Green Hornet director, Michael Gondry (Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind), is pissed that nerds aren’t opening up to his new movie. The movie stars comedian, Seth Rogen as the title character and Taiwanese pop star, Jay Star, plays his sidekick, Kato. He was interviewed by the UK newspaper, The Guardian, when he said the following:
“I usually identify with the nerds but these ones just reinforce the social rules. Their values are fascistic. All those people marching around in capes and masks and boots. The superhero imagery is totally fascist! When you step into this genre, they feel it belongs to them.
They want you to conform, or they won’t like you. They want the conventional.
But it’s fine. The movies has been doing very well, I think, whenever we’ve screened it to normal people. I’m attracted to working with comedians because they don’t have that stars’ idea of what a hero should be.”
Look Mr. Gondry, I don’t really care if it’s a superhero movie or not. It just looks awful, PERIOD. I don’t hate the previews because the Green Hornet doesn’t have a cape. I hate it because Britt Reid/Green Hornet was a bad-ass character. He was serious and took care of business, similar to James Bond. But in the movie, you have Seth Rogen’s character from Knocked Up become a superhero. Seth Rogen is a funny dude but he shouldn’t be a superhero.
Also you have Jay Chou, a skinny singer, taking over Bruce Lee’s original role. You’re missing the whole point! Kato is suppose to be the trusty sidekick, but will anyone really believe Chou is an ass kicker? Bruce Lee was believable because he was confident and a real martial artist. Chou looks like a harmless little kid.
I agreee that confirming to the Hollywood formula is bad so good for you for thinking outside the box. But next time, just make sure you understand the concept behind the tv show before trying to be unique.
I might be eating crow and the movie might be good but for now I’ll stand by my opinion and say the movie is going to suck.
The movie opens Jan 14, 2011.
I know he was speaking to nerds in general but here’s my thoughts on Seth Rogen as Green Hornet on CNN (fast forward to the 2:50 mark):
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ccfmds
Dec 16, 2010 -
These are idiotic comments from a talented director. It sounds like sour grapes to me.
Mongoose
Dec 16, 2010 -
He turned The Green Hornet into a goofy comedy skit. Well, it seems like it. He is right in some ways that nerds like us can be too picky at times. But, I don’t think this is the case here.
Reboot
Dec 16, 2010 -
Attacking your fan base has always work! -_- pfft….what a sour puss
Kuno
Dec 17, 2010 -
Meh, you take a beloved story and then make major changes, you’re going to get some opposition to that unless the movie is so good no one will care. Maybe he was hoping that would happen…
Paladin
Dec 17, 2010 -
I saw a few trailers of this, and frankly, Kato is fine (more or less) but I don’t recall the Green Hornet being an ass-clown or ever being played by a lousy actor. I guess this one hit wonder director never read the comic or saw the show and he thinks that the Green Hornet is a joker–wrong movie numb-nuts!
ccfmds
Dec 17, 2010 -
I agree with Palidin. Jay Chou was fine in Inital D, which was a very good movie. Justin Timberlake is a pop star too and he was very good in The SociAl Network.
Brian
Oct 29, 2012 -
Actually, I enjoyed Jay Star–is that really his name?–in the role of Kato. He had a certain physicality, and reminded me quite a bit of Bruce Lee.
The weak link was Seth Rogen, who never quite seemed to talk the character seriously.