André 3000 was on The Late Show in January. While there, he and Stephen Colbert taped a “Colbert Questionert” segment, in which Colbert asks his guests a series of general questions in an attempt to get to know them better. These segments usually air a couple weeks after the guest’s initial Late Show appearance, and André’s segment finally played last night, February 8. Colbert’s questioning actually unearthed an interesting piece of trivia: André once auditioned for a Fast & Furious movie.
One of the standard Questionert questions is, “Do you have a favorite action movie?” Nothing came to mind for André, so Colbert playfully followed up, “Why haven’t you been in one of the Fast & Furious movies? I could see you driving a fast car, off a cliff or something into a boat.” André responded with a bit of a laugh, “I would have but I think Ludacris took the role.” He added, “No, I actually tried out. I tried out for Fast & Furious and Ludacris actually took the role,” which took Colbert by surprise.
Ludacris’ first time portraying Tej Parker in the Fast & Furious franchise was in the second film, 2003’s 2 Fast 2 Furious, so it would seem that’s the movie André auditioned for.
Colbert asked André if he was angry about not landing the part and he responded, “No, not at all. I mean… ’cause I wasn’t ready. […] I remember that audition. I was so nervous, man, like I wouldn’t have hired me.”
André went on to have a fine acting career, though, with roles in movies like Four Brothers, Semi Pro, and Jimi: All Is By My Side.
Check out the full “Colbert Questionert” segment above.