Chris Rock Reveals What It Would Take To Get Him Back to The Oscars

Four years after Will Smith walked onto the Oscars stage and slapped him in front of a global television audience, Chris Rock sat down with Variety for his first major interview since the incident, and his message about the slap itself was surprisingly measured. "It's not that important," he said.

He was in the interview to discuss Misty Green, his first film as director since Top Five in 2014, which he also wrote and stars in as a Hollywood casting director navigating the industry alongside a volatile actress played by Tessa Thompson.

The film premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival September 12 and opens in theaters October 9. Rock says he never noticed until recently that the film includes a scene in which his character references someone who once "punched this bitch in the face," an awkward coincidence given the interview context.

The slap is not what is shaping him right now. What is shaping him is a 2020 diagnosis of nonverbal learning disorder, an ADHD-adjacent condition he describes as "Asperger-y."

With extensive therapy since the diagnosis, he says he has developed levels of concentration and empathy he never had before. "I was so good at telling jokes that I didn't have to face a lot of things. My comedic gifts put me in a position where I didn't have to grow up."

He says the only way he would return to the Oscars is if he receives a nomination. He doesn't expect one. He has made peace with that.