{"id":2207827,"date":"2025-12-21T19:47:27","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T19:47:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2207827"},"modified":"2025-12-21T19:47:27","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T19:47:27","slug":"brett-ratner-rush-hour-director-photo-in-epstein-files","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/brett-ratner-rush-hour-director-photo-in-epstein-files\/","title":{"rendered":"Brett Ratner, &#8216;Rush Hour&#8217; director, photo in Epstein files"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<div id=\"videoWrap\" class=\"spacer-large videoWrap\" style=\"position:relative\"><media-video video-id=\"87853942007\" title=\"Celebrities seen in new Epstein files released by DOJ\" poster=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2025\/12\/20\/USAT\/87853983007-maxwell-and-epstein.jpg?crop=1919,1079,x0,y0\" util-module-path=\"elements\/media\" placement=\"snow-video-story-priority\"><\/p>\n<div id=\"uwVideoPlaceholder\" slot=\"placeholder\" style=\"z-index:19;width:100%;padding-bottom:56.25%;position:relative\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"vidplaybtn\" style=\"display:-moz-box;display:-ms-flexbox;display:-webkit-flex;display:flex;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,.4);border:2px solid #fff;border-radius:80px;cursor:pointer;height:80px;width:80px;position:absolute;top:50%;left:50%;transform:translate(-50%,-50%);z-index:10\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"vidplayicon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/appservices\/universal-web\/universal\/icons\/icon-play-alt-white.svg\" alt=\"play\" style=\"height:40px;margin:auto 18px auto 27px;width:40px\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div slot=\"videoDetails\" id=\"videoDetails\" class=\"videoDetails\" style=\"padding-top:8px;padding-bottom:8px\">\n<div id=\"videoDetailsContainer\" class=\"videoDetailsContainer\" hidden=\"\">\n<p>Celebrities seen in new Epstein files released by DOJ<\/p>\n<p>The Justice Department released new files related to Jeffrey Epstein that show Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, Richard Branson and more.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/media-video><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"box-sizing:border-box;margin:0;padding:0\">&#8220;<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/movies\/2025\/11\/26\/rush-hour-4-paramount-trump\/87480457007\/\" target=\"_blank\">Rush Hour<\/a>&#8221; director <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/movies\/2025\/11\/28\/melania-trump-production-company-muse-films-documentary\/87516479007\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/movies\/2025\/11\/28\/melania-trump-production-company-muse-films-documentary\/87516479007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Brett Ratner<\/a>, who is helming First Lady\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/news\/melania-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\">Melania Trump<\/a>&#8216;s upcoming documentary, is in a photo in the latest batch of\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2025\/12\/20\/new-epstein-files-raise-questions-accomplices\/87862323007\/\" target=\"_blank\">Jeffrey Epstein files<\/a>\u00a0released by the Justice Department<\/span>.<\/p>\n<partner-banner util-module-path=\"elements\/partner\" class=\"spacer-large\" min-height=\"600\" fluid=\"\" outstream=\"\" momentum=\"\"\/>\n<p>An undated photo shows the Florida-native filmmaker posing with a shirtless <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/factcheck\/2020\/12\/20\/fact-check-ghislaine-maxwell-french-modeling-agent-viral-photo\/3972499001\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/factcheck\/2020\/12\/20\/fact-check-ghislaine-maxwell-french-modeling-agent-viral-photo\/3972499001\/\">Jean-Luc Brunel<\/a>, the late French modeling agent and longtime Epstein associate.<\/p>\n<p>Brunel died by suicide in 2022<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.miamiherald.com\/news\/local\/community\/miami-dade\/miami-beach\/article258576023.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> in his jail cell<\/a>\u00a0while facing charges in France of raping a minor and supplying minors to the disgraced financier.<\/p>\n<p>The photo of Ratner and Brunel did not include date, location or context.<\/p>\n<p class=\"related-link\"><span class=\"exclude-from-newsgate\"><strong style=\"margin-right:3px\">More: <\/strong><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2025\/12\/05\/melania-trump-christmas-white-house-2025\/87613488007\/\" rel=\"noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Melania Trump, tired of construction, gets in the Christmas spirit<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><media-image image-set=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2025\/12\/20\/USAT\/87864289007-20251220-t-203143-z-539087231-rc-2-bkiayzhfc-rtrmadp-3-usatrumpepsteinfiles.JPG bestCrop, https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2025\/12\/20\/USAT\/87864289007-20251220-t-203143-z-539087231-rc-2-bkiayzhfc-rtrmadp-3-usatrumpepsteinfiles.JPG?crop=4471,3354,x0,y891 4:3, https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2025\/12\/20\/USAT\/87864289007-20251220-t-203143-z-539087231-rc-2-bkiayzhfc-rtrmadp-3-usatrumpepsteinfiles.JPG?crop=4455,5939,x0,y0 3:4, https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/authoring\/authoring-images\/2025\/12\/20\/USAT\/87864289007-20251220-t-203143-z-539087231-rc-2-bkiayzhfc-rtrmadp-3-usatrumpepsteinfiles.JPG?crop=4471,2515,x0,y1188 16:9\" image-alt=\"\" credit=\"U.S. Justice Department, via REUTERS\" caption=\"American film director Brett Ratner poses with Jean-Luc Brunel in an undated photograph released by the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. on Dec. 19, 2025. Images were released without locations, dates or context.\" orientation=\"vertical\" class=\"spacer-large\" util-module-path=\"elements\/media\"\/><\/p>\n<p>USA TODAY has reached out to Ratner&#8217;s representative and his production company, RatPac Entertainment, for comment.<\/p>\n<partner-banner util-module-path=\"elements\/partner\" fluid=\"\" bottom=\"\" lazy=\"\" class=\"spacer-large\" min-height=\"390\" outstream=\"\"\/>\n<p>Many prominent names appear in photos among the newly released Epstein files, including former President <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2025\/12\/19\/bill-clinton-epstein-files-vips\/87851565007\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2025\/12\/19\/bill-clinton-epstein-files-vips\/87851565007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Bill Clinton<\/a>, actors <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/celebrities\/2025\/11\/23\/is-kevin-spacey-homeless\/87440641007\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/celebrities\/2025\/11\/23\/is-kevin-spacey-homeless\/87440641007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Kevin Spacey<\/a> and <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2025\/12\/19\/who-is-in-the-epstein-files-photos\/87852486007\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2025\/12\/19\/who-is-in-the-epstein-files-photos\/87852486007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Chris Tucke<\/a>r, <span style=\"box-sizing:border-box;margin:0;padding:0\">as well as music icons\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2025\/12\/19\/epstein-files-release-day-live-updates\/87701711007\/\" target=\"_blank\">Mick Ja<\/a><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2025\/12\/19\/epstein-files-release-day-live-updates\/87701711007\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2025\/12\/19\/epstein-files-release-day-live-updates\/87701711007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">gger, Michael Jackson<\/a> and <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/music\/2025\/02\/03\/diana-ross-kendrick-lamar-grammys-record-of-the-year\/78171744007\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/music\/2025\/02\/03\/diana-ross-kendrick-lamar-grammys-record-of-the-year\/78171744007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Diana Ross<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><media-gallery-promo asset-id=\"87833938007\" class=\"column ten-column no-gutter spacer-large\"\/><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"presto-h2 wp-block-heading\">Brett Ratner is directing &#8216;Melania&#8217; and &#8216;Rush Hour 4&#8217;<\/h2>\n<partner-inline util-module-path=\"elements\/partner\" class=\"spacer-large\" placement=\"native-article_link\" sizes=\"[[300, 250], [3, 3]]\" min-height=\"250\" fluid=\"\" outstream=\"\"\/>\n<p>Ratner directed the first lady&#8217;s <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2025\/12\/17\/melania-trump-movie-documentary-trailer\/87808119007\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2025\/12\/17\/melania-trump-movie-documentary-trailer\/87808119007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">new documentary titled &#8220;Melania,&#8221;<\/a> which showcases the 20 days before the former model returned to the White House following President\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/news\/politics\/donald-trump\/\">Donald Trump<\/a>&#8216;s inauguration on Jan. 20.<\/p>\n<p><cta-atoms-container-inline util-module-path=\"elements\/cta\" class=\"spacer-large\"\/><\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/exclusive-first-look-melania-film\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/exclusive-first-look-melania-film\">Fox News<\/a> published a trailer for the project on Dec. 17\u00a0ahead of its Jan. 30 release.<\/p>\n<p>The documentary comes as Paramount is <span style=\"box-sizing:border-box;margin:0;padding:0\">developing &#8220;<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/movies\/2025\/11\/26\/rush-hour-4-paramount-trump\/87480457007\/\" target=\"_blank\">Rush Hour 4<\/a>,&#8221; with Ratner set to r<\/span>eturn alongside stars\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/movies\/2025\/11\/26\/rush-hour-4-paramount-trump\/87480457007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Jackie Chan<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/celebrities\/2021\/11\/17\/chris-tucker-irs-9-million-taxes-lawsuit-friday-actor\/8648957002\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Chris Tucker<\/a>, according to\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2025\/film\/box-office\/rush-hour-4-paramount-trump-1236591747\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Variety<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/movies\/movie-news\/rush-hour-4-brett-ratner-1236435324\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Hollywood Reporter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In 2017, six women accused Ratner of\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/celebrities\/2021\/02\/21\/brett-ratner-times-up-slams-comeback-after-sexual-misconduct-claims\/4532675001\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">sexual misconduct<\/a>, including actresses\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/celebrities\/2025\/11\/21\/princess-kate-cancer-olivia-munn-comments\/87397006007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Olivia Munn<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/life\/people\/2017\/11\/02\/brett-ratner-allegations-who-his-newest-accuser-melanie-kohler\/826206001\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Natasha Henstridge<\/a>, amid the\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/entertainment\/celebrities\/2025\/09\/08\/ayo-edebiri-julia-roberts-interview-controversy\/86042377007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">#MeToo movement<\/a>. No criminal charges were filed against him.<\/p>\n<partner-banner util-module-path=\"elements\/partner\" fluid=\"\" bottom=\"\" lazy=\"\" class=\"spacer-large\" min-height=\"600\" outstream=\"\" momentum=\"\"\/>\n<p>The fourth &#8220;Rush Hour&#8221; film was put on hold and Ratner maintained a low profile for years.<\/p>\n<p>Warner Bros and Ratner parted ways in November 2017. &#8220;Melania&#8221; marks Ratner&#8217;s first directorial feature since <span style=\"margin:0;padding:0\">the 2014 action movie<\/span><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/life\/movies\/2014\/07\/25\/hercules-movie-revew\/13146299\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/life\/movies\/2014\/07\/25\/hercules-movie-revew\/13146299\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> &#8220;Hercules.&#8221;<\/a><\/p>\n<lit-timestamp class=\"column ten-column no-gutter spacer-small\" slot=\"timestamp\" publishdate=\"2025-12-21 00:09:44.810965279 +0000 UTC\" updatedate=\"2025-12-21 17:19:58.284313379 +0000 UTC\"\/><\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.usatoday.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Celebrities seen in new Epstein files released by DOJ The Justice Department released new files related to Jeffrey Epstein that show Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, Richard Branson and more. &#8220;Rush Hour&#8221; director Brett Ratner, who is helming First Lady\u00a0Melania Trump&#8216;s upcoming documentary, is in a photo in the latest batch of\u00a0Jeffrey Epstein files\u00a0released by [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2207828,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[22164,39915,22220,305469,21751,239390,361828,314147,364177,305457,22389,6297,21741,305468,305473,21799,373031,21993,22373,22074,22391,22270,314673,305247,21739,298114,369780,31122,22020,241909,426238,74947,21738,28774,39661,314708,239343,239420,22048,147314,30252,314674,24638,21913,26976,361829,239344,34080,239422],"class_list":["post-2207827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-abuse","tag-affiliate","tag-arts","tag-branch","tag-celebrities","tag-celebrities-u0026-entertainment-news","tag-department","tag-documentary","tag-documentary-films","tag-donald","tag-donald-trump","tag-eamotion","tag-entertainment","tag-executive","tag-executive-branch","tag-film","tag-film-u0026-tv-industry","tag-films","tag-florida","tag-fox","tag-fox-news","tag-industry","tag-investigations","tag-justice","tag-local","tag-local-affiliate-arts-u0026-entertainment","tag-melania","tag-melania-trump","tag-movie","tag-movie-reference","tag-munn","tag-negative","tag-news","tag-of","tag-olivia","tag-olivia-munn","tag-overall","tag-overall-negative","tag-politics","tag-reference","tag-scandals","tag-scandals-u0026-investigations","tag-trump","tag-tv","tag-u-s","tag-u-s-department-of-justice","tag-u0026","tag-violence","tag-violence-u0026-abuse"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Brett-Ratner-Rush-Hour-director-photo-in-Epstein-files.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2207827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2207827"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2207827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2207829,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2207827\/revisions\/2207829"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2207828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2207827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2207827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2207827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}