# Fifth element trivia question. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 17, 2003, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fifth-element-trivia-question/195818 "2003-08-17T19:13:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fifth-element-trivia-question/195818/1 "2003-08-17T19:13:42Z")
This seems to pointless for GQ so I’ll throw it here. Does anybody know who did the voice of Finger the cab overhaul guy on Fifth element. He is only on the phone, and he isn’t credited in IMDB. The voice sounds so familiar that it’s driving me crazy I can’t figure it out. One site I found while searching said it sounded like Vin Diesel but that doesn’t sound right to me. ---
**Author:** ![SPOOFE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2003, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fifth-element-trivia-question/195818/2 "2003-08-17T19:58:18Z")
It was probably the director’s brother or something, or maybe another character from the movie that was disguising his voice. Hell, it would be really funny if it turns out to be Bruce Willis that did the voice, and just strained his vocal cords to make a raspier, higher voice. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fifth-element-trivia-question/195818/3 "2003-08-18T03:23:18Z")
I don’t know, but here’s another bit of trivia: The guy that played the cop that chased Bruce Willis in the car chase scene also plays the captain of the Red Dwarf on _Red Dwarf_. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fifth-element-trivia-question/195818/4 "2003-08-18T04:24:31Z")
Nothing to add except that I still think Chris Tucker should have gotten an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Ruby Rod. He turned what could have been a caricature into a fully three dimensional persona. A dear friend of mine thinks “The Fifth Element” is one of the best science fiction films of all time. While I really enjoyed the fantastic backdrops and excellent costumes, the plot desperately needed a stronger antagonist. Neither Gary Oldham’s incompetent villain nor the menacing black cloud achieved anywhere near Darth Vader-like proportions. More’s the pity, as another nudge or two could have taken what is most certainly a solid grade B sci-fi romp and elevated it to an A level movie. The body fabrication scene should have gotten a special effects Oscar on its own merits. That was an incredible glimpse into the future. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fifth-element-trivia-question/195818/5 "2003-08-18T05:01:15Z")
WTF?? Chris Tucker was the only fly in the ointment of this movie. Without him, it would have been a classic. With him, it is barely tolerable. JMHO, of course!..Timmy ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_Winker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/71e660/32.png) [@Tim\_Winker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_Winker)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fifth-element-trivia-question/195818/6 "2003-08-18T07:21:46Z")
I must conclude that **Zenster** is crazy. You are the first person with which I have EVER discussed _The Fifth Element_ who hasn’t wholeheartedly agreed that Chris Tucker’s brutal screechy cloying charicature was the only thing keeping that movie from being tolerable. Chris Tucker should have been nominated for an Oscar??!! Are you “David Manning”? ---
**Author:** ![Silentgoldfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Silentgoldfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silentgoldfish)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fifth-element-trivia-question/195818/7 "2003-08-18T11:44:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Smeghead \* > \*\*I don’t know, but here’s another bit of trivia: > > The guy that played the cop that chased Bruce Willis in the car chase scene also plays the captain of the Red Dwarf on _Red Dwarf_. \*\* And the CEO of the Terraforming base that gets taken over in _Aliens_. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fifth-element-trivia-question/195818/8 "2003-08-18T11:45:23Z")
Sorry, folks, Tucker’s being annoying was absolutely flawless. He put so much character into that minor… character that he comes close to stealing the show. ---
**Author:** ![Hamadryad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6de8d8/32.png) [@Hamadryad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamadryad)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fifth-element-trivia-question/195818/9 "2003-08-18T14:02:01Z")
I’m with the pro-Tucker camp on the Ruby Rod love. YEAH, he’s screechy and annoying, which is why he’s so funny playing off of Willis’s “What the hell did I get myself into, I don’t freaking want to be here, leave me the heck alone so I can do what I came here to do” character. It’s like Carrot Top bulldozing Colin Powell onto “Soul Train” during the Gulf War. Only in outfits by Gaultier. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fifth-element-trivia-question/195818/10 "2003-08-18T15:15:58Z")
I could never figure out why Dallas hung out with Ruby Rod…he didn’t really care for Ruby all that much and Leeloo (sp?) was who he was supposed to be hanging with. I know I’d rather hang with Milla 😉 Sure, Ruby had concert tickets, but the Diva knew they were there to get the stones, it’s not like she would have “passed” them on at the concert if she hadn’t been gut shot. ---
**Author:** ![80sHairMetalMaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/8/ed655f/32.png) [@80sHairMetalMaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/80sHairMetalMaven)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2003, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fifth-element-trivia-question/195818/11 "2003-08-18T15:37:35Z")
I’m also Pro-Ruby Rod. I loved the character. Chris Tucker took what could’ve been a fairly boring character and really turned into something that was part Prince (the rockstar), part Carrot Top on speed and all overtly sexual. 🙂 Me likies. IDBB ---
**Author:** ![sixgun357](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@sixgun357](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sixgun357)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fifth-element-trivia-question/195818/12 "2012-11-19T00:00:04Z")
Nick co-starred with Bruce Willis in _Tears of the Sun_. I don’t know if it is him, but it sounds very much like him. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/0yWuc1dukps/hqdefault.jpg "TimeShift - Nick Chinlund Interview") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yWuc1dukps) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fifth-element-trivia-question/195818/13 "2012-11-19T02:06:33Z")
And on the movie in general, it was a really, really bad movie, that completely independently just happens to be incredibly fun. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fifth-element-trivia-question/195818/14 "2012-11-19T07:31:23Z")
[Well here’s the scene.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzOHhzk7zJ0) I’m pretty good at recognizing voices but I can’t place his, just sounds like _generic mechanic #2_ from central voice-over casting. As for Chris Tucker’s role, I didn’t see that whole movie until years after it came out, it just looked too silly for my taste. But when I did finally see it I have to say that my jaw dropped at Tucker’s performance during the last third of the film! It wasn’t just silly, it was over-the-top, out of place, annoying and just plain ridiculous. I realize that it’s meant to be an action-scifi-comedy-SFX movie, akin to something like Stallone’s\* Demolition Man\* or _Judge Dredd_, but in those Rob Schneider was just an innocuous goofball. Chris Tucker was like having RuPaul or one of the Wayons bros. or Weyland Flowers & Madame for Christ’s sake! It went from being a fun, somewhat silly movie to being a self-aware live action cartoon parody. He was just playing his goofy sounds guy from Police Academy! Took you right out of the movie (what little ‘into it’ there was)… ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fifth-element-trivia-question/195818/15 "2012-11-19T08:36:20Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And on the movie in general, it was a really, really bad movie, that completely independently just happens to be incredibly fun. Or a really really fun movie that completely independently just happens to be bad. Or something. I like it a lot, but I’ll be damned if I can codify exactly _why_. > [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > He was just playing his goofy sounds guy from Police Academy! Took you right out of the movie (what little ‘into it’ there was)… Chris Tucker was not in _Police Academy_; you’re probably thinking of [Michael Winslow](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0935498/) (who was not in _The Fifth Element_). As for Tucker in _The Fifth Element_, put me down as one of those for whom his character works perfectly within the story. He’s annoying and over the top because his character is supposed to be annoying and over the top. Different strokes, I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fifth-element-trivia-question/195818/16 "2012-11-19T09:17:00Z")
Anyone who doesn’t like Chris Tucker as Ruby Rod\* just doesn’t get it, man.\* ---
**Author:** ![Carmady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f04885/32.png) [@Carmady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carmady)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fifth-element-trivia-question/195818/17 "2012-11-19T09:18:23Z")
While all the main characters are great in their roles, I think Chris Tucker is the one who pushes it over the top and actually makes it a great movie. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fifth-element-trivia-question/195818/18 "2012-11-19T12:31:46Z")
> [@Carmady](#): > > While all the main characters are great in their roles, I think Chris Tucker is the one who pushes it over the top and actually makes it a great movie. +1 (We really need a button for this) ---
**Author:** ![fubbleskag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fubbleskag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fubbleskag)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fifth-element-trivia-question/195818/19 "2012-11-19T12:50:55Z")
> [@Carmady](#): > > While all the main characters are great in their roles, I think Chris Tucker is the one who pushes it over the top and actually makes it a great movie. > [@UncleRojelio](#): > > +1 > > (We really need a button for this) 2 out of 3 of the members to voice similar opinions in this thread’s original run have since been banned. just saying. ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2012, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fifth-element-trivia-question/195818/20 "2012-11-19T13:17:40Z")
> [@fubbleskag](#): > > 2 out of 3 of the members to voice similar opinions in this thread’s original run have since been banned. just saying. You’ll frequently have that happen when a thread is resurrected from 9 years ago! :dubious: [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fifth-element-trivia-question/195818.md?page=2)