Jackie Chan Reveals Surprising Truth About Chris Tucker’s Iconic Rush Hour Line

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The movie spawned one of Hollywood’s most popular buddy cop trilogies, a fact largely attributed to the incredible on-screen relationship between Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan. While Chan is well-known for his improvisation and physical comedy, Tucker had an edge during filming due to his unique talents.

The humor in the movie “Rush Hour” largely stemmed from the contrasting cultures of its main characters, Carter and Lee, with Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan playing off this dynamic brilliantly. This unique interaction is what made it one of cinema’s standouts. During an interview with Kelly Clarkson, Chan shared a significant hurdle he faced during filming: understanding Chris Tucker’s rapid-fire English delivery. “Throughout the entire movie, I had no idea what Chris Tucker was saying,” he joked.

If Chan had relied on Tucker following the script, it wouldn’t have been challenging for him to keep pace, but that wasn’t the case. As Chan explained, his dialogue coach was stationed behind the camera, and he commented, “You know Chris Tucker, every scene, every shot, different lines,” he stated. “I would ask my dialect coach, ‘What did he say?’ He talks so fast!” Chan admitted that he also struggled to catch his cues when Tucker skipped over Lee’s name during their improvised dialogues. “The most frustrating moment was when they called ‘cut, take a break,’ and [Tucker would continue talking to me]… I just responded with ‘Hmm, yeah, huh, yeah,'” he concluded.

As a devotee of these movies, I found it amusing when I learned this little trivia. In the first movie, Tucker’s most iconic quote, “Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?”, was uttered early on by the actor towards Chan. This line was prominently used in the film’s promotion, making it recognizable even for those who didn’t watch the movies. Interestingly enough, contrary to what this quote might suggest, Chan wasn’t grasping Tucker’s words as clearly as it seemed on screen.

Jackie Chan Names His Least-Favorite Rush Hour Movie

After discovering English through country music tunes, I found myself thriving more during the sequel shoots. As I put it, “Country songs are slow.” To illustrate, I hummed a line from Willie Nelson’s “Always on My Mind”. In a recent interview, I ranked the Rush Hour films, sharing that the initial film was made with minimal budget and time, hence the rush-rush approach: “Go, go, go, go!” The second movie had more money and time at our disposal. However, the third one had an overabundance of both – too much can be detrimental. Rush Hour 3 ended up being the lowest-grossing film in the trilogy, with earnings of $258 million against its budget of $140 million.

By December 2022, Chan hinted at plans for a new installment in the Rush Hour series, which has been 15 years since the release of Rush Hour 3. He’s openly stated that they are still working on the script for Rush Hour 4, expressing his enthusiasm about the project. “The script is still being worked on,” he shared with reporters. “I want to do a Rush Hour 4, but I also want to make another Shanghai Knights or Shanghai Dawn… Ask the director, ask the studio, ask the writer. If we don’t hurry up, Chris Tucker and I will be old men doing Rush Hour!

In a 2023 interview, Tucker echoed Chan’s enthusiasm for the upcoming sequel, saying, “There’s going to be some fantastic material ahead, but it’ll be on a completely new scale. I can’t wait for that… It won’t be the usual fare… I’m thinking about including Rush Hour 4 in there because I really enjoy collaborating with Jackie.” Chan portrays kung-fu master and mentor Mr. Han in the film, a direct continuation of the 1984 movie.

Rush Hour 4 currently does not have a release date.

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2025-06-07 00:51