Asian Pop Star to Play Kato in “Green Hornet”

Jay Chou

Gregg Kilday – Hollywood Reporter

Asian pop star Jay Chou will team up with Seth Rogen to fight crime in a new film version of “The Green Hornet,” to be directed by Michel Gondry.

Chou snapped up the role of Kato, the Green Hornet’s sidekick, after Stephen Chow walked away from the Columbia Pictures project last month.

The film, written by Rogen & Evan Goldberg, is based upon “The Green Hornet” radio series created by George W. Trendle. It is slated for release summer 2010.

The Kato role was previously played by martial-arts legend Bruce Lee in a 1974 version.

“It’s an overwhelming experience to take on a role made famous by Bruce Lee. I won’t try to be Bruce Lee’s Kato — I will try to bring my own interpretation to the part,” Chou promised.

Born Chou Chieh-Lun in Taiwan in 1979, Chou released his debut album “Jay,” combining Eastern and Western musical traditions, in 2000. He moved into acting with a starring role in 2005′s “Initial D,” a comedy-action hit in China. Other credits include Zhang Yimou’s “The Curse of the Golden Flower,” as well as “Secret,” which marked his directing debut.

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Seth Rogen Still Hot For Green Hornet

by Todd Gilchrist – Cinematical.com

Last week Cinematical reported on a casting call advertisement posted July 10 on Spoiler TV for actors to play Kato in Seth Rogen’s long-gestating big screen adaptation of The Green Hornet. While this more or less officially confirmed that actor-director Stephen Chow was permanently off the project, Rogen told reporters that he’s unconcerned about the recent hubbub about the film’s status since he’s known of Chow’s departure for a few months. “In my head, we lost Stephen Chow in April,” Rogen said. “So it’s something I’ve had a lot of time to wrap my head around.”
   In fact, Rogen said that both Chow’s departure and the more recent revelation of that news has not changed his feelings about the film’s progress. “To me we haven’t had a Kato since April, and we’re looking,” he said. “We’re kind of in the same boat we were in beforehand.”
   Rogen has discussed the development of Green Hornet often in interviews, and at Comic-Con last year he joked that there was no audience for it, suggesting that people were more interested in characters from Final Fantasy 19 than in the 1960s television character. But then again, Rogen also seemed to embrace the fact that his interpretation of the character wouldn’t necessarily appeal to the “typical” comic book adaptation audience, if there is one.
   “You know, we’re not trying to make what they would probably consider to be a 100 percent safe version of a movie like this,” Rogen said. “We like to push the envelope in some directions. We like to do things that we find interesting and new and original. You bring Michel Gondry into the equation, and that opens up a whole new bag of worms.”
   Rogen explained that as of right now, he’s inviting many of his former collaborators and pals to offer ideas on how best to bring Green Hornet to the screen. “Right now we’re making a big movie and not many of our friends have made a movie this scale,” he said. “So we’re inviting everyone imaginable to come and just see what it’s like and give us their ideas and throw in their input, have them learn from what we’re doing and to get all their ideas in the process.”

Seth Rogen is the Green Hornet

Green Hornet

By night, debonair newspaper publisher Britt Reid (Seth Rogen) fights crime as a masked superhero known as The Green Hornet. At his side is martial arts expert Kato (Stephen Chow).

  Expect a June 2010 release for this Original film directed by Michael Gondry. Stephen Chow had been tapped to direct but dropped out over creative differences. He is still expected to co-star as Kato, the Hornet’s trusty sidekick and chauffeur.

   Since Chow’s departure, the project has been the subject of speculation that it was sliding into development hell, but the studio is intent on making the feature one of its 2010 tentpoles.

   The choice of Gondry, the helmer behind off-the-beaten-path films such as “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” “The Science of Sleep” and “Be Kind Rewind,” signals that the creative direction the studio and the film’s producer, Neal Moritz, are trying to take the project is one not usually associated with the usual crime-fighter movie.

   As of this post, the Special Effects Makeup artists haven’t been named.

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