Ice Cube says some of his '22 Jump Street' dialogue was improvised

NEW YORK, June 13 (UPI) -- Rapper and actor Ice Cube says improvisation was greatly encouraged on the set of his new cop comedy 22 Jump Street.

"It was a mixture. The way they shot it this time, there were a lot of long takes. There were a lot of takes where we shot what was scripted and then they would throw ad-libs at you. You would think of your own ad-libs. They would have alternate ad-libs. These takes were going 3, 4 minutes of just going at it. I was like, 'The editor's going to go crazy on this movie.' Because he's got more than enough footage. I'm pretty sure they could have made this movie 3 hours long, full of jokes," the performer told UPI during a recent round-table interview in New York.

So, did he appreciate how the movie -- a follow-up to the 2012 blockbuster 21 Jump Street -- constantly mocks sequels?

"Yeah, I liked that," Ice Cube said. "Because nobody thought the sequel was going to be as good as the first. Nobody even thought the first movie was going to be good. It was like: '21 Jump Street, a movie? Come on, man!' Everybody was like, 'Oh, my God.' And [co-directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller] delivered something unique and special. Rob Riggle's head turns into an [animated] ice cream cone in the first one, so it was like, 'Anything goes.' They bring that cartoon kind of style, in a way, to the second version, too, where you don't know what's going to happen and that's cool."

Lord's and Miller's other collaborations include Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and The Lego Movie.

22 Jump Street stars Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum as undercover cops trying to bring down a drug ring on a college campus. Ice Cube plays their hot-tempered boss.