This Devin Faraci CHUD interview with Brett Ratner is four days old (by internet standards that’s almost like saying it’s a parchment scroll found in an underground tomb) but it’s a worthwhile education about where Ratner is at these days and how he sees himself. He acknowledges that “people have always hated me” and mentions that Paul Thomas Anderson threatened to put a bullet in Ratner’s head if he carried through on his plan to remake John Cassavettes‘ Killing of a Chinese Bookie ,and talks about Roman Polanski’s willingness to play a small part in Rush Hour 3 which Ratner will start shooting in seven or eight weeks time.
“I think there√ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√¢‚Äû¬¢s a blurred line between my public persona and my work,” he says. “It just happened. I think eventually people are going to look back and go, Wow. I√ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√¢‚Äû¬¢m not going to be in the tabloids anymore, I√ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√¢‚Äû¬¢m not going to be in Us Magazine, and they√ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√¢‚Äû¬¢re going to be able to look at the film and how it holds up as a film on its own. It won√ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√¢‚Äû¬¢t be about √ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√ã≈ìBrett Ratner speaks in the third person, so he√ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√¢‚Äû¬¢s an asshole.√ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√¢‚Äû¬¢ And I don√ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√¢‚Äû¬¢t speak in the third person, but that√ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√¢‚Äû¬¢s what they say. People have always hated me. It√ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√¢‚Äû¬¢s not annoying at all. The meanest group is Defamer and Harry Knowles. I don√ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√¢‚Äû¬¢t take myself that seriously. It√ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√¢‚Äû¬¢s like, come on. I totally laugh at it. If I did take it seriously, it would probably be worse than what it is.
“I love what I do. I love filmmakers. Werner Herzog is here [in Los Angeles] — how cool is that? The biggest star could be in the room and I care about the filmmakers √ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√¢‚Ǩ≈ì the directors and cinematographers and the producers. These are the people that I admire. And I love movies. I drove up from LA and the whole ride we played The Movie Game. We did movies with animals as the star. I went on and on and on and I was like, √ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√ã≈ìWoah, I have seen a lot of movies!√ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√¢‚Äû¬¢
“At the end of the day I want to leave a mark somehow. If one of my films holds up 100 years from now I√ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√¢‚Äû¬¢ll be happy wherever I√ɬ¢√¢‚Äö¬¨√¢‚Äû¬¢m watching from.”