By Mark Pollard | Published July 22, 2009

The buzzards have begun circling over Seth Rogen’s GREEN HORNET film since news broke that co-star Stephen Chow, originally set to play Kato, had dropped out of the film. Now the PINEAPPLE EXPRESS star has stepped forward to offer what looks like damage control by way of reminding us that pre-production is pressing ahead despite the fact that the film has lost the actor portraying the film’s most important role according to fans only a few months ahead of production.

“We’re building sets,” Rogen says. “There’s more people working on the film every day! They traditionally don’t spend millions and millions of dollars on movies that are dead.”

If sets sold movies I’d feel perfectly at ease about this proclamation.

A sure sign that there are problems is the way in which news of Chow’s exit broke, not with an announcement but with someone catching wind of an open casting call for the role. Stephen Chow is currently one of the hottest Asian film talents in the world right now, even if Hollywood may not fully appreciate that fact enough to keep him happy enough to stick around. You can’t go from having Chow to having an open casting call for a role originally portrayed by Bruce Lee and spin it as anything but bad news. That isn’t keeping Mr. Rogen from trying.

“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 also says they’re looking at “many, many people from all over the globe” to fill the role of Kato.

Rogen has a lot to lose, or rather gain if this film doesn’t move forward. He has spoken out about the challenge of resisting food in order to drop 30 pounds for the role of Britt Reid, AKA The Green Hornet and more specifically his admission that the weight loss will likely be temporary. “I lost the weight for a role, but I don’t know if I’ll keep it off. That’s the big question. I have a lot of tantrums. I want my food. I cry for no reason.”

Rogen appears more interested in shifting focus away from filling Bruce Lee’s shoes and towards the expectantly arty interpretation of the film’s new director, Michel Gondry.

“We’re encouraging him to make it as visually exciting and inventive as anything anyone has ever seen,” says Rogen of Gondry. “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. So we’re encouraging him to really go for it.”

As helmer of trippy arthouse favorite ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, Gondry will no doubt have something visually creative to contribute to the project but the question is will GREEN HORNET and Bruce Lee fans care if the role of Kato gets filled by some nameless Asian actor with minimal screen fighting skills? Could this be a golden opportunity for a martial arts-fighting newcomer to enjoy breakout success, much like Lee did with his turn as Kato in the original TV series or will this film be another example of studios cashing in on a once popular intellectual property with minimal integrity? One good indicator will be their choice of actor to replace Chow.

Source: ScreenCrave

Related Topics:
Bruce Lee  •  The Green Hornet (2010)  •  upcoming