Michel Gondry To Direct Green Hornet French helmer boards Seth Rogen flick
In possibly the greatest slice of weird/cool news we’ve heard in a long time, Michel Gondry has signed on to direct Sony’s Seth Rogen-starring revamp of The Green Hornet.
Gondry’s presence on the project does two things. One, it puts paid to rumours that the action comedy, in which the hugely slimmed-down and buffed-up Rogen will play the eponymous millionaire playboy by day, masked crimefighter by night, was in danger of having its plug pulled after the original director, Stephen Chow, left late last year. (Chow, incidentally, remains attached to play Kato, the Chinese assistant to Rogen’s Britt Reid.)
And secondly, it reinforces the notion that this won’t be your average blockbuster. As if the initial hiring of Chow – the demented genius behind Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle – hadn’t tipped us off that Rogen, his co-writer Evan Goldberg and producer Neal Moritz wanted a visual style and an approach far outside the norm.
With Gondry, the idiosyncratic genius behind dozens of boundlessly inventive music videos and, of course, the brilliant Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, they’re sure to get that. And don’t just expect a lo-fi approach – Gondry has plenty of experience working with CG, but we’re excited about the tone he’ll bring to this thing. Will it have the air of dreamlike reality that defines his best work? We’ll see.
In another surprise move, Gondry courted the project, putting together a proposal for production executives at Sony that apparently blew them away. We’d love to see it – that is, of course, what Blu-rays are for.
Is he a fan of the original Green Hornet TV show/comic book? Maybe. Is he perhaps keenly aware that he needs a big hit under his belt to continue making small, personal films? Perhaps. But whatever the reason for Gondry’s involvement, we welcome it.
It's a damn sight better news than Stephen Chow directing! Don't get me wrong, i /i] the whole demented lunacy of Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle, but do i like it?....Hell no! It was just mental,.. and i mean JUST mental and nothing else! A movie needs a little more than that if you ask me.
Chow is quite a decent comedic actor though so keeping him cast as Kato is ok by me. Carry on! ... Read More
ditched the old fatty, please keep this one in check!
i'm just glad Gondry is staying away from that overacting tosser Jack Black, who seems to think comedy is screaming alot! that fat wanker ruined Be Kind Rewind! If Gondry can keep Rogen from doing a "Jack Black" like he did in the very disappointing Pineapple Express this will be worth a watch! ... Read More
but as much as i loved eternal sunshine, i'm feeling very dubious about this match up. Don't get me wrong, I really want it to work, but I got a bad feeling about this...... ... Read More
This sounds like a very interesting project.
Seth Rogen is up there in terms of comedy right now, Stephen Chow is very very talented (and quite funny, not quite Jackie Chan funny though), and Michel Gondry is just pure genius (anyone who's seen his music videos, Eternal Sunshine, Science of Sleep, Be Kind Rewind, and the latest episode of Flight of the Conchords he directed will know how versatile and unique his talents are).
Looking forward to this! ... Read More
but this has "car-crash" written all over it. Gondry, for all his mind bending ideas and visual inventiveness, wouldn't know a coherent plot if it punched him in the face.
Whilst that may be fine for personal mood pieces like The Science Of Sleep and free-wheeling comedies like Be Kind... it's not going to work on an action film. Hell, it didn't really work all that well for those two.
I'll be interested in the result, but if it's even slightly coherent, i'll be amazed. ... Read More
Gondry was working on this ten years ago with Robocop writer Ed Neuronwhatsit.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2007/feb/07/guardianin terviewsatbfisouthbank
Guess he's back on it.
Eoin ... Read More
Hopefully Gondry can give it a little more weight than his usual stuff. However, Spotless Mind remains as one of my all time favourables. ... Read More
