Earlier this year there was much internet ballyhoo about the return of Jean Claude Van Damme to the action blockbuster, playing the villain in next year's Rush Hour 3. It pains us a little to say this, but it's all lies. Van Damme confirmed to Empire that he will not be in the third in the Jackie Chan/Chris Tucker action franchise. In fact, he admits, he actually made the whole thing up himself.
"You know," he laughs, "it was just a comment, a joke, that I made during an interview. I said, “We’ve got Jackie, we’ve got Chris Tucker — what about me, making it a trio?” And this became something. But to be honest with you, if I did a comedy, I wouldn’t want to do something like Rush Hour, more a Lethal Weapon type of action comedy, something with a sense of reality. Like, for example, that movie with Bobby De Niro and that guy in handcuffs". He's talking about either Midnight Run or some De Niro home movie that's going to cause quite a scandal. Almost definitely the former.
Rush Hour 3 sees the mismatched buddies getting mixed up with the Triads in Paris and will be released, sans Van Damme, next summer. But, really, why would you now bother to see it?