For all of his general goofiness and delightfully fun roles, Jackie Chan seems like one of the smarter actors in show business. In August, the legendary action star revealed to Den of Geek that one of the reasons why he turned down both The Expendables 2 and 3 (and is mulling over the offer for 4) is that he didn’t like the idea of only being on the screen for five minutes. He claimed that he told Sylvester Stallone that he’d do it if it was just the two of them on screen together, fighting the world’s biggest villains, but he flat out refused to show up for a quick action sequence and vanish like Chuck Norris in The Expendables 2.
Additionally, Chan admitted in a Q&A session in London last month that he’d been approached to star in Rush Hour 4, but he refused to simply sign on for a title, because he wanted to see a script first. “I don’t need another Rush Hour 4,” he said. “You need Rush Hour 4. Show me the script.” Apparently they never showed him the script, because it seems that instead of bringing back Carter and Lee for a fourth time, Brett Ratner and Warner Bros. TV are shopping an hour-long Rush Hour action comedy series that will reportedly remain faithful to the plot of the first film.
According to Deadline, Scrubs and Cougar Town creator Bill Lawrence is on board to co-write and executive produce the series with showrunner Blake McCormick, and it will feature a “cocky black LAPD officer” who reluctantly teams up with “a stoic, by-the-book Hong Kong police officer.” As a fan of Lawrence’s shows, I’m always willing to give something a chance, but I don’t envy the casting director who has to try to match even 1/100th of the chemistry that Chan and Chris Rock shared in the film trilogy.
Also, please don’t cast Nick Cannon for this. Thanks in advance.