Gawker: defamer, chris tucker

Rat-Pack-Worshipping Brett Ratner Takes On Sinatra Project

Mark — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 14:50:57 EDT

· What showbiz name evokes Rat Pack-era Hollywood cool more than any other? That's right: Brett Ratner. The singularly hacky Rush Hour 3 director, continuing his ongoing mission to diminish the legacies of legends whose lifestyles he desperately wishes to emulate, will reteam with screechy muse Chris Tucker for an adaptation of Mr. S: My Life With Frank Sinatra, a tell-all bio about Sinatra's relationship with his valet. "I think [Ratner's] channeling Frank sometimes," says one the book's authors, rolling around in a pile of New Line's option cash. [Variety]
· Dan Rather opens a can containing $70 million worth of legal whoop-ass on CBS, claiming that the network scapegoated him for the Memogate scandal. [THR]
· DreamWorks Animation runs screaming from a May 2009 box office confrontation with James Cameron's Avatar, moving their Monsters Vs. Aliens to a safer Easter '09 release date. [Variety]
· Fox picks up Raffik, a police procedural about a Borat-like Albanian detective dispatched to the US Americas to amuse the LAPD with his observations about the differences in their law enforcement techniques. [THR]
· The premiere numbers for Kelsey Grammer's Back to You, Gordon "Scorched Bollocks" Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, and the New Mexico Child Welfare Department's Kid Nation are uniformly "solid" but "unspectacular." Also, as expected, plenty of female teenagers watched Gossip Girl. [Variety]

Don't Let 'Rush Hour 3' Become The Summer's Forgotten, Crappy Thrill Ride Of A Lifetime

Mark — Thu, 03 May 2007 21:25:10 EDT

With earlier summer offerings like Live Free or Die Hard dominating all the online buzz with their flashy teasers and fancy-pants holiday release dates, moviegoers might overlook other, less competently directed sequels scheduled for later in the season, which could easily offer just as many unnecessarily crashed cars and eye-popping, shit-blowing-up set pieces for your box office dollar. So let's not forget about Brett Ratner's Rush Hour 3, whose newly released extended trailer reveals some cinematic delights sure to be absent from Bruce Willis' overhyped comeback vehicle, like body-cavity search jokes (the snapping of a rubber glove has been proven to induce a Pavlovian sphincter-tightening response in audiences), Chris Tucker shrieking at a number of Asian individuals he still has trouble understanding, and, perhaps most thrillingly, a painting of a French nobleman (Napoleon? The subtle gag flashes by so quickly!) being struck in the genitals with a hurled knife. Mark your calendars for August 10th!

Rush Hour 3 - trailer [YouTube]
Rush Hour 3 [rushhourmovie.com]

"Rush Hour" Dream Team Reassembled For Inevitable Sequel

Mark — Mon, 21 Nov 2005 12:24:18 EST

In the dark places in our soul that we don't like to talk about at cocktail parties, we were secretly terrified that we might never again experience the unbridled, brain-smoothing joy of Chris Tucker shouting high-pitched expletives at a seemingly uncomprehending Jackie Chan while shit blows up around them. It seems that New Line is finally ready to shovel cash onto the raging fire of another Rush Hour sequel, locking up Tucker, Chan, screenwriter Jeff Nathanson, and, most crucially, visionary fauxteur Brett Ratner. Variety has the staggering details:

Tucker will earn $20 million against 20% of gross, and his deal comes with a second-picture commitment for the same salary on a film to be determined later. Thesp has given up script approval as long as the final draft matches what Nathanson pitched.

Chan will get around $15 million against 15% of gross, but he will also own the film's distribution rights in China and Hong Kong.

Ratner will get a spike on the upfront part of the $5 million-against-5% gross deal he had on "Rush Hour 2.

Ratner's piece might look tiny compared to his stars', but we suspect that fresh off ~~ruining~~ reimagining the X-Men franchise, he'll be thrilled to return to his comfort zone, narrowly avoiding a fallback career shooting ladies' footwear.

Third 'Hour' starts clock [Variety]
Brett Ratner To Photograph Flaming Pile Of Expensive Shoes [Defamer]