*Two unknown actors have been chosen to star in CBS’ remake of “Rush Hour.”
Justin Hires will play the Carter role made famous in the movie franchise by Chris Tucker, while Jon Foo will step into the shoes of Jackie Chan’s character Lee.
According to Deadline.com, Hires (“21 Jump Street,” “Key & Peele”) beat out several bigger names for the hourlong action pilot. It centers on Lee, a stoic, by-the-book Hong Kong police officer assigned to a case in Los Angeles, where he’s forced to work with Carter, a cocky black LAPD officer who has no interest in a partner.
Carter is described as an irreverent and wildly confident bad-boy detective, a maverick who uses unorthodox methods to get things done, often causing the top brass to look the other way.
While Hires is largely unknown to the general public, he is familiar to CBS brass as he was featured in the 2011 edition of the network’s diversity showcase, whose alumni include “SNL’s” Kate McKinnon, “Heroes’” Masi Oka, “The Daily Show’s” Wyatt Cenac and another pilot star this season, Fortune Feimster.
Things happened very quickly for Hires, who was in Austin Sunday for a three-day engagement as featured player in an Affion Crockett show. He abruptly cancelled his appearances at the last minute to head back to Los Angeles and clinch the “Rush Hour” gig, according to Deadline. Hires also had a role in MTV’s pilot “Ken Jeong Made Me Do It,” which is still alive, though “Rush Hour” has him in first position.
The movies’ director Brett Ratner and producer Arthur Sarkissian also executive produce the CBS pilot with Jeff Ingold for Warner Bros TV and Lawrence’s studio-based Doozer.
The pilot will be written/executive produced by Bill Lawrence and Blake McCormick and directed/exec produced by Jon Turteltaub.
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