Donald Trump is bringing some of his patented divisiveness to Hollywood, with the current POTUS reportedly hoping to bring back a canceled director to helm the long-awaited sequel in one of Jackie Chan’s best-loved action franchises. While many have wanted the follow-up to happen for years now, these likely aren’t the circumstances many had hoped for.
According to a new report by Semafor, Trump is desperate to see Jackie Chan once again share the screen with Chris Tucker in Rush Hour 4…and it wants to bring Brett Ratner back into the Hollywood fold to direct it. Trump already has a creative relationship with Ratner following the disgraced filmmaker’s $40 million documentary about Melania Trump for Prime Video, with the President now hoping to bring both Ratner and Paramount’s Larry Ellison (who is also one of Trump’s biggest financial supporters) together should they take control of Warner Bros. Discovery.
According to the report, Trump wants “to revive the raucous comedies and action movies of the late 1980s to late 1990s.” Projects closest to Trumps heart (or whatever resides within his chest) include Jean-Claude Van Damme’s 1988 action flick Bloodsport and the Rush Hour franchise, with a source revealing that Trump has already pushed for Paramount the help revive the latter.
Donald Trump Already Has a Working Relationship With Brett Ratner
Brett Ratner’s career came to a halt following accusations of sexual assault from multiple women, including Olivia Munn, Natasha Henstridge, and Elliot Page. Updates regarding the development of Rush Hour 4 have revealed that the studio is eager to give the sequel the greenlight, but has concerns about potentially having to work with Ratner again as he was “part of the pitch as the project’s potential director and producer, despite having not worked in Hollywood for the past seven years, since he faced multiple allegations of sexual misconduct and harassment in 2017.”
However, with Trump now reportedly getting involved, the cancellation of Ratner will no doubt be perceived as a positive by the so-called “anti-woke” POTUS and his supporters. Ratner is already working on a Melania Trump documentary for Amazon, and with Rush Hour producer Arthur Sarkissian’s production company having made the pro-Trump documentary The Man You Don’t Know in 2024, it seems that all the pieces are falling into place. But what kind of grotesque shape those pieces make remains to be seen.
Released in 1998, the first Rush Hour introduced audiences to Jackie Chan as Hong Kong cop Lee, who is paired with Tucker’s loud-mouth LAPD Detective James Carter. Together, the mismatched pair must find a way to work together to save a Chinese diplomat’s abducted daughter. Two sequels have since followed, with the last audiences saw of Lee and Carter being in 2007’s widely panned Rush Hour 3.
Trump has already begun to influence Hollywood following the installment of several controversial figures, including Mel Gibson, as “Special Ambassadors.” As per the report, producer Dallas Sonnier has predicted “a wave of classically male-driven movies with mentally tough, traditional, courageous, confident heroes. Maybe even a tad cocky, but dedicated to honor and duty. Plus, of course, a few explosions, gun battles, helicopters, fistfights, and car chases!”
- Release Date
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September 18, 1998
- Runtime
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97 minutes
- Writers
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Jim Kouf, Ross LaManna
- Producers
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Arthur M. Sarkissian, Jonathan Glickman