From Brian and Mia's breakup coming around in Fast & Furious to Tej, Rome, and Monica's returns in Fast Five, the 2003 sequel was the last time audiences truly got to enjoy the street racing world with Brian and his friends before the story headed to Tokyo with a new crew and became a globe-trotting adventure in subsequent sequels. Though it may be low on many fans' rankings for the franchise, 2 Fast 2 Furious has continued to have some key implications for the rest of the series. Plus, for a first major film role, there are certainly worse places an aspiring actor can start than with Universal Pictures and the Fast & Furious franchise, even when it was still in its early, rocky stages. If anything, it only shows how impressive of a performer he is that he was able to deliver a strong tape under that crunch situation. Given how rushed the studio was in racing to get the sequel out while the iron was still hot, it doesn't come as much of a surprise that Ludacris' audition came at the last minute. So I'm not saying I was playing Ludacris in 2 Fast, but it wasn't too far of a f-ing stretch from it. It's kind of like you're just learning the fundamentals of what's going on. So I kind of was able to play Ludacris to a degree, because if it's my real first movie role, I think that's a great transition to not be able to go too far the first time. It's Ludacris in music and then Tej in the movie. But the good thing, humbly speaking, is that it wasn't too far of a stretch from my regular, everyday, ordinary personality. Looking back at the character's first outing, the Grammy winner notes it was very close to his real persona and made it easier to portray him in his first major film role. Despite the ' crunch situation,' he realized he didn't ' have too much time to even think about being nervous about reading these lines' and sent in the tape that would land him the role. The studio originally looked to bring back Ja Rule as Edwin, only to have to change direction when he turned down a $500,000 offer. As he sat in his dressing room during his tour with Eminem, Ludacris got a call from his rep right before going on stage saying he had to do his audition right then and there if he wanted to get the part.

While chatting with EWfor the forthcoming F9: The Fast Saga, Ludacris looked back at the 2003 sequel and how his role and audition for Tej Parker came about at the last minute. Related: The Fast Saga's Future After Fast & Furious 10 Explained

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