The situation regardingRush Hour 4, which is very much on the table at Warner Bros. and may happen, is becoming pretty interesting behind the scenes. Brett Ratner, whodirected all three of the previous moviesin the franchise, has been boasting that he is going to be the director ofRush Hour 4. Warner Bros. sources say that isn’t going to be the case, but it appears anyone with any power at the studio doesn’t want to tell Ratner that. So what’s going on here?
Brett Ratnerwas one of the many powerful figures in Hollywood accused ofsexual harassmentby multiple women, including Olivia Munn, Natasha Henstridge and Ellen Paige. Warner Bros. then removed him from any future DC projects, which had been producing via his company, Ratpac Entertainment. Ratner denied allegations made against him, but as an anonymous high-level executive put it in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, doing a movie with him right now would be “a suicide mission.” Here’s what the source had to say about theRush Hour 4situation.
“Brett has been walking around town telling people he’s going to direct a Rush Hour movie because it’s his only way back in. He’s trying to make believe he’s employable.”
Another source says that “no one is willing to tell Brett he’s not the director of the picture.” Part of that has to do with the fact that Brett Ratner has very close relationships with Warner Bros. chairman and CEO Kevin Tsujihara and studio chairman Toby Emmerich. Warner Bros. declined to officially comment on the matter, but studio sources say that Ratnerwon’t direct the movie. The situation is clearly complicated and certainly can’t help this movie’s chances of getting made.
Both Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker recently said the movie is going to happen and they both seem excited about it. Producer Arthur Sarkissian has been pushing to get it made for some time and even approachedBlack-ishcreator Kenya Barris about getting involved, but he passed. Sarkissian says Ratner is not involved in any way and is confused as to why the filmmaker is running around telling everyone he is directingRush Hour 4. Despite that, he has pushed to keep the movie going even after theallegationsagainst Ratner came to light.
“The scandal broke and they put a pin in it. I went back [to them] and said, ‘I want to do my movie.’ They said, ‘Fair enough.'”
Even though Brett Ratner hasn’t been convicted of a crime, in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal and in the#MeToo era, the climate in Hollywood is changing. As such, Warner Bros. wouldn’t dare make a movie with someone who has been accused of such misconduct at this point in time. So Ratner is not going to directRush Hour 4, but someone needs to tell him that. This news comes to us courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter.
