- Title: USA: AMERICAN FILM PREMIERE OF JACKIE CHAN'S NEW MOVIE "RUSH HOUR 2"
- Date: 3rd June 2001
- Summary: LOS ANGELES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (JULY 26) (REUTERS) VARIOUS, JACKIE CHAN CRACKS CHAMPAGNE ON THE 'RUSH HOUR EXPRESS' AIRCRAFT/ PULL OUT TO GV OF PLANE (2 SHOTS) SMV MEDIA /PHOTOGRAPHERS SMV, STARS FROM RUSH HOUR 2 ON THE STEPS OF THE UNITED AIRLINES 747-400 SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) REPORTER ASKS JACKIE CHAN WHERE ARE YOU HEADING? " New York, then Egypt, part three." LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (JULY 26) (REUTERS) VARIOUS, CHRIS TUCKER ARRIVING AT PREMIERE SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHRIS TUCKER SAYING OF JACKIE CHAN: " Jackie Chan, he's something else, he's crazy, he does crazy things, he'll jump off a building, who'll you find that will jump off a building, that's just Jackie Chan, he's the man." SLV JACKIE CHAN RUNNING ACROSS AND GREETING FANS THEN JOINING THE CAST (3 SHOTS) SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) JACKIE CHAN SAYING: " "It's so exciting, every year I see them, they support me over so many years, yeah really, I can see the same faces again and again, every year I see the same people." SLV ZHANG ZIYI AND TRANSLATOR ON RED CARPET SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) ZHANG ZIYI SAYING THROUGH TRANSLATOR : " My next picture will be a Chinese film, my English is not good enough, I'm trying to learn and improve, once that gets better, I will consider American films." VARIOUS, JACKIE CHAN AND BRETT RATNER AT PREMIERE (2 SHOTS) SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRETT RATNER SAYING: " It's a dream, it's a dream to have two guys that bounce off the screen, that shine off that screen. It's a dream come true and it makes my job so much easier." VARIOUS JACKIE CHAN BEING INTERVIEWED
- Embargoed: 18th June 2001 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES AND FILM LOCATIONS
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVA104YKYTZREQ1A1BUPAJ8N67NC
- Story Text: Three years after they teamed up and grossed over 250 million dollars around the world, Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker reunited on Thursday, July 26 in Los Angeles at the World Premiere of their new sequel "Rush Hour 2," again directed by Brett Ratner and this time co-starring "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Tiger" ingenue Zhang Ziyi.
Once again, the film is a fish-out-of-water comedy where two cultures collide in the midst of solving a diabolical crime. In the first film, Chan played a Hong Kong detective who was forced to solve a case in Los Angeles with Los Angeles cop Chris Tucker. This time out, Tucker's character is on vacation in Hong Kong and gets entangled in a plot involving counterfeit money and brutal Chinese Triads.
Also in the cast are John Lone as the head of one of the crime gangs, Alan King as Lone's associate and hotel and casino magnate, newcomer Roselyn Sanchez as an undercover U.S.
Secret Service agent and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"
co-star Zhang Ziyi as Hu Li, Lone's beautiful and deadly henchwoman.
Originally, Zhang Ziyi's role was supposed to go to a man and be a more run-of-the-mill thuggish type of character. But when director Brett Ratner saw "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and then met the actress who, many say, stole that film, he insisted on having her in his film. He re-wrote the script to give her a bigger part and make her more a part of the action.
On the set, language barriers were everywhere, as Jackie Chan and Zhang Ziyi spoke Mandarin, John Lone spoke Cantonese, Chris Tucker spoke his own unique brand of English and Roselyn Sanchez threw in a dose of Spanish. But, somehow, with the help of translators and unspoken communication, the cast and crew were able to collaborate and make the film a reality.
Of course, "Rush Hour 2" is filled with the usual helpings of Jackie Chan's distinctive fighting style. This time, Chris Tucker joins in on the action a little more himself.
The film was shot on location in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and, primarily, Hong Kong. In fact, the idea to base the sequel in Hong Kong was inspired by Chris Tucker and Brett Ratner's experiences while visiting the city during the premiere of the first film. According to both men, the people of Hong Kong had such strange reactions to Tucker and his antics that Ratner knew then and there that the sequel had to take place there.
There is already talk of a third Rush Hour and this time, they hope to go to a place where both Tucker and Chan are out of place. At the christening of the 'Rush Hour Express' a United Airlines service to Hong Kong, Chan said he hoped to go to Egypt for the next installment in this hugely popular franchise. The passengers aboard the Rush Hour Express made history by becoming the first to view a world premiere on board an aircraft.
"Rush Hour 2" hopes to replicate the box office success that its predecessor enjoyed when it opens in theaters throughout the United States on Friday, August 3.
-- - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None