What will the upcoming GREEN HORNET film starring Seth Rogen and written by Rogen and Evan Goldberg be like? Well, based on the duo’s previous SUPERBAD and the new PINEAPPLE EXPRESS, which we saw at a screening the other night, it will be very funny, loosely structured, have gaping plot holes as setups for scenes where male characters have long, pot-fueled conversations about loving one another, be edited quite clumsily, and end up making you like everyone in it very much. If it’s like PINEAPPLE EXPRESS, it will also have moments of inappropriate graphic violence which clash jarringly with the general whimsical fantasy of a film where a man takes two slugs to the abdomen and then walks around for two days. BUT ANYWAY, Splash Page has some actual comments from Rogen himself:
In a sit-down with MTV News, co-writer Rogen (who will also play the film’s titular role) spilled more info about the upcoming feature film, which he hopes to be a healthy balance of comedy and action. “I think the tone is very real, but the relationships in the movie are where we try to draw our comedy from,” explained Rogen. “I think it’s somewhere in a ‘True Lies’ type world almost, with big exciting action but the relationships are all very personal, and that’s where a lot of the comedy comes from.”
“Personal relationships,” in case you are a slow reader, is code for “long, pot fueled conversations about men loving one another.”
But even more crucially, in answer to the question you are all thinking, YES, Rogen is working out:
The movie is due to start shooting next February, but Rogen is already hitting the gym. He says: “I lost a little weight… I have a personal trainer now… it’s really hard. I exercised to the point where he made me throw up.
Heidi, you may want to do something about your Freudian slip there. It’s Green HORNET, not Green LANTERN ;)
You are scaring the children.…
Also, Rogen’s version sounds an awful lot like, uh the one Kevin Smith talked about in here…
…oh, look, a crime!
I can’t wait for the scene where the entire Green Lantern Corp sit around in a big circle passing around a joint. “Speed it up, Hal, you’re fucking up the rotation!”
Amazing … after the success of movies like IRON-MAN and DARK KNIGHT, the studio for the GREEN HORNET wants to go the comedy route on this? Methinks this is the result of having a multi-picture deal with someone, and they’ve got the ability to say, “I want that project!”
It’s too bad that, in all liklihood, nobody involved with this knows anything about the Hornet. If you go the RKO route, this could be a film with a small budget that packs a film noir wallop.
Rich,
The success of adventure-stories done “straight” (to use the term very precisely) has never stopped comedians and ironists from trying to jump on the box-office bandwagon.
Back in the 60s, when Bond was king, semi-respected director Joseph Losey made a film of the spy comic MODESTY BLAISE. He stated later that he found the source material boring, but was clearly hoping for a mainstream hit. (He failed, BTW.) I will say that his film, ironically poised though it was, still has its fans.
Hard to see even that potential in a Rogen GREEN HORNET.
In the early 1990s, if you mentioned Keanu Reeves, I thought of “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventures”; and if you mentioned Brendan Fraser, I thought of “Encino Man.”
Obviously, both actors have moved way past those roles and have managed to star in some pretty decent action-adventure films.
Despite my gut feeling that he can’t pull off a decent interpretation of “The Green Hornet,” I think I’m going to have to give Seth Rogen the benefit of the doubt.
Isn’t Seth Rogen starring as The Green Hornet one of the signs of the apocalypse?
(checks wikipedia)
Yep.
I won’t judge until more info comes out. Hopefully Seth Rogen can do this justice or it’ll be his downfall.
“gut feeling”
Everyone involved in this movie needs to be kicked so hard they’ll be unable to have children.
It couldn’t get any worse for this great character and property than to have someone like this writing, and starring in this film.
I don’t seem to remember much comedy (especially like the comedy mentioned in the article or quotes) in any version of the Green Hornet.
What a shame.
So will the Green Hornet and Kato become the new Batman and Robin [nudge, nudge]?
I only care about who will play Kato, Green Hornet’s trusty Filipino companion. Oh, I looked. It’s Stephen Chow.
I approve.
I hope they follow this up with a Doc Savage movie staring Paul Rudd.
I dunno people- I do see Rogan having some kind of resemblance to Van Williams.
~
Coat
Could this be worse than the propsed Kevin Smith version that was going to be made? We could have had Affleck or Jason Lee as Britt Reid and Jason Mewes as Kato. :>
Hire Schumacher to direct it! This way in a few years a really good film version comes around.
Hitting the gym does not a good actor make nor is it a replacement for a good story.
If this isn’t the best, most serious regurgitation of the Green Hornet, exactly replicating the version that exists in my head including that side adventure with his best friend and fellow crimefighter Renato Spurgeonato, and if it doesn’t have someone that’s a better fighter than Bruce Lee as Kato and if it somehow fails to have at least three actors that die between filming and release, I’m going to be PISSED.
I’ll put money down that it’ll be better than The Spirit.
Greeeeaaat. You know, I actually dug Seth Rogen in Freaks & Geeks, but I am not interested in yet another movie with (probably) annoying, shrill, one-note female characters. ’cause “Pineapple Express” was the one-notiest. We don’t even know what happened to the girl as of the credits rolling. & Lenore Case was hardly front & center in the Green Hornet..
A better fighter than Bruce Lee? Tom, prepare to be pissed..I’m not even sure that’s possible..;)
Think they’ll reference the Lone Ranger at all?