The worlds of politics and entertainment collided when business mogul and reality TV star Donald Trump was first elected president in 2017.
And they could again with Trump, now in his second Presidential run after being re-elected last year, reportedly hellbent on resurrecting one of his favourite film franchises.
It has been claimed that Trump is pushing for a new Rush Hour film to be made 18 years after the third film in the franchise was released.
Starring Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, 1998 buddy comedy Rush Hour followed two cops with a fractured relationship who are forced to put their differences aside when assigned the case of a kidnapped 11-year-old girl.
It was followed by Rush Hour 2 in 2001, and a third film six years later.
All three of these films were directed by Brett Ratner, who has since faced multiple allegations of sexual misconduct, which saw Warner Bros. cut ties with him.
The first film Ratner has worked on since the allegations began in 2017 is the upcoming documentary on First Lady Melania Trump, which Amazon Prime Video allegedly snatched up for $40million (£30.5m).
Why does Donald Trump want a Rush Hour sequel?
Trump is reportedly putting pressure on Oracle CEO Larry Ellison to produce a new Rush Hour film.
Ellison, a friend and supporter of Trump, owns Paramount Global, which is run by his son, David Ellison, who completed a merger between Paramount and Skydance earlier this year.
They are reportedly making a bid on the wider Warner Bros. Discovery catalogue, which includes New Line Cinema, the studio behind Rush Hour.
A report by Semafor claims the president is offering some creative input on potential upcoming projects and is particularly interested in a new Rush Hour film.
Citing ‘a person directly familiar with the conversations,’ the publication claimed that Trump ‘personally pressed’ Ellison to make a new film in the action-comedy series.
He is allegedly pushing for more high-octane action-comedy films to be made amid a wider cultural agenda
Neither the White House nor Paramount has publicly commented on a potential fourth Rush Hour film.
It’s not the first time a Rush Hour sequel has been teased, with lead star Chan confirming a script was in the works in 2022.
Appearing at the Red Sea Film Festival, various media outlets report that he announced: ‘We’re talking about part four right now.’
Although he wouldn’t go into detail, he added that he was due to meet with the director to discuss the script.
What other films could Donald Trump revive?
Trump has graced us with his opinions on movies several times, famously criticising Oscar Award-winning film Parasite for not being American enough for his tastes.
He has also praised several titles publicly before, which could well be the franchises he turns his sights to hit the big screen again.
Bloodsport
The New Yorker previously reported that the 1988 Jean-Claude Van Damme action flick Bloodsport was the President’s favourite film of all time.
Directed by Newt Arnold, it tells the story of US soldier Frank Dux (Van Damme) who travels to Hong Kong to take part in a clandestine and deadly martial arts competition.
In the 1997 article, journalist Mark Singer wrote of a meeting with Trump where they viewed Bloodsport: ‘We hadn’t been airborne long when Trump decided to watch a movie. He’d brought along Michael, a recent release, but 20 minutes after popping it into the VCR he got bored and switched to an old favorite, a Jean-Claude Van Damme slugfest called Bloodsport, which he pronounced “an incredible, fantastic movie.”
‘By assigning to his son [Eric] the task of fast-forwarding through all the plot exposition — Trump’s goal being ‘to get this two-hour movie down to 45 minutes’ — he eliminated any lulls between the nose hammering, kidney tenderizing and shin whacking.
‘When a beefy bad guy who was about to squish a normal-sized good guy received a crippling blow to the scrotum, I laughed. “Admit it, you’re laughing!” Trump shouted. “You want to write that Donald Trump was loving this ridiculous Jean-Claude Van Damme movie, but are you willing to put in there that you were loving it, too?”‘
Citizen Kane
Often lauded as one of the greatest films of all time, Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane is often cited as another movie beloved by Trump.
Trump has also compared himself to the film’s protagonist, Charles Foster Kane, a fictionalised newspaper magnate whose life and the rise and fall of his publishing company are chronicled in the narrative.
In 2002, he reviewed the film, stating: ‘The wealth, the sorrow, the unhappiness, the happiness, just struck lots of different notes.’
Trump continued: ‘In real life, I believe that wealth does in fact isolate you from other people. It’s a protective mechanism. You have your guard up much more than you would if you didn’t have wealth.’
During his 2016 presidential campaign, he also cited the film and his reasons for loving it, likening his opinions on ‘fake news’ and how he believes the media portrays him as similar to Kane’s downfall.
He has often faced criticism for missing some of the wider themes of loss and sacrifice in Citizen Kane, based on his comments.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
When asked to list his top five favourite movies in 2012 by Movieline, Trump included the classic western The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly among them.
Speaking about the characters in Sergio Leone’s 1966 film, he said they were ‘well-developed and sometimes remind him of some of the types he’d had to deal with over the years in business.’
He has also heaped praise on Clint Eastwood, who plays the film’s protagonist, Man with No Name.
The Godfather
Trump famously quoted The Godfather in a taped conversation with Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, and has previously listed it as one of his must-watchesy.
‘They were nice, I was nice. But it’s business. You know the old story: it’s not personal, it’s business,’ he said during the interview, which was later pointed out to have been from the iconic gangster film.
It was made famous by Al Pacino’s character Michael Corleone, who tells brother Sonny (James Caan) that revenge against the men who tried to kill their father is ‘not personal, it’s strictly business.’
He has described both the 1972 film and The Godfather Part II as ‘classics.’
Gone with the Wind
Bizarrely, Trump brought up the 1939 romance flick Gone with the Wind while criticising Parasite for winning the best picture Oscar back in 2020.
‘Can we get like Gone with the Wind back, please?’ he said during a rally to express his disdain for the historical win.
Speaking to Movieline about why he loves Victor Fleming’s classic tale, he said: ‘It has stood the test of time.
‘For me, it’s a love story combined with a time in our country’s history that was pivotal in our evolution.’
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