Chris Tucker and Brett Ratner are two of the driving forces behind the Rush Hour series, one of the most commercially successful action-movie franchises in history. Before Rush Hour solidified his superstar status, Tucker established himself as a popular stand-up and a credible dramatic actor with scene-stealing supporting roles in the Hughes brothers' noir-hued crime drama Dead Presidents and Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown. He left an indelible mark on stoner culture as a wisecracking pothead in F. Gary Gray's 1995 cult classic Friday before hooking up with Ratner for the first time with 1997's Money Talks.
The enormous international success of Rush Hour in 1998 helped propel Tucker into the upper ranks of bankable leading men. In spite of his huge salaries, Tucker has only appeared in two films since then, both Rush Hour sequels: 2001's Rush Hour 2 and the newly released Rush Hour 3. Ratner has been far more prolific—and divisive—directing everything from a book adaptation (2002's Red Dragon) to a superhero sequel (2006's X-Men: The Last Stand) to a family-friendly comedy-drama (2000's The Family Man), all of which found popular success but made him a target of critics and the pop-culture blogosphere. The A.V Club recently sat down to talk with Tucker and Ratner about entertaining the masses, hanging with Michael Jackson and Roman Polanski, saving Africa, and living the Hollywood good life.
The A.V. Club: You've only appeared in movies directed by Brett Ratner since 1997. Has he spoiled you for working with all other directors?
Chris Tucker: You know what, we were just talking about that. I think he might have. We know each other, and I feel so comfortable around him expressing myself. Whenever we have a problem, we always talk about it. We understand each other. Working with other people, I don't know if I'd have that relationship. I'm pretty sure I will, but he definitely spoils me, because we're friends. Not only do we work together, but we're friends, too.
AVC: So I guess if Steven Spielberg calls, you're not interested?
Brett Ratner: "No, I only work with Ratner! Get me Ratner!"
CT: "Brett's gotta be involved with this, because you know how it is." He is like the new Spielberg, you know? He's a creative person. A lot of directors, they're creative, but they're different. He is the new Spielberg.
AVC: So what do you do when you're not starring in Brett Ratner movies?
CT: I travel. I do a lot of traveling around the world. I love traveling. It not only opens my mind up, but it also allows me to use my fame in another way through humanitarian works and stuff, and being an influence around the world. I was doing Africa stuff long before it became popular. People was saying, "What are you doing in Africa?" Now George Clooney's doing it, and Don Cheadle, and people [are] adopting babies. I was around the world, and because I wasn't working, people didn't know what I doing, but I was doing that. It really helped me in life to appreciate stuff, and appreciate what I have, and understand what I do in my work. Making people laugh is giving, and it's healing, too, when people can go up to the movies and forget about their problems. It's a good thing. That's why I want to work. I want to keep working, I want to keep doing my humanitarian stuff around the world, shining light on different places that have problems. Keep making movies, make people laugh.
AVC: Do you think George Clooney stole your idea of helping people in Africa?
CT: No, but I think that's what it takes sometimes. He might have seen Bono. I remember talking to George Clooney about something in D.C., and he wasn't going to Africa then. I remember all these people. I was already over there with Bill Clinton taking these trips. I think that's what it takes. It takes one person to go over there and do it, and then people start to say, "What's going on?" I know Jay-Z is doing stuff over there now, Alicia Keys. I'm pretty sure they've seen my MTV Diary with Bono, years ago. I did it in 2000. They've probably seen that and said, "What is Chris Tucker doing in Africa?"
That's what it takes. I remember in Ethiopia there was this nun who was one of the nuns who ran this orphanage. It was full of babies. That's all there was, like two nuns. I knew these babies weren't really getting the attention they needed, because it was only two nuns. The nun used to work for Mother Teresa. She said Mother Teresa said, "One drop in the ocean. It takes all these different raindrops to form an ocean." That's what it takes. It takes everybody to be involved in what's going on around the world. If one person goes, you might not even know who that person is, that might influence another person. I hope I was a part of that, because I was like, "I can't do this by myself. How can I do anything to help, or bring money, and all that stuff?" But you've got Bonos, and George Clooneys, all these people around the world, and they're influencing people, too.
AVC: Kind of on a similar topic, let's talk about you appearing on African American Lives. That sounded like a really interesting experience for you.
CT: That's a project by one of my friends, [Henry Louis] Skip Gates. That's one of the friendships I've cultivated over the years. Just going to Harvard, hanging out with him. He invited me to be on his show. He was highlighting African-American entertainers across the board, and taking their DNA and finding out their heritage. It was Oprah Winfrey, Quincy Jones, me, and a few other people. It was powerful knowing where your family might have come from. All the slaves came from West Africa, none came from South Africa or East Africa. My mother's lineage went back to Cameroon, and my father's lineage went back to Angola. Just to know whereabouts in these areas is powerful. They have a record of my great-great grandparents being sold from Virginia—well, given to the daughters of the slave owners who died. She moved to Georgia, and that's how we got to Flat Rock, Georgia. Just knowing these histories, things I never knew.
BR: Well, your family is originally from Israel. [Laughs.]
CT: [Laughs.] I am Jewish. My real name is Chris Tuckenberg. A lot of people don't know about that. I am Jewish.
AVC: In the film, there are jokes about the French perceptions of American culture. Did you encounter any anti-American attitudes when you were in France?
BR: Nah, we kind of went with the cliché. Sometimes you get a little bit of attitude in a restaurant, but otherwise it's changed. When I was a kid, I remember seeing more of that, but I think the world has changed. I love that we did that, the French version of what they think of Americans, their thoughts of Americans, instead of us making fun of the French. It was the reverse, so I like that. How George's [a French cab-driver] character changes, and now he's pro-American. "I'll drink this shit all day if I have to!"
AVC: It seemed like he got a lot of his ideas about America from movies like Rush Hour.
BR: Which is the way the world is. Movies are the biggest export in the world, the biggest American export. It influences people all over the world. Music and movies. That's what's exciting about what we do, the fact that it's so global. It brings people together. People don't have to understand the language to laugh at Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. They're going to laugh even though they don't understand what they're saying. Cause they're seeing it.
AVC: What was it like directing Roman Polanski?
BR: It was great. I've got to tell you, one of the greatest moments was when Roman called me up. I was in Paris prepping. He says, "Can I see you?" And I said, "Yeah," and he goes, "Where are you?" I said, "I'm at the hotel," and he said, "I'll meet you in the lobby." I'm sitting there, and Roman says, "Brett, do you mind running the lines with me?" We're sitting on the couch, and I'm like, "Can someone see me right now?" [Laughs.] I'm running lines with Roman Polanski. I was always envious of other directors. I was envious of guys like Paul Thomas Anderson when he did Boogie Nights, and all these guys my age, because they got a lot of respect from other directors. The biggest star in the world can be here, but I don't care. I love movie directors. I don't care who it is. Chris Tucker was just on the phone with Spike Lee and I was excited. I love movie directors.
The only time I've ever been envious was when Paul Thomas Anderson called me and said, "I'm on the set of Eyes Wide Shut with Tom Cruise right now and we're hanging out with Stanley Kubrick." I was so envious of that until I did Rush Hour, because I always thought that I had to do an important movie about the Holocaust or someone dying of cancer or something to get respect from other filmmakers. After I did Rush Hour, I got three calls: Jonathan Demme, Warren Beatty, and Roman Polanski. I was like, "Wait a second, I thought I just made a contemporary version of Beverly Hills Cop." But the fact is that directors aren't snobs. After meeting them and talking to them, they appreciate a good movie, it doesn't matter what the genre. They know how hard it is; even if it's a comedy, an action-comedy, they know how hard it is to make a movie that's good, no matter what kind of movie it is.
Roman became my friend. He called me, I went to Paris and visited him, and he was like, "Oh man, you don't understand, I love Rush Hour." He was asking me questions. I was like, "Wait a second, you don't understand. You're Roman Polanski, let me ask you some questions," and we've kept in touch all these years. All these years, we've kept in touch since Rush Hour. I was in Paris, getting ready to shoot, and I had lunch with him, and he said, "What are you doing?" And I said, "I'm here shooting Rush Hour 3," and he said, "Oh, man, I love Rush Hour." I said, "Listen, you should be in it," just as a joke. So he said, "Well, what would I do?" And I said, "I'll get back to you tomorrow night." I call up the writer Jeff Nathanson and I say, "You've got to write up a scene for Roman Polanski!" He said, "He's not being in the movie." I said, "Yes, he is! I'm telling you he's doing it!" So he faxed me the pages to the hotel, and the next day I met with Roman, gave him the pages, and he said, "Let's do it."
Again, when critics or people judge, I think it's harder to make a commercial, pop movie than it is to make a pretentious art film. It's harder to reach millions and millions of people and satisfy them and make them happy. These films kind of get ghettoized, this genre, these types of films, because there are so many big, big movies that are such big hits, but aren't any good. The audiences, they're not judging the style of the director, or the execution of the film. They're just looking to be entertained. But then the critics come in, and they look at it, and go, "Oh, this is shit." You have to be able to differentiate between a well-made movie and a poorly made movie. At the end of the day, audiences just want to laugh and be entertained. They want to escape from their reality, and that's why we make movies, to get people to escape from the realities.
AVC: Do you read the reviews of your films?
BR: You know, I read it. Whoever writes a bad review, I put their name on a list, and they're going to get taken care of one day down the road. [Laughs.] Otherwise, I don't let it bother me. The truth is, these are review-proof movies. The audiences are going to see it. My audience, our audience, isn't reading Esquire magazine to see if Rush Hour is a good movie or not. They just want to laugh, to be entertained, and lose themselves. It's not a movie like when I did Red Dragon, or when I do another type of movie, I want to hear what the critics say, because I'm playing with that type of audience. But here, I'm proud of this movie. I know this movie is good. I've seen it in front of normal people, not reporters or critics.
AVC: How did you end up appearing on Entourage?
BR: Entourage called me and said, "We want to put you on the show. What's the timing for Rush Hour?" I said, "It's coming out in August," and they said, "Oh, let's do something for Rush Hour 3 where Johnny Drama…" and they pitched me the idea, and I loved it. I said, "Oh, great, let's do it."
CT: How was his acting? What did you think?
BR: I'm better than the other directors on the show. [Laughs.]
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