying to act more. Music is something that will always pump through my veins whether I’m doing it in front of the camera or behind the scenes producing or writing songs for somebody, but I definitely see acting as something I want to do more of in the future.”
