Rush Hour filmmaker Brett Ratner has immigrated to Israel. The career of the Red Dragon, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Tower Heist director went limp after multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct in 2017.
According to The Hollywood Reporter:
“The Jerusalem Post’s Walla news site reported that Ratner posted to his Instagram Story a clip of an Israeli immigration certificate and national insurance documents. He captioned the clip in Hebrew, ‘Brett Shai Ratner.’ [Ratner] is friendly with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and last month met with him in New York during Netanyahu’s visit to the United Nations for the 78th General Assembly. Israeli media reports that Ratner and Harvard Law School professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz were Netanyahu’s guests during his speech to the General Assembly. On his Instagram, the filmmaker posted a picture of himself with Netanyahu, Sara Netanyahu, and Dershowitz.”
As reported by Los Angeles Times in 2017, six women — including actresses Natasha Henstridge and Olivia Munn — accused Ratner of sexual misconduct and harassment. “He strong-armed me in a real way,” said Species actress Henstridge. “He physically forced himself on me. At some point, I gave in and he did his thing.” Five other women came forward to Los Angeles Times and accused Ratner of misconduct at private homes, industry events, and on movie sets. Munn said, “It feels as if I keep going up against the same bully at school who just won’t quit. You just hope that enough people believe the truth and for enough time to pass so that you can’t be connected to him anymore.” Ratner’s attorney, Martin Singer, “categorically” disputed the claims by all six women.
Brett Ratner’s Career Went Flaccid Around the Time Accusations of Sexual Misconduct Surfaced
2014’s Hercules starring Dwayne Johnson (pictured, above) is the most recent big-screen directing credit by Ratner. Since 2017 — the year the allegations by six women surfaced — Ratner executive-produced 2017’s The Lego Ninjago Movie and produced 2019’s Georgetown. Warner Bros. reportedly cut all ties with Ratner in 2017 and declined his request to helm a fourth Rush Hour movie.
Earlier in 2017 before the sexual misconduct allegations came to light, Ratner spoke with Variety about his love of moviemaking. “It was always my dream to direct movies,” said Ratner. “I always knew I’d do it. I had the drive and the desire. I was determined. But I never knew I’d be making movies of this size, stuff like the Rush Hour films and X-Men and Red Dragon. When I was in film school, I knew I wanted to make entertaining movies. But I don’t think I could have prepared for how fast my rise would be.” He continued:
“My house was being called this place of Hollywood sin and debauchery. And I don’t do drugs and I don’t drink, I never have. But I love to party and have fun with my friends, and fine, so maybe some things got out of control. But it was all being blown out of proportion.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Ratner attempted a comeback in 2021 with talk of him helming a biopic of fraudulent R&B duo Milli Vanilli. But the project came to nothing after significant pushback from Time’s Up, with the organization putting out a statement that “there should be no comeback’ for Ratner.”