Here we go. In a commentary that reveals more of the director's hubris than anything truly interesting about the production of the film, Brett Ratner talks Rush Hour:

"I said "Okay, how am I gonna convince this guy to work with me. He's been making movies longer than I've been alive." So I sit down and say "I just have to be honest," so I sat down and I told him basically, "Okay, this script sucks, but I think I know how to make it better." So what I did was I told him also, I said "Jackie, in order to succeed in America, you have to a movie that's a typical American film. I wanna put you with real actors, and let you concentrate on the acting, and then it's gonna take you to the next level."

In all fairness, I guess there was no way for Brett to predict that "next level" would consist largely of glorified sidekick roles in a series of typical American films. Oh well, at least he got him away from all those Chinese "non-actors."

(Then again, I've never particularly thought of Jackie Chan as a good actor, and i have most of his movies! He usually overdoes even the most subtle scenes. He's more of a presence, and an athlete, than anything)

I don’t believe I have heard a commentary before that made me this furious. Within a couple of minutes I wanted to throttle Brett Ratner who is clearly an ignorant, xenophobic, egotistical prat. Apparently American cinema is the bastion of all things great, while Asian cinema is just a bunch of amateurs making silly movies. Of course compared to the masterpiece that is “Rush Hour”, “Project A” and “Police Story” do seem rather insignificant. Also of note is that the film seems to contain all of Ratner’s favourite actors, and of course the film and everyone involved is “brilliant” in every respect.