Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. Now, count this as a rumor so far, but it seems that Jean Claude Van Damme thinks he's signed on to play the villain in RUSH HOUR 3... Here's the scoop:

Here is a big scoop for you, Harry! Jean Claude Van Damme has signed on to play the main villain in "Rush Hour 3"(set to film in August). It involves Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker getting mixed up with Triads in Paris. Van Damme spoke on a recent British TV Show about it and was looking forward to working with Jackie Chan. Also rumored to be in the film is Michael "Kramer" Richards in either a big or bit role. I think, IMHO, that a Chan versus Van Damme one-on-one would be kick ass!(no pun intended)

Call me Muscles With Brusslesprouts

I know many people think AICN is Ratner-hate Central. I didn't flip for X3, but I don't blame Ratner for anything other than signing on to a movie he knew didn't have a script that was ready. I happen to get a lot of laughs out of the RUSH HOUR films and while this casting rumor is incredibly bizarre I can actually see this working. Van Damme's got the aged fighter thing going for him... unfortunately it's only been going direct to video recently, but the idea of Van Damme playing a brooding baddie in a RUSH HOUR film seems to fit... and like Brusslesprouts above, I'd love to see that end fight between Van Damme and Chan. And what's up with Michael Richards? I say team him up with Jeremy Piven's character from the second film. What do you folks think?