Seth Rogen recently spoke at length about his, Evan Goldberg and Michel Gondry’s upcoming adaptation of “The Green Hornet.”
Despite news recently hitting that Stephen Chow, the film’s original Kato, had left the project, Rogen revealed the actor’s departure has been official for quite some time.
“In my head, we lost Stephen Chow in April, so it’s something I’ve had a lot of time to wrap my head around,” Rogen revealed. “That’s not a change. It might appear to be one to the world in the way that this type of information is doled out, but to me, we haven’t had a Kato since April and we’re looking.”
The search for a replacement has been very open though as the scribes Rogen and Goldberg have multiple scripts ready to go. “There are versions where we’ve had more comedically-inclined people in mind for the role — and in that version, it was a tit-for-tat type of relationship. There have also been versions where we’ve been forced to confront ‘This guy doesn’t speak any fucking English!’ That obviously changes their relationship a little bit… Obviously, there are different versions. And they’re all written.”
Uhh, what is this, best case scenario screenwriting? Very odd.
“We’ve been writing this movie for a long time,” Rogen said. “But until we find the absolute perfect person , we’ll… just keep looking! There have been some people we’ve seen who we think might be the perfect person, but we’re just not sure yet.” Hmmm, not sure what to make of that. Are they re-writing because they’re second-guessing their original material or simply because Chow left? Hopefully, the latter – but there still seems to be an uncertainty around Kato.
One thing Rogen was certain on was the film’s style as a reciprocal relationship between his and Goldberg vision and that of Gondry’s. “I feel like people who are fans of [Gondry] won’t feel let down by what they see. We’re encouraging him to make it as visually exciting and inventive as anything anyone has ever seen. We’re fans of these types of movies when they’re done well. We think that we can handle the story and the script and the dialogue, but we know nothing about cameras and lights and fancy ways of making things look amazing. And that’s what he’s better at than anyone in the world pretty much.”
Rogen also hinted at the film’s possible appearance at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. “There may be a little something at Comic-Con,” the actor hinted. “I never know what I can say and what I can’t say… it may be… it may not be.” Sounds pretty clear cut to us. And dare we say, Kato announcement? Sounds way too soon by the sounds of it and since nothing is shot, what would they present? Perhaps that test-action footage that Gondry shot that wowed Rogen and Sony?
“Green Hornet” is tentatively due to hit theaters July 9th, 2010 and is reportedly set to co-star Cameron Diaz. [AICN/HitFix]