Summary
Overview
Richard and Marina analyze the controversial development of Rush Hour 4, which Donald Trump reportedly helped greenlight, while director Brett Ratner uses the franchise as his comeback vehicle. They also discuss Stranger Things' final season challenges with aging cast members and long gaps between seasons, and pay tribute to the late playwright Tom Stoppard, whose work profoundly influenced Marina's thinking and approach to storytelling.
Rush Hour 4 and Brett Ratner's Hollywood Comeback
The announcement of Rush Hour 4 represents a fascinating intersection of politics and entertainment, with Donald Trump personally intervening to push the project forward at Paramount. Brett Ratner, who was accused of sexual assault in 2017 and seemingly fled to Israel, has directed a documentary about Melania Trump that Amazon purchased for an astonishing $40 million—a price that appears to be more about political favor than artistic merit. This comeback strategy, combined with Trump's apparent cultural agenda targeting news media and late-night comedy, suggests a deliberate effort to reshape Hollywood's output toward "uncomplicated, non-woke" entertainment.
- Paramount will release Rush Hour 4, with Trump personally intervening to make it happen, despite the franchise not having had a film in years
- Brett Ratner, who was accused of sexual assault by multiple women in 2017, directed a Melania documentary that Amazon bought for $40 million—an unprecedented price for a documentary
- Ratner originally directed Tower Heist, which was initially titled Trump Heist and featured the mogul's properties
- Trump has launched 'Media Offender of the Week' on the White House website to call out news organizations
- The Rush Hour 4 project represents Trump's broader cultural strategy, reminiscent of Hollywood's co-option during WWII or the Red Scare era
" I don't know why Putin hasn't got into it myself, because he's certainly got lots of the actors. You know, he's got Depardieu now, hasn't he? He's definitely got Seagal. There's quite a lot of people are resident there. But yeah, if Putin decides to do Police Academy mission to Moscow, too, I would which I would certainly watch brackets. Get me Gutenberg. "
" This is 100% a news story that we would mock till the ends of time that North Korea have decided to fund and remake Under Siege 4 with Steven Seagal. "
The Age Problem and Scheduling Crisis in Stranger Things
Stranger Things faces a fundamental challenge as its young cast has aged significantly over the nearly decade-long run, yet the characters are still portrayed doing teenage activities like riding bikes and playing Dungeons & Dragons. The show, which has generated over a billion dollars for Netflix, exemplifies the modern TV problem of multi-year gaps between seasons that leave audiences struggling to remember previous plot points and disconnected from the narrative. This scheduling issue, driven by star actors becoming in-demand elsewhere and the punishing production demands, ultimately disserves fans and potentially kills franchise momentum.
- The first season of Stranger Things premiered in 2016 as a detailed homage to Spielberg and Stephen King's 1980s aesthetic
- Netflix drops episodes strategically to combat subscription churn—releasing in batches rather than all at once to keep people subscribed longer
- Cast salaries have exploded: Winona Ryder and David Harbour earn $9.5 million, the main kids get $7 million, with Millie Bobby Brown having a separate lucrative Netflix deal
- The Duffer Brothers are leaving Netflix for Paramount despite Netflix offering more money, because they want to make theatrical films
- Multi-year gaps between seasons (Stranger Things had years between seasons, Wednesday had 2.5 years, Euphoria will be 4 years) create a massive problem where audiences can't remember plot details
- Final season episodes were over two hours long, representing 'the absolute high watermark of indulged creators thinking that they're making a feature'
" They're still playing Dungeons and Dragons and riding around on their bikes and it's kind of like this is ridiculous they're 10 years older and they look at and i know that you can and the same in euphoria they i think there is going to be a time jumping euphoria but otherwise what she's going to have a mortgage and kids i don't know "
" Game of Thrones was the last show to religiously release a series at about the same time every single year, and they did it for, you know, whatever it was, eight or ten years. "
📚 3 more sections below
Sign up to unlock the complete summary with all insights, key points, and quotes
Get this summary + all future The Rest Is Entertainment episodes in your inbox
100% Free • Unsubscribe Anytime
Sign up now and we'll send you the complete summary of this episode, plus get notified when new The Rest Is Entertainment episodes are released—delivered straight to your inbox within minutes.