Rush Hour 3 reunites the crime-fighting duo of Chief Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) and Detective James Carter (Chris Tucker) for more adventures and high-powered stunts. In this third and probably not final film of the Rush Hour franchise, the fearless twosome head off to Paris to take on the Chinese crime syndicate, the Triads.
Chris Tucker and His Relationship with Jackie Chan: It’s evolved over the years since the first Rush Hour film back in 1998. “It’s great, it’s great,” said Tucker. “Because the first movie we really didn’t understand each other. Just like Jackie may have told you, we met in a meeting, because we had to meet with him so he could meet me and agree to do Rush Hour. He didn’t know who I was because I was an up-and-coming comedian. He knew who Eddie Murphy was, people like that. But I was talking to him the whole meeting, but he didn’t say anything. I didn’t know if he spoke English or not so I asked Brett [Ratner], ‘Does he speak English? Because he’s not talking.’ He said, ‘Don’t worry. He’ll learn English by the time we start filming.’ I said, ‘I can’t be funny if he don’t speak English.’ He said, ‘I’m just joking, he speaks English – that’s his culture. He’s just feeling you out.’ I said, ‘All right, I’m in. Whatever.’ So I took that to the movie.
I didn’t see him until we started filming after that, because he agreed and we went to the set and that’s how I came up with, ‘Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?’ I just played the movie like real life and that’s how our friendship is. Just like the first movie, he was a fish out of water in America. Second movie, I’m a fish out of water in Hong Kong. We actually went to Hong Kong for the first movie premiere and we did the karaoke in real life at night. I was doing Michael Jackson all night and Brett said, ‘Let’s put that in the movie if we do a part two.’ We put it in the movie.
In this movie we’re both fish out of water’s in Europe and Paris. We were brothers in this movie. And, of course, we get in a little argument but then we make up. It’s like real life. I went and surprised him right before I signed on to do Rush Hour 3. I just went to Hong Kong, flew out there on my own. I called him from the airport and said, ‘Jackie, I’m in Hong Kong.’ He said, ‘You in Hong Kong! We hang out tonight! I come get you!’ (Laughing) You know, it’s like we hung out and did all that. It’s just like the movie.
The Brotherhood Theme: Tucker thinks the film’s brotherhood theme echoes real life. “I think it added that we definitely…we really cared about each other, because we really grew on each other. I think that made people say, ‘Oooh, they really like each other.’ It was a bond that we had that sort of just happened and we realized it when we were separated. And I think the audience, they felt that.”
Jackie Chan and Stunt Work: Asked what’s the most amazing stunt he’s ever seen Jackie Chan accomplish, Tucker replied, “Oh, man, I have seen him do crazy, crazy stuff. Jumping and swinging and… I like the way he has a vision about something. He’d do a shot, cut, cut, cut, cut. He knows all the shots and he’ll do them all. You’ll see them all cut together and you’ll go, ‘Whoa. That’s sweet.’ Because you didn’t expect it, you didn’t know where it was going. I like his vision.”
Carter Drives People Crazy: Tucker’s character Carter is constantly getting on his partner’s nerves, but Tucker wouldn’t have a problem getting along with the talkative Carter. “Carter is sort of a person who is kind of out there,” said Tucker. “He likes to have fun. He was used to working by himself, but now he’s used to working with Jackie because they became brothers and friends in this movie. That gave us room to be funny and more action, because Carter in this movie has more action scenes. He has a love interest with Noemie Lenoir, a French actress, and he speaks Chinese. So my character, he’s trying to speak Chinese, so I wanted all those things to try and make him evolve a little bit instead of being the same character in Rush Hour 2. It just makes him a bit more exciting. But I would be able to get along with Carter. Carter’s cool, because I always put a lot of me in these characters, a little extra, but I always put a little bit of me.”
Is There a Rush Hour 4 in Chris Tucker’s Future?: “Rush Hour 4? If the fans want to see another one… If the fans want to see, we always have to think about it and work on a script and make it even better than this one if we can do it.”
But Tucker promises it won’t take another five years to get off the ground. “Not in five years. No, because Jackie told me, ‘I chased you for five, six years! This time you call me!’ So if this one does good, what I’ll do, I’ll just go write a script with a writer. I’ll come up with it real fast. I’ll just do it real fast, have it there, a matter of fact. I’m just going to get a script done.”
Page 2: Chris Tucker on the Timing of Rush Hour 3 and New Priorities
