The Green Hornet

[MacGuffin]

Seth Rogen Confirms 'Green Hornet' Director: It's Michel Gondry!
'It will be a great combination of ... both of our styles,' the actor says of collaborating with the visionary director.
Source: MTV

Seth Rogen's high-profile superhero movie has a brand-new director — one of the most distinctive visionaries in Hollywood — and the star can only use three words to describe how he's feeling about it.

"It's f---ing crazy!" he said when we spoke with him Tuesday, accentuating the point with his trademark laugh (which was imitated by Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard backstage at the Oscars).

His new "Green Hornet" collaborator is none other than Michel Gondry, the eye-popping auteur who gave us "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," "Be Kind Rewind," and too many classic music videos to list here. Capping off an exhaustive search, the "Pineapple Express" funnyman said Gondry is the perfect director for his comedic take on the crime-fighting newspaper publisher who first slipped into his green mask in 1936.

"Me and [co-writer] Evan [Goldberg] have always been gigantic fans of [Gondry]," Rogen beamed. "We just like anyone who thinks outside the box, and there's really nobody who thinks more outside the box then he does; he's really a magician in a lot of ways."

Serving as writer, producer and star of the film that begins shooting soon, Rogen admitted that he had always been pulling for Gondry to land the high-profile gig — and even helped the French filmmaker get an inside track. "I've actually been e-mailing with him for a really long time, because he was involved with the project a long time ago," he explained. "With the permission of nobody, I sent him our script ... to get his input and ideally convince the studio to meet with him. They were skeptical of ... I wouldn't say his ability to make a giant budget studio movie, but his willingness to make a giant budget studio movie. But he loved the script, he totally got it, which a lot of [potential directors] just didn't."

Gondry loved the "Green Hornet" script so much, in fact, that he began filming it immediately. "To convince the studio to let him do it, he filmed a fight scene on his own," Rogen marveled. "He just hired stunt men and did it by himself! Just to show some of the stuff he could do, some of the weird filming techniques he has and some of the stuff he can pull off. I mean, this is something he did in two days and it was instantly unlike anything you've ever seen before. It was impossible not to hire him once he presented what he could do for it."

Now, Rogen and Goldberg are looking forward to blending their unique "Superbad" sensibility with a decades-old crime-fighter and a thoroughly modern filmmaker. And while he assured us that the result will prominently feature Gondry's knack for making ordinary things look extraordinary, he was quick to say that the film won't simply be the Gondry we've come to expect.

"My direct quote to [Gondry] right before he met with the studio was, 'You have to convince them they're not gonna show up on set one day and everything is gonna be made out of cardboard,' " laughed Rogen. "And he said, 'I can definitely do that.' "

"["The Green Hornet"] will be a great combination of both of our movies, of both of our styles," Rogen said of the film, which hits theaters June 25, 2010. "It should have the type of conversational tone and comedy that me and Evan have been doing — and some of the action that we have been starting to try to do — along with the wild, visual imagination and funny awkward sensibility that he's been doing."

[New Feeling]

this is great news as far as I'm concerned.  I'm a little burned out on the recent flood of Superhero movies too, but this team of Rogen/Goldberg, Gondry, and Chow (if he's still in) working on a big-budget tentpole type summer film sounds like a match made in movie heaven.  I think this is basically the best thing that Gondry could've jumped into.  If it flies like it should he'll be in a position to do practically whatever he wants. 

and I'm pretty sure Gondry already is an eccentric commercial director.  A damn fine one.  Not such a great screenwriter though. 

[MacGuffin]

BREAKING: Seth Rogen & Facebook Confirm 'Green Hornet' Almost Had 'Saw' Director
Source: MTV

By now, you've most likely heard the beyond-awesome news that Seth Rogen's "Green Hornet" movie will be directed by Mr. Michel Gondry, one of the most visually-stunning directors in Hollywood. But, being a movie buff, I'm always intrigued by the "What if?" possibilities of Steve McQueen starring in "The Bodyguard," Christopher Walken as Han Solo, and so on.

Which is why I was intrigued when, moments after the Gondry news broke, I noticed that my Facebook friend James Wan had changed his status. "Damn you Michel Gondry *shaking fists*," read the message from the "Saw" director. "Oh well the better man won."

Moments later, James took the status update down. But lucky for us, Seth isn't the type of Hollywood phony who hides behind "no comments" and the like.

"Oh yeah?" he started laughing when I surprised him with James' Facebook status.

"Well, we were just given the mandate to bring the studio directors we were fans of," Rogen explained of the months-long process of picking a filmmaker. "And the discussion would begin from there."

Discussing the reason why Wan became part of that process, Rogen revealed: "Me and [co-writer] Evan [Goldberg] saw 'Death Sentence' and thought it was incredible. As far as action movies go, that's one of the better ones I've seen in recent years."

"So yeah we definitely talked to him," Rogen said of their meetings, adding: "I would definitely love to do something else."

Instead, Rogen's "Green Hornet" will hit theaters June 25th, 2010 with "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" director Gondry behind the camera. And as amazing as that should be, it would also be cool to see Rogen teamed with James Wan's brutal directorial style someday in the future.

[MacGuffin]

Seth Rogen Reveals More About Michel Gondry's Secret 'Green Hornet' Audition Tape & Fight Scene
Source: MTV

Recently, we conducted the first interview with the incomparable Seth Rogen following his announcement that visionary director Michel Gondry would be directing him in the soon-to-shoot movie reimagining of "The Green Hornet." But we were really intrigued when he revealed that the "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" director had already filmed a key action scene on his own dime.

"To convince the studio to let him do it, he filmed a fight scene on his own," Rogen told us. "He just hired stunt men and did it by himself! Just to show some of the stuff he could do, some of the weird filming techniques he has and some of the stuff he can pull off. I mean, this is something he did in two days and it was instantly unlike anything you've ever seen before."

Naturally, I had to press him for more details, but the "Pineapple Express" star struggled for words. "I can't describe it man," he laughed.

And true, it may be impossible for any of us to try explaining the visuals in something like "Science of Sleep" or "Be Kind Rewind," but nevertheless Rogen's struggle to describe the fight scene gives us a peek at his unorthodox plan to marry his own films with those of Gondry.

"I mean, he's able to do things with frame rates and...I mean in shots, just ways you've never quite seem them work before," he explained of Gondry's top-secret audition footage, which we can only pray ends up on the eventual DVD in 2010. "I'm sure it was all done very simply, but it's weird. I've tried to describe it to people, and I literally just have a hard time. It's hard to do without acting it out, so over the phone it'd be impossible."

Maybe if we're lucky, next time we interview Seth on camera we can get him to do a full-on "Green Hornet" fight scene demonstration for us. But until then, we'll just contemplate Rogen, Gondry, frame rate manipulation and all the coolness it will yield when the movie starts shooting in a few weeks.

[MacGuffin]

Rogen: Green Hornet will include homage to a famous cowboy
Source: SciFi Wire

Seth Rogen says that his upcoming Green Hornet movie will mention that his character, Britt Reid, is the grandnephew of the Lone Ranger.

"Yes, there is something to that. John Reid was the Lone Ranger," said Rogen in an interview with SCI FI Wire. Rogen said the script, which he had a hand in writing with Evan Goldberg, went through many different rewrites. Kung Fu Hustle director Stephen Chow bowed out as director, and now Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind director Michel Gondry is taking over the project, but Chow will still play Kato, the sidekick to the Green Hornet.

"We had written in some kind of subtle reference," Rogen said. "I think that it's [subtle] mostly because a different studio owns the Lone Ranger than owns the Green Hornet, like Jerry Bruckheimer owns Lone Ranger or something." (Bruckheimer announced at a Disney party last September that he planned to reinvent the Lone Ranger franchise, but no further details have been announced.)

Rogen explained that the mention of the rival superhero comes merely in passing. "In our script, that's really not a significant plot point in any way," he said. "They will say the line, and if they let us keep it, then they let us keep it, but if they don't, then we won't."

The Los Angeles Times reported on Jan. 26 that there's a possibility that Adam Sandler will play a superhero in The Green Hornet, and there is speculation that he could be a descendant of The Lone Ranger. The Green Hornet is scheduled for a 2010 release.

[Stefen]

This is going to be awesome.

[MacGuffin]

Seth Rogen admits Green Hornet will mix action, comedy

Seth Rogen, writer and co-star of the upcoming Green Hornet, told SCI FI Wire that the film will possess elements of both comedy and action.

"To me, the two aren't mutually exclusive," Rogen said in an interview last week in Los Angeles while promoting his upcoming 3-D animated movie Monsters vs. Aliens. "You can have a big action epic with a lot of funny parts."

Green Hornet is a big-screen adaptation of the superhero franchise, which was adapted as a popular 1960s television series and was inspired by the original radio program created in the 1930s. Hornet follows the adventures of Britt Reid, a bored playboy who inherits his father's crusading newspaper, the Daily Sentinel. By night he is a masked hero, fighting crime with his sidekick, Kato (Stephen Chow), who has incredible martial-arts skills. Rogen and his writer partner Evan Goldberg joined the project in July 20, 2007, as writers and co-executive producers.

Rogen, whose film projects to date have been primarily comedic in nature, said that the forthcoming update will evoke other action films that feature an undercurrent of humor.

"I've seen the early Indiana Jones movies in theaters, and they kill," Rogen said. "There's laughs throughout the whole thing, and it doesn't feel like a comedy per se. It just feels like something that's trying to solicit reactions from the audience, and we think of movies like True Lies and stuff like that. That's more kind of what we're going for with this."

[MacGuffin]

Seth Rogen: June start for Green Hornet, but no cheesy F/X
Source: SciFi Wire

When Stephen Chow was set to direct The Green Hornet, one might have expected CGI comedy in the Kung Fu Hustle style. With Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) taking over, could the crime fighter battle homemade special effects?

Co-writer and star Seth Rogen has already acknowledged that he and Evan Goldberg are writing a script for Gondry and has described their take on the Hornet as the ultimate story of a hero and his sidekick. The Green Hornet is that rare superhero whose sidekick is more famous than he is. Legendary martial artist Bruce Lee played Kato in the '60s TV series. Who even played the Hornet? (It was Van Williams.)

Just getting the movie made seems like an accomplishment after filmmakers from Christopher McQuarrie to Kevin Smith tried to get it started before Rogen, Chow and Gondry. Rogen updated a group of reporters on the film's progress Tuesday in Beverly Hills, Calif., where he was promoting Observe & Report. The following Q&A features edited excerpts from that interview.

After all these false starts and director changeovers, when do you actually start Green Hornet?

Rogen: To film? It should—right now we're scheduled sometime at the end of June.

Will Michel Gondry be able to do his homemade style of effects?

Rogen: You know, he actually really does not want to. Me and Evan have actually come up with [ways]. We've approached him with ideas, like, "Hey, maybe we could do something like this. You could do you some of your weird people made out of string and s--t like that." He's like, "No, I don't want to do any of that." He's like, "The fact that you think I want to do that drives me crazy and makes me never want to do anything like that again." You know, he hates being predictable and repetitive and doing what's been done before, so as soon as he starts to feel like he's expected to do something, then he doesn't want to do it at all.

Is it still the hero/sidekick story you've described before?

Rogen: Yeah, and I would say if anything, it's taken on a much greater [scope]. At first we were kind of resisting the notion of an origin story, but then we realized we could kind of embrace it and then play with that idea; it could be a lot better. So that's something we've added.

With your busy schedule, will you be able to do the sci-fi film Kevin Smith wants you for?

Rogen: I don't know. He's doing that other movie right now. He hasn't written it as far as I know.

[MacGuffin]

EXCL: Gondry Talks About The Green Hornet
Source: Edward Douglas; ComingSoon

Earlier today, ComingSoon.net/Superhero Hype! had a chance to talk to visionary director Michel Gondry about his new self-released DVD compilation "More Videos: Before and After DVD 1," which you can buy tomorrow from Mssr. Gondry's Official Site, which will launch sometime tomorrow. We talked about his process for coming up with some of the diverse music videos in the second collection, which include his reunion with Beck and Bjork, his music video (and jam session!) with Sir Paul McCartney, and lots and lots of great extras. We need a couple more days to finish that interview up, but just to whet your appetite, we want to share a few things he said about his next movie, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg's update of pulp crimefighter The Green Hornet.

Gondry doesn't have a lot to say about the project yet, since he joined it roughly six weeks ago, but he confirmed that it was going to be a true collaboration between Gondry, Rogen and Goldberg. "Seth and Evan, they are the writers, but they really listen to my ideas on the movie. I think the story is getting much better and better and I feel like I'm really a part of the process."

We asked him whether the movie might have a similar tone as either of Rogen and Goldberg's last two movies Superbad and Pineapple Express, to which he responded, "I think we're all trying to be a little different than we were before on this project, just by interacting with each other and the producer Neil Moritz adds a different taste as well, so all that will create a new universe."

Since Gondry is probably best known for the unique styles of animation he brings to both his films and music videos, we asked if we might see some of those animated visuals in the comic book movie. "No animation, maybe on the credits but I'm not sure," he said.

Look for Gondry's Official Site to be open for business tomorrow. For the time being, it will be the only place you can purchase his new DVD collection, "More Videos: Before and After DVD 1", and then check back later this week for our full interview with Gondry with more details about that and other projects.

[MacGuffin]

Michel Gondry on how he'll helm Green Hornet and stay true to himself

Michel Gondry, director of the upcoming superhero movie Green Hornet, told SCI FI Wire that he is looking forward to combining his idiosyncratic ideas with the demands of a big-budget studio action movie.

"It's all going to be something different, but that's successful, so I guess there is no problem now," Gondry said in an exclusive interview Monday. "We have a producer, Neal Moritz, who's pretty damn successful; he released Fast and Furious, which had [one of] the biggest openings of all time, so he's going to guide us in our differences, and so far all of my ideas, he loves them and says 'I like the ideas, and I'm open to them.'"

Green Hornet is based upon the 1960s television serial—which was itself based on 1940s radio serials—about a masked hero who fights crime. Gondry admitted that he joined the project after it was already underway, but said he looks forward to collaborating with Moritz, as well as star and co-writer Seth Rogen. "Of course, I have no choice," Gondry said. "I got on board a project that was already sort of going. But I think by them meeting me and me meeting them, we'll be in a very strong place."

SCI FI Wire spoke exclusively to Gondry via telephone during the promotion of his new collection of short films and music videos, titled Michel Gondry 2: More Videos. The following is an edited version of that interview.

You've talked about how Dave Chappelle's Block Party and Science of Sleep taught you things that you applied to Be Kind Rewind. Did the process of doing this music video collection teach you things about doing Green Hornet?

Gondry: Well, yeah. Everything I do, I learn from it. When I finished Human Nature and before I started Eternal Sunshine [of the Spotless Mind], I made a book full of thoughts how to improve my directing skill. Some of them were just bad reviews that I decided to take seriously; although sometimes it's really personal and it's not constructive, sometimes they say something that may be true, and sometimes if I was upset by a comment, I tried to find out why I was upset. Generally, if I was upset about a comment, it was because there was some truth in the comment. So I looked into that, and I've still got this notebook about what to learn from my mistakes and what was successful and how to combine what I do well and what I don't do well to do better. I had lost it, and I was sort of upset about it, and I just found it back two weeks ago, and I read it again and it's very amazing that I did that. I took all of the things that were in the way of me being better, and I wrote them down, and I find a solution for each problem. I think if you take the time and effort to write the problem on a piece of paper, then you can find a solution.

I generally don't think it's worth doing a list, but I think if you make the effort of writing your problem down, then part of the problem is solved. You can think of solutions and then try them. That's not a direct answer to your question, but that's how I work, and I connect these projects. I have a level of frustration in the outcome, and I try to see, like, to find ways to meet expectations where there's satisfaction, and I like to find ways to enhance the satisfaction and then to make it better. Maybe it doesn't translate in the work—some people tell me that I only did one good movie, Eternal Sunshine, and the rest is crap, but there is stuff I learned. I did the other films on my own, and there was a progression between Human Nature and Eternal Sunshine, and it was exactly the same team, and I think there is a progression as well, even if it's not on the same scale or I managed to do the writing myself. I'm always trying to find something new to do, and sometimes it's restricting that people want to condemn me for trying new things.

You've described Green Hornet as something different from what you've done in the past. Is this a situation where you're kind of going to the mountain, or are you trying to do something new?

Gondry: ... People like to say it's quirky, but I think it works by trying to be as human as possible. I'll try to portray a human quality I see in real life and I appreciate through the medium. That's my job, to not use the film to camouflage moments of a person's personality, but to reveal that personality, and I think this is a very clear and broad statement, maybe something to do with feeling good or this type of direction, so I don't see why this should not be easy for people to appreciate.

Is there a lesson you took away from the mixed reception to Be Kind Rewind that you are applying to Green Hornet, which is going to be a much bigger piece of populist entertainment?

Gondry: Well, I'm not writing it, for one thing. People kind of blame it on the writing. I mean, I say one simple thing: The country where [Be Kind Rewind] did really great, where it was a big hit, was England. It was the only country that understood the film and did proper promotion. It was the only country where Jack Black went to promote the film.

I guess he did promotion in America, but he was off doing tons of promotion for Kung Fu Panda. Even when I was in Japan promoting Be Kind Rewind, he was there, and he knew I was there promoting because he was there to do Kung Fu Panda, and I think in this kind of movie, you need your actor to be behind the film. Not that I want to blame him; I think that was great, he brought a lot, but I think in terms of the promotion, he was a little short. But anyway, this movie naturally is [bigger], with more things to be nervous about.

[MacGuffin]

EXCLUSIVE: 'Green Hornet' Director Michel Gondry Reveals New Fight Filming Techniques
Source: MTV

Ever since Seth Rogen told us about the top-secret fight scene that director Michel Gondry shot with his own money as an audition for "The Green Hornet" movie, I've been dying to know what visual tricks the distinctive filmmaker has up his sleeve. Now, Gondry is finally talking about the groundbreaking technique he'll be bringing to the film.

"It was not elaborate," Gondry modestly began the MTV News interview. "I'm glad [Rogen is even] paying any attention to what I'm suggesting."

"[He did it] to show off some of the stuff he could do, some of the weird filming techniques he has and some of the stuff he can pull off," Rogen tried to explain to us at the time. "It was instantly unlike anything you've ever seen before."

Gondry explains: "I change the speed of the camera at different spots in the image at different times. So, it seems like they're in the same world but at different times, and then they're back together."

So, when "Green Hornet" hits theaters in June 2010, Gondry will have Hornet and Kato battling groups of evildoers — while seemingly battling on different planes of existence? "I want to say it simply, because I don't want people to steal my idea. So, I'm keeping it a little bit obscure," explained Gondry, whose visual trickery is on display in his amazing new DVD, "More Videos," now on sale. "[The camera] speeds up and slows down, but different times for different character's images."

Although it's a little tricky to comprehend with the written word, Gondry basically plans to reinvent the fight scene by having Green Hornet moving slowly, Kato moving super-fast, the villains at normal speed — and then mixing it all up repeatedly. "So, one will go fast and the other will go slow, and then they'll meet," he explained. "It's [as if] they're in different dimensions, but when they touch each other they come into the same dimension."

[MacGuffin]

Rumor: Cameron Diaz mulls The Green Hornet
Source: SciFi Wire

Seth Rogen's update of The Green Hornet was supposed to start sometime at the end of last month, but that date has obviously slipped (to Aug. 3, according to The Hollywood Reporter).

Now comes news that Cameron Diaz (The Box) is considering joining Rogen and Stephen Chow as the female lead in the movie, a new take on the superhero franchise originally spawned as a radio serial and adapted as a TV show in the 1960s (co-starring Bruce Lee as Kato).


Here's how Entertainment Weekly reported the news:

A deal hasn't been sealed yet, but sources tell EW that she is in early talks for the role. Her reps at CAA declined comment. Michel Gondry is set to direct the film based on a script by Rogen and his writing partner, Evan Goldberg. Shooting is supposed to begin shortly, with a release date already set for July 9, 2010.

Diaz has played a variety of roles recently, including the mom in the tear-jerker My Sister's Keeper and another more morally compromised mom in Richard Kelly's upcoming The Box, a sci-fi movie based on Richard Matheson's short story "Button, Button."

[polkablues]

Well, it was a good ride while it lasted.

[Stefen]

Fuck you Cameron Diaz.

[©brad]

I don't know, this project is already pretty nuts. Does adding her really do much harm? And what's up with all the Cameron hating anyhow. I think she kinda rocks.