Despite many movie fans denouncing any kind of remake, reboot or spinoff, the Rush Hour franchise is being revived in the shape of a spinoff TV series. Many shuddered when the small screen reboot was announced last year, as the news arrived during a season where it seemed as if every other day a random movie was plucked from history and placed in the reboot pile. This attempt at resurrecting a perfectly-fine-dead property does possess a winning factor, however, in producer Bill Lawrence.
Known as the creator of cult series’ Scrubs and Cougar Town, Lawrence jumped aboard the project with his Doozer Productions banner in tow to oversee the show. This updated version of Rush Hour will share a similar premise with the original trilogy of movies, but with a modern edge. Also tackling the writing duties on the one-hour series, Lawrence has begun the process of inking out the first season arc and finally revealed a handful of tidbits concerning the buddy cop reboot.
Present at today’s Television Press Critics tour, the writer-producer fielded questions on the topic from NukeTheFridge. Lawrence affirmed that the show would carry on with Detectives Lee and Carter, who were played by Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker in the movies, but with a new edge:
“New plot, same characters, a little younger, a little different, fish out of water,” Lawrence said. “It’s a cool script. I’m psyched about it.”
Without saying it outright, Lawrence confirmed the absence of Chan and Tucker, which wasn’t unsurprising as neither actor are the right age to tackle the parts. He did, however, confirm that martial arts would be a large component for the Lee character, and he’d simply teach the right actor how to perform those stunts. You know, as opposed to hiring an actor with martial arts experience.
Rounding up the chat, he bowed out by making connections between his take on Rush Hour and the impact buddy cop movies had on him as a filmmaker:
“My favorite genre is action-comedy. Midnight Run, favorite movie, Beverly Hills Cop, any of those old movies that had stakes but were still funny. I don’t think anybody’s done one in a while. I’m dying to. It might not work but the closest I came was I was supposed to write and direct the new version of Fletch at some point but I bailed on it in the middle of it. The movie business is complicated.”
It’s no doubt that his version of Fletch – which at one time had Zach Braff attached – would have been killer, but I’m equally as excited for Lawrence’s Rush Hour. What about you?