Rush Hour stars in a hurry to tackle stereotypes
By Damara Popoola
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 8/10/07 – An inordinate number of three-quels have characterized this summer blockbuster season, but Americans love a good franchise and this week’s entrant into the club is the long-coming “Rush Hour 3.” Six years since they last played a cross-cultural, crime-fighting duo, Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan are back together on the big screen.
Fans who never even knew this latest installment was in the works shouldn’t feel bad, because even Tucker and Chan didn’t really know in the beginning. Tucker told Hollywood Today, “We never planned on doing a ‘Rush Hour II’ or ‘III’, but the studio put the word out there saying ‘oh they’re going to do a three,’ and then they came to us and [said] ‘so you want to do another one?’ That’s what really happened.”
For Tucker, whose only acting work for the past nine years has been “Rush Hour” films, it was another chance to play an amusing character in a movie with a built-in fan base. He said, “I don’t want to just do “Rush Hours” because you get typecast . . . but I thought this would be a fun movie to come back out with because it’s a big action movie . . . It’s a fun movie to be in, I can dance, I can sing, I can fight. It’s a big platform.”
Another benefit is the relationship the two stars have developed over the course of the three films. “[In ‘Rush Hour’] I didn’t really know Chris Tucker,” Chan said. “By the time we finished the film six months later we were just becoming friends . . . Now [after ‘Rush Hour III’] we are brothers. One is Brett Ratner and one is [Chris].”
Tucker expressed similar feelings when describing how the dynamic between them has changed since the first film. “[At first] I was kind of shy because this was Jackie Chan, a big movie star around the world . . . So I sort of stayed away from him because I didn’t want to do anything wrong. I’d do my stuff and then go, but it played well for the movie because that’s how it was in real life,” he said. “ On this one we pretty much know each other, we trust each other, we have so much respect for each other. We truly are friends now . . . That’s why I think it’s such a special movie.”
And as friends in reality and onscreen, the “Rush Hour” stars somehow manage to create a dialog (albeit a comedic one) about accepting and embracing different cultures. “I think [the film] brings people together because now in this day and time there’s so much tension in different cultures,” Tucker said. “I think it makes fun of those stereotypes because two guys have this relationship and my character, kind of not meaning any harm, says some stuff that could be racist, but we’re [still able to be] friends.”
Tucker has spent much of the past few years getting familiar with other cultures. Though he has been notably missing from the Hollywood scene lately, he’ll be the first to say that he hasn’t just been “sitting around the house doing [nothing].” The “Friday” star has dedicated much of his time to humanitarian efforts around the world, alongside some pretty famous people.
He said, “ I took some great trips around the world with President Clinton, Bono, Colin Powell, Oprah Winfrey . . . and through my journeys I’ve discovered a lot of things that caught my eye, like in Africa, a lot of the suffering that goes on . . . So those things really concerned me and I wanted to use my celebrity and fame to shine light and attention on what’s going on around the world. ”
It’s no wonder then, that with all of Tucker’s globetrotting, rumors surfaced that after this “Rush Hour” he’d be giving up acting to work in Africa year-round. The 34 year-old star denies this, however, and backed it up by announcing his latest plans for a comedy tour and a movie in the works.
Tucker said, “I’m going to do 20 cities here in the states and worldwide too, and I’m going to film a stand-up comedy movie . . . A lot of people don’t know that I started out doing stand-up comedy so I want to do that . . . And also I may do this movie called “Mr. President,” playing the first black president in this comedy I’ve been working on for a while. The elections are coming up so I think it might be a fun movie to do.”
Unlike Tucker, who is just getting back into the swing of things movie-wise, Chan has been working continuously between “Rush Hours.” About keeping busy, he said, “Right after ‘Rush Hour 2’ I made almost 5 or 6 movies already. Right after ‘Rush Hour 3,’ the next day I started another movie . . . [That‘s] my schedule until 2010.”
Although the international action-star is already 53, he says the key to staying shape is to ‘keep making movies nonstop.’ While he’s reportedly pinpointed his retirement at five years in the future many times, he admits he doesn’t know when it will really happen. “Sometimes I ask myself when I stop,” Chan said. “I don’t know. Maybe another broken leg then I think I will totally rest. I forget how old I am. I have to teach people how to fight. I have to take care of Chris. I have to show him. I think this makes me young and makes me still move.”
And Tucker easily acknowledges Chan’s skill when it comes to fighting and stunts. He said, “[Jackie] choreographs all my fight scenes. He tells me, ‘go to your trailer and I’ll take care of you.’ I come back and he’s choreographed this big old fight scene for me and he just shows in me two seconds what to do. And when I see it cut together I’m like ‘oh man that was cool.’ I’m always fascinated with Jackie and what he does.”
The two actors are quick to sing each others praises, which would seem to make another “Rush Hour” sequel a shoo-in, but neither is quick to jump to any conclusions. Tucker said, “I want to do some other movies of course mix things up, but if the fans like another one I’ll think about it and of course Jackie would have to agree and everybody [else] agree on doing another one.” He added, “If this one is successful I’ll try to fit it in. [But] if we’re going to do it we’re going to have to do it fast. We can’t wait 6 years.”
“Rush Hour III” is in theaters Friday, Aug. 10.