“I said, ‘Jackie, I watched all your (Asian) movies. He was certain that the pairing of Chan and Tucker, cops from completely different cultures, would be one for the ages (and the sequels). Ratner had just wrapped “Money Talks” and had acquired the “Rush Hour” script. We know what works and what doesn’t.”Īs soon as Ratner learned how much Tucker liked Chan’s movies, he was on a plane to South Africa to meet the Chinese martial-arts star. When we do a buddy-cop movie, we grew up watching those movies, and we have good instincts. “It’s like DeNiro and Scorsese are from the same background, and so when they do a gangster movie, it’s so real. I said to Chris, ‘Do you like Jackie Chan?’ and he said, ‘Of course I love Jackie Chan, are you kidding me?’ “We have the same interests and love kung fu movies. “And Richard Pryor and all these guys,” Ratner continues. We come from a generation that grew up watching ‘Beverly Hills Cop’ and …” I knew he knew where I came from.”Īs for Tucker, Ratner says, “We work great together. “Brett was one of the guys who came in to do the movie, and I said, `I know you, man, from the video.’ And I knew he was best friends with (rap impresario and ‘Def Comedy Jam’ executive producer) Russell Simmons. “So, then it came to (the 1997 film) ‘Money Talks.’ I was executive producer on this movie, and the director we had on it, I sorta pushed him out the door because he didn’t understand improvisation. “He did a great job on the video, first of all, and then he sent me extra money,” says Tucker. Ratner promised to take it out of his own salary and send Tucker a check. Tucker made $1,500 for the video shoot but was still short his rent money, so he asked Ratner for an additional $500. “He looked like a playboy, sort of, and I’m like, ‘What’s wrong with this dude?’ “ “I was thinkin’ it was gonna be some black director, and here was this white, Jewish guy,” Tucker recalls. Rapper Heavy D hired him in 1994 to appear in the video “Nuttin’ but Love,” which was being directed by Ratner. The history of the fertile franchise partnership between Ratner and Tucker began in the early 1990s, when Tucker was a regular on HBO’s “Def Comedy Jam” along with Mike Epps, Martin Lawrence, Cedric the Entertainer and Chris Rock. The successful stand-up comedian became a multimillionaire off the “Rush Hour” franchise, with the first two films grossing $576 million worldwide. “We gotta do it fast if we’re gonna do it, because Jackie is gettin’ up there,” jokes Tucker, who turns 35 later this month. “If the movie is a huge success and people are going in droves to the theater, the studio says, ‘We’re making another one.’ They’re writing the check.” “We could keep going: ‘Rush Hour 10,’ ‘Grumpy Old “Rush Hour.” ‘ Nine years after the first “Rush Hour” hit theaters, fans already wonder if they can look forward to “RH 4.” Tucker sings a lot and finally has a love scene, and martial-arts master Chan, at age 53, is still kicking villains into oblivion. The movie opens with Chris Tucker’s Carter directing traffic in L.A., and Jackie Chan’s Lee in town with Ambassador Han (Tzi Ma from “Rush Hour”) for a meeting of the World Criminal Court.Īn assassination attempt on the ambassador will soon have Carter and Lee in Paris, where they do battle with a deadly Chinese crime ring. Six years later, in the storyline and in real time, the comedic crime-fighters are back for “Rush Hour 3,” in theaters today. The last time we saw Los Angeles Police Detective James Carter and Chinese Chief Inspector Lee, in “Rush Hour 2,” they had dusted off another bunch of bad guys and were headed to New York City for a Knicks game.
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