HOLLYWOOD WILL RUE THIS DAY

In a triumph of commerce over art, it looks like RUSH HOUR 3 may not be coming soon to a theater near you. Writers are, by anyone's standards, the worst things to happen to movies. They destroy the artistic visions of studio heads, leaving the sensitive executives sobbing and broken over their shattered dreams, while the callow writers skip off to the spa, laughing at the destruction left in their wake.

And now, a writer named Jeff Nathanson has disappointed us all. Chris Tucker was being paid $5 billion to make RUSH HOUR 3. Jackie Chan managed to choke down his pride and signed on to RUSH HOUR 3. Brett Ratner stopped dry humping women on the dance floor and signed onto RUSH HOUR 3. All Jeff Nathanson had to do was write a treatment for $250,000 and everything was a green light. The stars would be free to pursue their pure artistic vision of a third RUSH HOUR movie after reading the treatment and waiving all script approval. But then, Chris Tucker didn't sign. So the whole thing is off.

Why wouldn't Chris "Day-Lewis" Tucker sign? Who knows? But it may have something to do with his lack of confidence in the script/treatment. But come on, Chris, this is the guy who wrote SPEED 2: CRUISE CONTROL. Can he do anything wrong?

I'm confused about who to blame here, but all I know is that someone has to tell the kids there might not be a RUSH HOUR 3 in 2006.