The Green Hornet is a 2011 American superhero film directed by Michel Gondry from a screenplay by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. Rogen stars in the film as the Green Hornet, a character created by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker in 1936. Jay Chou also stars as his sidekick Kato, alongside Christoph Waltz, Cameron Diaz, Edward James Olmos, David Harbour, and Tom Wilkinson. In the film, a newspaper publisher's son, following his father's sudden death, teams up with a martial arts-skilled mechanic to become crime-fighting vigilantes, attracting the attention of a Russian mobster.

The Green Hornet was released to theaters in North America on January 14, 2011, by Sony Pictures Releasing. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $227.8 million against a $120 million production budget.

Plot When James Reid, publisher of the Daily Sentinel, dies, his estranged son Britt takes over the newspaper and fires most of his father's personal staff. Britt later rehires Kato, a mechanic skilled in martial arts and coffee brewing, as his assistant and the two become friends. Britt convinces Kato they should become crime-fighters. Kato develops an Imperial car, outfitted with several gadgets and weapons, which they call the "Black Beauty". Britt plans to capture Benjamin Chudnofsky, a Russian mobster who intends to unite the crime families of Los Angeles under his command. To get Chudnofsky's attention, Britt uses the Daily Sentinel to publish articles about his alter ego, dubbed "The Green Hornet" and mark the green hornet as a villain.

Britt and Kato blow up several of Chudnofsky's meth labs, leaving calling cards behind. District Attorney Frank Scanlon frets over public perception that he cannot stop the Hornet. Britt asks his researcher Lenore Case out, but she invites Kato instead, making Britt jealous. Kato learns from her that mobsters often offer a peace summit to rivals in order to get close enough to kill them; Britt then tells Kato that Chudnofsky has offered them such a meeting. Kato tries dissuading him, but Britt ignores him. Once there, Chudnofsky tries to kill them, but Kato manages to save them and escape. Upon returning to the mansion, Britt and Kato start arguing. In a fit of rage, Britt fires both Kato and Lenore.

Britt discovers that Scanlon is corrupt and an ally of Chudnofsky. Scanlon reveals James found out and tried to expose him, so he had Chudnofsky assassinate him. When Britt reveals he recorded Scanlon's confession Kato arrives, with Chudnofsky and some of his men outside waiting for the "Hornet" to kill Britt. After Britt apologizes to Kato, he accepts and saves him. Chudnofsky and his men storm the restaurant and attempt to murder the duo who escape in another Black Beauty. Chudnofsky, Scanlon, and their men chase Britt and Kato throughout L.A., ending in a fight at the Daily Sentinel office. During the fight Britt and Kato kill Chudnofsky, but when they realize they didn't record Scanlon's confession Kato uses the heavily damaged Black Beauty to run Scanlon off the top of the building.

Britt and Kato hide out at Lenore's house, where she learns their alter egos. The next morning, Britt promotes Mike Axford to chief editor and pretends to get shot by Kato posing as the Green Hornet, solidifying the "Green Hornet" as a vigilante and allowing Britt to get treated in a hospital for a wound he received the night before.

Cast

Seth Rogen as Britt Reid/The Green Hornet, a wealthy newspaper publisher and the masked crime-fighter known as the Green Hornet. Joshua Erenberg portrays young Britt. Jay Chou as Kato, a mechanic, martial arts expert, and the Green Hornet's valet and partner. Cameron Diaz as Lenore Case, Reid's top secretary for The Daily Sentinel, and also the latter's love interest. Tom Wilkinson as James Reid, Britt's stern, wealthy father and a successful newspaper publisher. Christoph Waltz as Benjamin Chudnofsky / Bloodnofsky, a paranoid Russian gangster. Chudnofsky plans to join all of the crime families of Los Angeles together to organize a "super-mafia". Throughout the film, he worries that he is losing his edge, and eventually starts calling himself "Bloodnofsky" in a misguided attempt to intimidate his enemies. Nicolas Cage was wanted for the villain. David Harbour as Frank Scanlon, a district attorney. In this film, Scanlon is an ally of Benjamin Chudnofsky, bribing town officials into downplaying the city's crime level in order to help his career. Edward James Olmos as Mike Axford, the managing editor of The Daily Sentinel. Jamie Harris as "Popeye", one of Chudnofsky's mob enforcers Chad L. Coleman as "Chili", one of Chudnofsky's mob enforcers Edward Furlong as Tupper, a meth dealer who is associated with Chudnofsky Lio Tipton as Ana Lee Jill Remez as a Daily Sentinel Reporter Reuben Langdon as Crackhead Jerry Trimble as Chudnofsky's Man James Franco as Danny "Crystal" Clear (uncredited), a rival of Chudnofsky whose club is blown up by him following their meeting.Debruge, Peter. "The Green Hornet" (review), Variety, January 11, 2011

Production

Development

Variety reported in October 1992 that The Green Hornet was one of the properties represented by Leisure Concepts Inc., and though the trade paper said, without explanation, "rights in limbo", negotiations were ongoing with Universal Pictures. By September 1993, Chuck Pfarrer had finished the screenplay. Rich Wilkes was hired to rewrite Pfarrer's script, which resulted in George Clooney signing a pay-or-play contract. Clooney dropped out in December 1995 to star in Batman and Robin (1997), and an anonymous source at Universal told Entertainment Weekly the following May that Greg Kinnear was being looked at for the title role. Jason Scott Lee by this time had signed on to co-star as Kato. Universal hired music video director Michel Gondry in January 1997 for his feature film directorial debut. Gondry rewrote the Wilkes screenplay with Edward Neumeier, but after a year and a half of development, in which designs for props and vehicles had been created, the studio canceled the project.WebCitation archive Lawrence Gordon and Lloyd Levin had been signed on to produce by January 1997. Mark Wahlberg was offered the lead role, (Requires subscription.) but the film languished in development hell and Gondry eventually left.

In April 2000, Universal entered early negotiations with Jet Li to star as Kato for $5.2 million against 5% of the film's gross. Dark Horse Entertainment and Charles Gordon joined Lawrence Gordon and Levin as producers. (Requires subscription.) Christopher McQuarrie was writing a script by June 2000, (Requires subscription.) but with it uncompleted by October, Li moved on to work on The One (2001) while remaining attached to The Green Hornet. (Requires subscription.) After spending about $10 million in development since 1992, Universal put The Green Hornet in turnaround in November 2001, by which time Li and the producers were no longer involved. Paramount Pictures and Columbia Pictures showed interest in picking up Universal's option, but Miramax Films won the bidding that month with what Variety reported as "a deal approaching $3 million". (Requires subscription.) In May 2003 the studio was working with automobile companies on product placement opportunities for the Black Beauty. As part of the deal, Miramax Films would receive its "hero car" and $35 million in additional marketing. The car company that would have landed the deal would be given the chance to help develop The Green Hornet, since a script had yet to be written and no director was attached to the planned 2005 release. Variety noted this figure would have tied the record $35 million deal between Ford Motor Company and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) that featured the company's Aston Martin Vanquish, Jaguar XKR and Ford Thunderbird in the James Bond film Die Another Day. (Requires subscription.)

In February 2004, Miramax Films president Harvey Weinstein hired cult filmmaker and comic book writer Kevin Smith to write and direct the film, based on their previous four-film collaborations. Smith commented: "I dig the fact that he kicked off a run of billionaire playboys who decided to put on a mask and fight crime and that he was Batman before there was a Batman. I always said I'd never do a superhero film, based on my limited experience writing on Superman Lives and having to answer to the studio, Jon Peters, the comics company and eventually a director. Then there's a fandom that gets up in arms if you even try to stray from their character. Here, there is simplicity in the character and the situation". (Requires subscription.) Jon Gordon and Hannah Minghella were now on as producers, with Harold Berkowitz and George Trendle, son of the character's co-creator, as executive producers.

Smith approached Jake Gyllenhaal for the lead role in March 2004. In mid-November of that year, Smith said he had written about 100 pages, and estimated another 100 to come. In February 2006, Smith's official website noted: "Kevin officially no longer has anything to do with the Fletch or Green Hornet projects". Smith went on to write the Dynamite Entertainment comic book Green Hornet, which has run 11 issues as of late 2010.

In March 2007, producer Neal H. Moritz, who had been trying to acquire the film rights to the character for years, obtained the rights and through his Sony-based production company Original Film optioned them to Columbia. In July, Seth Rogen, in addition to starring in the lead role, was hired to co-write the script with frequent collaborator Evan Goldberg and named as an executive producer for The Green Hornet. Rogen said that month he had not begun writing the screenplay yet, but anticipated the tone would be that of "a buddy action movie" with humor, "like Lethal Weapon and 48 Hrs. In September 2008, Columbia Pictures announced a June 25, 2010 release date, and that Hong Kong star Stephen Chow had signed to direct and to co-star as Kato. Chow, a fan of the TV show as a kid, explained: "The idea of stepping into Bruce Lee's shoes as Kato is both humbling and thrilling, and to get the chance to direct the project as my American movie debut is simply a dream come true". (Requires subscription.) Chow dropped out as director the following December over creative differences. WebCitation archive

Columbia Pictures announced that Michel Gondry would direct the film in February 2009, on which Chow had remained as Kato, after impressing Columbia production presidents Doug Belgrad and Matt Tolmach with his pitch. (Requires subscription.) Gondry had previously been involved with The Green Hornet when Universal Pictures was planning its version in 1997.

Chow dropped out as Kato in July 2009 over scheduling conflicts with other projects. (Requires subscription.) By this time the release date had been pushed to July 9, 2010. In August, he was replaced with Taiwanese singer-actor Jay Chou. The studio was then in early talks with Nicolas Cage to play the gangster villain, and Cameron Diaz was negotiating to play researcher and love interest Lenore Case.

Casting Nicolas Cage had been in talks to play the role of Benjamin Chudnofsky, saying in 2009 that "The Green Hornet was something I wanted to do. I think Michel Gondry is very talented and I had hoped it would work. But I think Seth Rogen and Michel had a different direction for the character totally than the way I wanted to go. ... I wasn't interested in just being straight-up bad guy who was killing people willy-nilly. I had to have some humanity and try to give it something where you could understand why the character was the way he was. But there wasn't enough time to develop it".