Chris Tucker Returns For "Playbook," "Watch"

Chris Tucker is in talks to join David O. Russell's "The Silver Linings Playbook" at The Weinstein Company and is circling Akiva Schaffer's comedy "Neighborhood Watch" at Fox says Variety.

Aside from the three "Rush Hour" films, the last one in 2007, Tucker hasn't shot a film since 1998. He was attached to Warners' heist pic "The Rabbit" and was considered for the lead in Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained". The former is still stuck in development, the latter role went to Jamie Foxx.

An adaptation of Matthew Quick's novel, 'Playbook' has Bradley Cooper playing a former high school teacher who is institutionalized for depression and then released into the care of his mother. He tries to win back his ex-wife but becomes involved with an eccentric neighbor (Jennifer Lawrence) with problems of her own.

Tucker will play Cooper's spirited friend who lives in a mental hospital. He escapes on several occasions to visit the troubled Cooper. Robert De Niro is set to play Cooper's father.

With 'Watch', Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and Jonah Hill are set to star in the story of a group of suburban neighbors whose Neighborhood Watch is really a front for them to escape their families -- until they discover a plot to destroy the world. Tucker is being eyed for the role of the recently divorced Jamarcus.