By | Published December 24, 2008

Sad news comes on the horizons for fans awaiting the Hollywood debut of Hong Kong actor-director Stephen Chow. The star was ready to direct and star as Kato in Seth Rogen’s big-screen adaptation of THE GREEN HORNET. However, it now looks as if Chow may not be able to work on the film at all.

Last week, Chow dropped out as director of the film due to creative differences with the executives at Sony Pictures. As much as star and writer Seth Rogen was willing to help Chow and even input his ideas in the film, Chow had a vision to the film that just didn’t match Sony’s and as a result, Chow decided to drop as helmer of the film. However, there was a chance he would still play Kato as to work with Seth Rogen.

However, it was recently announced that Chow might be dropping out of the film completely. Rumors are surfacing that Chow is planning a film with Hollywood actor Jack Black (KUNG FU PANDA) on a different superhero film. Adding more to the chaos, a few Chinese movie sites have listed KUNG FU HUSTLE 2 for a 2010 release, the same year that THE GREEN HORNET is to be released.

Chow says his decision to work on THE GREEN HORNET will now depend on his schedule. Considering his recent clashing with Sony over the vision of the film, it may be safe to say that Chow may just leave the project altogether. However, at this point, only one person knows and that is Chow himself.

Source: Dark Horizons

Related Topics:
 •   •   • 
  • NuLL

    Kinda sad, since I was looking forward to seeing him play Kato.

    I don’t know anyone else who could do it.

  • Blas V.

    They should get Wu Jing to play Kato.
    This could be his breakthrough role in the western world.

  • Yopa

    It should stay that way. Chow can only be at his best if he is the director and main actor at the same time. If he only plays Kato, it would just become another Hollywood movie with an asian actor. He couldnt portray him in the bruce lee-ish way he intended to. And without him, this movie will surely fail. I cant think of any actor suitable for that role, especially as long as Universal controls everything anyway

  • justin quizon

    I guess, just to clarify, Green Hornet is set up at Sony…
    http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/thegreenhornet/
    But other then that, I agree with Yopa.
    Chow directing and staring as Kato would have been the only way for Chow to play Kato.
    If Chow was ONLY playing Kato, well, I feel the role would have been beneath him if another Hollywood director was to do it.
    BUT, allowing him to direct too, his style would have been the thing that would have made the movie much more memorable.
    In the end, Chow, besides have a great visual flare for comedy and action, tells great stories as a director and I felt playing Kato was a logical extention of whats he’s been doing in his last two films (Kung Fu Hustle and CJ7) in that he’s director but he is pushing himself into more supporting roles.(Kung Fu Hustle it’s clear he loves the three masters and the landlords characters more then his own, in my opinion.)
    Blas V. made a good suggestion with Wu Jing, and if I recall, doesn’t he speak pretty good english?

    Well, I wrote to much, take care guys.

  • Anonymous

    “Chow dropped out as director of the film due to creative differences with the executives at Universal Pictures”

    You know damn well that Universal Pictures tried to put more influence on the acting rather than the action !!! Hollywood kills me with that kind of crap !

  • BruisedLo

    i’m not a big fan of seth rogen, and i don’t care if he wants to do a adaptation of the green hornet, but hearing stephen chow leave is a big shocker. i thought he would do it no matter what, cuz he’s a bruce lee fan, and this would be like his ultimate tribute.

    you can’t think of anyone suitable for the role of kato? OMFG. look at all those bruce lee-ish wannabes on the screen, and all the talk from actors, etc. who have we seen on screen with pretty much the kato look? jason scott lee, jet li, and probably more. i hear donnie yen talk about the role, if he gets it, he’ll take on the job. look at chan kwok kwan, he play bruce in a bio-tv series. i’m sure he got to put on the black mask. he looks like bruce the most, so i dunno why u people don’t mention him. see? theres so many people who can play kato. i don’t want to see donnie yen play him though. he’s done enough for bruce in his fist of fury tv series. well the movie is by universal pictures, and dragon: the bruce lee story is by them also… so just hire jason scott lee….

    the show sucked anyway, so i dunno why seth wanna bring it to the big screen. the only thing cool about the green hornet was that we saw bruce.

    whats up with these rumors? chow with black? that guy isn’t even a martial art star… eww just because he dubbed a animated kung fu panda, doesn’t make him one. then again, stephen chow isn’t really a martial art star either, i know cuz i’m a fan. screw the green hornet, i didn’t want to see chow play kato anyway.

    lol china, or just asia, likes giving juicy rumors all the time. i hope chow does a kung fu hustle 2, cuz it will give him a excuse to fight. in most of his films, he doesn’t fight that much. its just his usual movie igredient that he does, along with good story telling, parodies, and comedy.

  • http://www.youtube.com/DelphianProductions R.L. Strong

    This is really a shame, as Chow would have brought a unique vision to the story. Whoever plays the part of Kato will certainly get a boost in their career, but with the Directorial seat now vacant, it seems that this project will become just another superhero film. And of course, any and all fight scenes will be shot in the typical fast cut style favored by those ADD types.

  • Albert Valentin

    Thanks justin for the error. I corrected the article :) Thanks a bunch and to everyone who commented, Happy Holidays!!!!

  • WEJ

    End of the day, a Kung Fu Hustle 2 would be vastly greater the anything coming out of Hollywood.

  • Hey

    Don’t mean to be a hard-on BUT you used the word “however” too much. Four times in a four paragraph article.

  • donnefan

    I think we all know that donnie yen could play kato as good as chow.

  • Richmond

    We also know that he can’t do comedy nearly as well as Stephen Chow does.

    Anyways, since Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg are writing (Superbad, Pineapple Express; Goldberg also wrote for Da Ali G Show when it was on HBO) it’s likely that they’ll portray Britt Reid as incompetent and in desperate need of Kato’s help most if not all of the time. I was encouraged by the risk taken to have David Gordon Green direct Pineapple Express, which is far from an obvious choice. And I took that to mean the same faith would be placed in Chow.

    So much for that.

    My guess is that the producers attached to this are the reason for the “creative differences.” The name Neal Moritz stands out in particular:

    http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0605775/

    And if you bother to check out his list of producing credits, you’ll see that for the past decade or so he’s had a hard-on for crappy remakes that failed to make any significant connection with the original work outside of shameless rip offs. I’d bet money he’s to blame for this turn of events.

  • sowutifmahsnsux

    damn, got my hopes high too

  • Yakuza954

    Its better if he leaves than he stays and makes a crappy film he doesn’t want to make.

  • http://ChownolongeronGreenHornet David Olford

    Can Green Hornet be relevant to the 2000′s? Bruce Lee was the brawn to the brainey detective, but would we want a format silent partner more, If Chow wass bubbling with ideas, it maybe he had too many, maybe it should have been made into a series if he had had the time.

  • stephen

    I totally agree that Stephen Chow would have been great at the Kato role.As for Wu Jing, is that the actor from Tai chi Master? Fantastic martial artist and acting skills to boot.I hate to say but R.L. Strong is probable correct in that the film editor will ruin by fast and lousy cuts as they completely ruin
    The Bourne ultimatum battle scenes.