Rush Hour was released on September 18, 1998, and went on to become a major hit for New Line Cinema. That makes it all the more confusing that no other Hollywood studio thought the film was worth their time. “People had zero interest in it,” producer Roger Birnbaum told the Los Angeles Times a month after it hit theaters. At least part of the problem stemmed from the budget and how much of it would be going to the proposed stars of the movie.
For years, it’s been rumored that Chris Farley was the original choice for the Jackie Chan role. Farley’s death in 1997 has been suggested as the reason he didn’t appear in it. However, Farley was still alive when shooting on Rush Hour commenced that November. Other reports say that Farley left the project years before it went into production, and that the idea of having an Asian actor play that part had been settled on before Chris Tucker was even cast. None of that seems to have been officially confirmed, though.
But one other popular TV star was initially attached to the Tucker role, not as Farley’s co-star, as some have inferred. According to Martin Lawrence, Chan asked him personally to be in the movie, and he turned down the offer. Not because he wasn’t interested in being a part of it, but because the studio wasn’t willing to cough up enough money. New Line production chief Mike De Luca preferred Tucker to Lawrence because Tucker only cost $2 million, whereas Lawrence was looking to get $7 million.
Eddie Murphy was also considered in the early stages, but opted to do Holy Man instead. “It’s funny when I think of it now,” Murphy admitted to Extra. “It was like, ‘You can go jump all over California with Jackie Chan or go to Miami and wear a robe for three months.’ I went to Miami, and you see the results.”
Although many will no doubt be disappointed to learn that we never really came close to seeing Farley and Lawrence team up on the big screen, the two did get a chance to work together when Lawrence made his one and only appearance on Saturday Night Live in 1994. Lawrence joined Farley’s Matt Foley in a prison sketch that also featured Jay Mohr, David Spade, Rob Schneider, Tim Meadows, and Adam Sandler. You can check out the full segment for yourself below.
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