- Title: Eddie Murphy and The Rock witness Brett Ratner's Hollywood honor
- Date: 20th January 2017
- Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 19, 2017) (REUTERS) **** WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY **** UNVEILING THE STAR VARIOUS OF BRETT RATNER POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS WITH (LEFT TO RIGHT) EDWARD NORTON, DWAYNE JOHNSON, EDDIE MURPHY, BRIAN GRAZER, KEVIN TSUJIHARA (CHAIRMAN AND CEO OF WARNER BROS ENTERTAINMENT), CHRIS TUCKER, RUSSELL SIMMONS BRETT RATNER POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR/PRODUCER BRETT RATNER SAYING: "Before I am a filmmaker, I am a fan, a fan of movies and of this wonderful community that makes them so for me, simply put, it really just doesn't get any better than this morning." BRETT RATNER POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR/PRODUCER BRETT RATNER SAYING: "Working in the movie business gives one a curious opportunity, you get to meet your heroes *chokes up* you get to meet your boyhood heroes and sometimes, when you're lucky, they become your friends. There's no greater comic actor in the world than is Eddie Murphy. He was my childhood hero and now he is my friend and it was he and the movies made that inspired me to want to direct action-comedies. I didn't just watch "Beverly Hills Cop" and "48 Hours," I studied them, I dissected them and "Rush Hour" would not exist if it wasn't for Eddie." EDDIE MURPHY, PAIGE BUTCHER AND RUSSELL SIMMONS (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR-PRODUCER BRETT RATNER SAYING: "Whenever I see a young director whose work I admire, I do my very best to seek them out and laud them the way Eddie lauded me." VARIOUS OF BRETT RATNER POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS BRETT RATNER POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS WITH DWAYNE JOHNSON, EDDIE MURPHY, BRIAN GRAZER, KEVIN TSUJIHARA (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR EDDIE MURPHY SAYING: "I don't have as much as everyone else has, they have all this stuff, I have only done one movie with Brett but Brett has been a friend of mine for many years. He's actually the only person, the only director I have ever become friends with in 40 movies. Usually you make a movie and you never see the person again but Brett actually became a friend and you directed a flop and we we're still friends." BRETT RATNER POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS WITH EDWARD NORTON, DWAYNE JOHNSON, EDDIE MURPHY, BRIAN GRAZER, KEVIN TSUJIHARA, CHRIS TUCKER, RUSSELL SIMMONS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR DWAYNE JOHNSON SAYING: "One of the crazy things about Brett, for those of you who don't know Brett, Brett is connected to everything. There is no story in Hollywood, there's no big success in Hollywood that Brett is not connected to. We shot "Hercules" together in Budapest, we were over there for months and months, we spent a lot of time together over there and there was always, inevitably every day, story-time with Brett." BRETT RATNER POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHERS WITH DWAYNE JOHNSON, EDDIE MURPHY, BRIAN GRAZER, KEVIN TSUJIHARA (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR DWAYNE JOHNSON SAYING: "It's so ironic, I was thinking about this because I was thinking about this on the way over, Brett, like Brian was saying, loves film, he loves movies and to be here, to be celebrating it in our community, amongst all these legends and iconic names, for you to be here, it means the world to him, it means to me, it means the world to us, I love you brother and congratulations." AUDIENCE APPLAUDING EDWARD NORTON AND JEFFREY KATZENBERG DWAYNE JOHNSON EDDIE MURPHY CLOSE UP OF BRETT RATNER STAR BRETT RATNER SIGNING AUTOGRAPHS
- Embargoed: 3rd February 2017 00:08
- Keywords: Brett Ratner star Hollywood Walk of Fame Eddie Murphy Dwayne Johnson The Rock
- Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
- City: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Celebrities,Arts/Culture/Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVA0015ZR1IRX
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Collaborators Eddie Murphy and Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson turned out to see director-producer Brett Ratner receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday (January 19).
The 2,599th person to be given the honor, Ratner's movies have grossed more than $2 billion at the box office worldwide.
Receiving the award, he said: "Working in the movie business gives one a curious opportunity, you get to meet your boyhood heroes and sometimes, when you're lucky, they become your friends. There's no greater comic actor in the world than is Eddie Murphy. He was my childhood hero and now he is my friend and it was he and the movies made that inspired me to want to direct action-comedies. I didn't just watch "Beverly Hills Cop" and "48 Hours," I studied them, I dissected them and "Rush Hour" would not exist if it wasn't for Eddie."
Paying tribute to the Hollywood mogul, Murphy told the audience: "I have only done one movie with Brett but Brett has been a friend of mine for many years. He's actually the only person, the only director I have ever become friends with in 40 movies. Usually you make a movie and you never see the person again but Brett actually became a friend and you directed a flop and we we're still friends."
Dwayne '"The Rock" Johnson also added: "One of the crazy things about Brett is that Brett is connected to everything. There is no story in Hollywood, there's no big success in Hollywood that Brett is not connected to. We shot "Hercules" together in Budapest, we were over there for months and months, we spent a lot of time together over there and there was always, inevitably every day, story-time with Brett."
Ratner's big break came after he screened his film for hip-hop impresario Russell Simmons, who was also in attendance at the unveiling, which led to a career directing music videos for Madonna, Mariah Carey, Jay-Z, Public Enemy, P Diddy and many more. He made his feature directing debut in 1997 with the action comedy "Money Talks" and later directed "Rush Hour" and its sequels, "The Family Man," "Red Dragon," "After the Sunset," "X-Men: The Last Stand," and "Hercules."
Ratner was also an executive producer of the best picture Oscar winner "The Revenant" and produced "Black Mass," "War Dogs," "Horrible Bosses" and its sequel, "Horrible Bosses 2," among other films. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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