Comic Book Movies -- Green Hornet

July 25, 2007: Seth Rogen (Knocked Up, The 40-Year-Old Virgin) is finalizing a deal to write, and likely star in, Columbia's big screen adaptation of The Green Hornet. He will executive produce, along with co-writer and frequent collaborator Evan Goldberg. Rogen would play Brit Reid, millionaire publisher-turned-masked crime fighter. "The Green Hornet" started as a radio serial before being turned into a comic book, film and TV series by the 1960s. The TV show was notable for the presence of the late Bruce Lee as sidekick Kato, a kung fu expert with a killer car. The film will be produced by Neal H. Moritz at Columbia, where Rogen's next film is Superbad, which he co-wrote with Goldberg.

March 22, 2007: Columbia Pictures has optioned the rights to the Green Hornet, the classic crime-fighting hero whose adventures were chronicled over the generations on radio, television, and in comic books. The studio will adapt The Green Hornet into a feature film produced by Neal H. Moritz and Original Film, it was announced today by Matt Tolmach and Doug Belgrad, presidents of production for Columbia Pictures. Columbia optioned the rights to The Green Hornet from Moritz who acquired the rights from Green Hornet Inc. Commenting on the announcement, Moritz said, "I couldn't be more thrilled to be developing this world renowned property with the people who brought Spider-Man to the screen. I can't imagine a studio better equipped or more prepared to handle this kind of material than Sony. With the radio show, television program, comic books, and novels, there is ample source material to bring this classic crime-fighter to life." Tolmach said, "We have an enormous amount of passion and commitment to this character and are looking forward to developing 'The Green Hornet' into what we hope will be an amazing new franchise for the studio." -Thanks to 'Superherohype' for the news!

February 21, 2005: A scooper, who recently attended the WonderCon in San Francisco, sent this tidbit in: "I went to wondercon this weekend and Kevin Smith spoke at a panel. He is no longer directing the green hornet. He is not able to do the movie the way he wants. The movie company wanted him to write it a certain way so he no longer wants to direct he is just going to write the story."

September 1, 2004: According to IMDB.com, Jason Mewes, who starred in Kevin Smith's 'Jay and Silent Bob' movies as Jay, as landed the lead role in Smith's Green Hornet. Now, the IMDB has been known for some bogus facts so defintely take this with a grain of salt. We'll let you know if theres any truth to it. Thanks to 'Bone' for the heads up!

August 18, 2004: Kevin Smith recently spoke to Latino Review about the status of the Hornet: "If anything, I guess maybe Harvey [Weinstein] is now going to step down as cochairman and take a production deal, if what I’ve read in some of the papers is true,” Smith continued. “In any event, that’s not going to happen for at least a year or something, because he’s still got time left in his deal. So it seems like everything for the next year or maybe two is going to be status quo. And regardless, Bob [Weinstein] is staying at Miramax and continuing to run Dimension and Harvey’s just going to set up a production deal and become a production entity, I guess similar to what Joe Roth is doing or has done with Revolution. So he’s still going to be there, which means I’m still going to be there. Maybe Harvey could negotiate it into his production deal that it would become a movie that would be done under his new shingle, but right now we’re on track to start that movie in March or April of 2005. So I don't think Harvey’s going anywhere before that" Thanks to 'DarkHorizons' for the news.

August 13, 2004: 'DarkHorizons' ran an interview with Jet Li where he talks about the Green Hornet movie: "That's a long time ago. Five or six years ago, I heard about it. Before, it was a Universal movie but right now it changed to the other [studio, Miramax/Dimension] and I heard everybody talk about it, but I'm not attached right now. It really depends on the script. Each director will change the story. Seven years ago, maybe it was still The Green Hornet but what kind of story? Right now, the market has changed, the audience changed, maybe they changed the script". Thanks to 'DarkHorizons' for the news!

June 8, 2004: A DarkHorizons.com scooper reports this: "Just attended an question and answer session with Kevin Smith Last night (7th June) at the Prince Charles Cinema in leicester square, London. Kevin talked a lot about upcoming projects and when asked how he was going to tackle the leap into directing action scenes in Green Hornet he replied. "I may not direct it now." he continued to tell us that he had talked to miramax about just writing it and then deciding if he will direct. Miramax have agreed to let him just write it but are still eager for him to direct. Kevin also confirmed that a small independent film of a budget of around £250,000 will be his next project. He told us he has already got most of the cast and Ben Affleck is not going to be in it, not due to any problem with Ben, he honestly just didn't need Ben for this project". Thanks to Darkhorizons.com

May 18, 2004: Kevin Smith answered questions from fans this weekend on his official Message Board, and The Green Hornet came up several times. Asked how the script is going, he said that "It's coming. Was fifty pages in. Then, I sh*t-canned everything and started over. Now I'm sixty pages in and digging it much more. I'm figuring the first draft's gonna come in at around 180 pages." He also commented on the writing process this time around. "A bit harder. Spent a long time second-guessing myself, trying to write a mainstream flick. Then, I realized that sh*t's for the birds, and I should just write it as if it were a comic book. Since then, it's been much easier." He said that The Green Hornet won't be his next project. From the looks of it now, he'll first direct an untitled small project, then "Hornet," next "Fletch Won" and then "Ranger Danger". Thanks to Superherohype.com

April 3, 2004: According to Superherohype, Kevin Smith is now eyeing, long rumored Kato candiate, Jet Li for the role. Also, Smith is looking at Zhang Ziyi for a potential role in the file. Ziyi is known for her role in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

March 19, 2004: Kevin Smith is zeroing in on an actor to jump into the "Green Hornet" suit. The filmmaker has met with Jake Gyllenhaal about taking the title role in the Miramax project, sources confirmed. Thanks to a positive chat with the actor about the famed character and the direction of the potential franchise, Smith is now interested in casting Gyllenhaal as the crime-fighting superhero who also doubles as Daily Sentinel publisher Britt Reid. Other names may still be in the mix, but sources said Gyllenhaal appears to fit Smith's current conception of the character. Thanks to Superherohype.com for the heads up!

March 9, 2004: Kevin Smith talks about the support he's getting from New Line in a recent interview: "I hired a great A.D. (Assistant Director) and a great 2nd A.D. because the 2nd unit apparently is really important on these movies. It was a big secret. They were like "Kevin, you won't direct everything. You'll have a second unit director who will do a lot of the big action stuff." I said "Get the f**k out of here! Does anyone know about this? Is this legit?" They're like "Totally!" I was like "Bryan Singer did that on the 'X-Men 2' movie?" They were like "Bryan Singer barely shot that movie." Who knows if they were lying or not but I was like "Get out of here! Really?" Because that, to me, means I can spend a lot more time at home. Somebody's off making a movie and I get credit for it later. So I surround myself with people who really know how to pull that sh*t off. We'll get a great effects house to do CG stuff. We'll have a pretty cool movie." Thanks to Superherohype for the clip!

February 21, 2004: Gearing up for one of its most ambitious film franchises to date, Miramax Films co-chairman Harvey Weinstein announced today that renowned filmmaker and comic book author, collector and self described "comic fan-boy" Kevin Smith will write and direct the film version of the classic action-adventure persona, The Green Hornet. The film represents Miramax's expansion of its development and production slate to include motion pictures that can compete in the "tent pole" marketplace. George Trendle, the son of Green Hornet creator George Trendle, will executive produce the film along with Harold Berkowitz. Smith is keeping the plot a closely guarded secret, and will only go as far to say that it would remain very true to Trendle's characters with a few new twists. "Kevin's tremendous work on our upcoming Jersey Girl, has demonstrated his continued growth as a filmmaker and we have no doubt that he will tackle this franchise for us in a compelling and entertaining way. In addition to being a great writer and director, Kevin knows more about comic characters, books and the creative process than anyone else I have ever met," said Weinstein. "The character of The Green Hornet offers a myriad of possible film ideas and numerous CBM STORE and branded integration opportunities with our corporate partners, giving us a platform for a very viable and long standing franchise." "Long-time comics geek gets to make comic book movie? This is a dream come true. I'm still reeling! You don't know how in love with Harvey Weinstein I am right now. I couldn't have asked for a better vote of confidence in me as a filmmaker than being afforded the opportunity with 'Hornet' to push beyond the boundaries of what I've done in film thus far," said Smith. Adding, "And making this movie with Miramax means that not only will we deliver an exciting, chop-socky-filled action flick, but it's gonna have a compelling story, believable characters, and great dialogue to boot! Let's roll, Kato!" Beginning with his seminal film "Clerks," Smith has woven comic book references and iconology into the dialogue and characters in many of his films. In 1997's "Chasing Amy," Smith's two main characters, who are comic-book writers/artists, create a comic duo known as Bluntman and Chronic; a duo which also appears in Smith's 2001 film "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back". In his sophomore film "Mallrats," Smith also featured comic-book legend Stan Lee in a supporting role. Smith is well known for writing award-winning, best-selling runs of "Daredevil" for Marvel Comics and "Green Arrow" for DC Comics, as well as comics based on his films "Clerks" and "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back". Smith is also credited with rekindling the mainstream public's interest in comics through his 1998 Daredevil comic book story arc, entitled Guardian Devil. Serving as Hollywood's comic-book connoisseur, Smith is no stranger to The Green Hornet. In 1993 Smith sold his comic book collection to help finance the $27,000 budget of his 1994 debut film, "Clerks;" a collection which included several 'Green Hornet' titles. Smith is the proud owner of his own comic book store, Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash, which opened in 1997 in Red Bank, NJ and is scheduled to open a west coast branch in Westwood this May. Jon Gordon, executive vice president of production, and Hannah Minghella, creative executive, will oversee the project on behalf of Miramax. Charles Layton, executive vice president, office of the co-chairman, and Steve Hutensky, executive vice president of business affairs, negotiated on behalf of Miramax. Attorney John Sloss and the Endeavor Agency represented Smith.