Kato (Stephen Chow) Leaves ‘Green Hornet’ Production

Stephen Chow, who was set to play the key role of Kato in the Green Hornet film (see “Green Hornet Debut Set for July 9th, 2010”), is leaving the production, according to the Hollywood trades. The film is set to begin shooting in September for a July 2010 release, and that’s not expected to change.

The departure is over scheduling issues, and is amicable.

Cameron Diaz has been added to the cast as the female lead; Seth Rogen is starring.

Dynamite is producing a Green Hornet comic series written by Kevin Smith (see “Kevin Smith on Green Hornet Comet”).

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Seth Rogen Talks Green Hornet’s Approach

Seth Rogen is in Australia to promote Monsters vs. Aliens and he talked to "The Jono & Dano Show" (via Moviehole ) about his big screen adaptation of The Green Hornet . He told the radio show that Columbia Pictures plans to begin filming in June. It will be an origin story but not in the traditional sense. It’ll be unlike every other superhero film out there, Rogen said.

The film will concentrate a lot on the relationship between these two different cats – The Green Hornet (who Rogen says is just "a normal guy") and Stephen Chow’s Kato (who Rogen says is the one that does all the superhero stuff). The Green Hornet , to be directed by Michel Gondry, is scheduled for a June 25, 2010 release.

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Seth Rogen Talks ‘Green Hornet’

Rogen Explains Why He’s Hornet

Seth Rogen told reporters that he and writing partner Evan Goldberg are putting the final touches on a proposed Green Hornet movie and confirmed that he will play the title character.

“I will, yeah,” Rogen said in a group interview in Los Angeles over the weekend while promoting his upcoming stoner comedy The Pineapple Express. “Don’t say it like that,” Rogen added, with his trademark snicker in response to the reporter?s tone.

Rogen promised that the movie, based on the ’30s radio serial and subsequent TV series, will be packed with action. But fans of Rogen’s Judd Apatow comedies, such as Knocked Up, may be in for a rude awakening if they expect the same brand of lewd humor in The Green Hornet.

“We have not hit many situations where you’re like, you know, ‘What would make this scene better?’ If Kato said c–ksucker? That hasn’t come up many times,” Rogen joked.

Still, many fans may be left scratching their heads at the notion that the guys who did Superbad are making a Green Hornet movie. Rogen offered this explanation: “To us, it was just this funny notion that, when you say Green Hornet to someone, the first thing they say is, ‘Hey, Bruce Lee played Kato in that show.’ We really wanted to make this hero-sidekick movie. … For years we’d really been trying to write a movie that was kind of about a hero and his sidekick. When we heard the Green Hornet movie was up for grabs, we thought that could be the perfect way to do this story, because he is the only hero whose sidekick is more known than he is. We thought it would be a good way to tell this relationship story and just do a big crazy action movie.”

He expected less trouble getting the action and violence of Green Hornet past the Motion Picture Association of America’s ratings board than he’s had with Kevin Smith’s Zack and Miri Make a Porno, which was recently tagged with the dreaded NC-17.

“Luckily, the MPAA decided that violence is fine,” Rogen said. “When you’re doing an action movie, you can really have as much violence as you want. I’d say, action-wise, we’ve been able to do everything that we could have ever wanted.” –Jeff Otto

Source: SciFi Wire