“Triggered the shit out of me”: Tyrese Gibson has been terrified of Ving Rhames since 2001
Method acting is all well and good; it can lead to some fantastically compelling performances and some great movies. But if you go method to the extent that you end up having a more than two-decade falling out with someone, like Tyrese Gibson and Ving Rhames, then it might be wise to rethink your processes.
Fast and the Furious star Gibson apparently still despises Rhames, and the beef goes all the way back to 2001, when the pair co-starred in a film called Baby Boy, which was a coming-of-age drama loosely based on his life growing up as a teen in South Central Los Angeles.
Directed by Boyz n the Hood’s John Singleton, it was a project that was originally developed with Tupac Shakur in mind for the lead role, but after his murder in 1996, the part was switched to Gibson, who had been having considerable success as an R’n’B singer.
Rhames, meanwhile, was a big name after his success with Pulp Fiction and Tom Cruise’s Mission Impossible franchise, and was brought in by Singleton to play the ex-convict, gangster boyfriend of Gibson’s mother in the movie. But that’s where the problems started, mainly because Rhames was simply far too convincing, which led to Gibson having flashbacks of his own formative years.
As Gibson told the Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast not too long ago: “I was not acting in Baby Boy. That n****** Ving Rhames definitely triggered the shit out of me. I don’t like the n***** to this day.”
It appears that the filming was so intense, culminating in a physical fight between the two characters, that Rhames would actually deliver personal insults to Gibson between takes, amping up the trauma of the story about a young man with a pregnant girlfriend who has to deal with the pressures of real life without a job or money.
Let’s not forget, that was 25 years ago, which is a hell of a long time to bear a grudge against a fellow actor simply for being very good at their job, but it seems even if Gibson came across Rhames while in the public eye he’d still not be happy at all about it.
He added, “I run into that n***** to this day. I don’t give a fuck where we at, what clothes we got on, what we doing, what event, it could be the Golden Globes, I see that n****** across the room I be like, ‘Man, fuck that n****** back there.’”
Ok then! Probably not wise to put any money on Rhames being in the next Fast and Furious movie, Fast Forever, when it arrives sometime in 2028. Despite the issues between the duo, Baby Boy was much acclaimed when it was released, making double its production budget at the box office and receiving several industry award nominations. Co-starring Snoop Dogg and Taraji P. Henson, it stands as the last movie Singleton wrote; he would later die in 2019 at just 51 after a stroke.
While Gibson works on Fast Forever, Rhames has been quiet since the final Mission Impossible early last year, but does have two new movies in the works: a film about a crime scene fleeing veteran starring Liam Neeson called The Mongoose, and a Walton Goggins movie called Painter, about a young woman combat trained by her father who has to use those skills to rescue him.
