The Green Hornet (2011)
A film version of the character has been contemplated since the 1990s. Screenwriter Chuck Pfarrer (The Jackal, Darkman, and Hard Target) scripted two drafts for Universal Pictures. Pfarrer's Hornet hooked George Clooney (who later played "Harry Pfarrer" in the Cohen Brothers "Burn after Reading"). The Hornet then went into development hell. In the mid 90s Jason Scott Lee, was to be directed by Michel Gondry. Later, Jet Li was set to play the Kato role. In the early 2000s, Miramax obtained the movie rights, and worked with writer-director Kevin Smith to develop a screenplay. In 2008, new rights-holder Sony Pictures announced it was producing a Green Hornet film through its subsidiary Columbia Pictures, initially with Stephen Chow as director, and also playing the role of Kato. Chow departed as director, to be succeeded by Gondry; later, Chow exited the movie altogether, and Jay Chou was cast as Kato. The film, released January 14, 2011, starred Seth Rogen, who co-wrote the script with Evan Goldberg. Also starring were Cameron Diaz, Edward James Olmos, and Christoph Waltz. In this version, Britt's initial outing that culminates in him assuming the identity of the Green Hornet begins with his vandalising his father's statue in a fit of pique after his first meeting with Kato- here his father's mechanic-, Britt concluding that they will pose as villains in order to get closer to the real villains and eliminate the possibility of their enemies using innocents against them.
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| The Green Hornet | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| First appearance | The Green Hornet radio program (January 31, 1936) |
| Created by | George W. Trendle and Fran Striker |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Britt Reid |
| Partnerships | Kato |
| Abilities | Genius-level intelligence Master detective Martial arts master |
The Green Hornet is an American radio and comic book masked vigilante created by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker, with input by radio director James Jewell, in 1936. Since his radio debut in the 1930s, the Green Hornet has appeared in numerous serialized dramas in a wide variety of media. The character appeared in film serials in the 1940s, a network television program in the 1960s, multiple comic book series from the 1940s on, and a feature film in January 2011.
Though various incarnations sometimes change details, in most versions the Green Hornet is the alter ego of Britt Reid, a newspaper publisher by day who goes out in his masked "Green Hornet" identity at night to fight crime as a vigilante. He is accompanied by his similarly masked partner and confidant, Kato, who drives their technologically advanced car, the "Black Beauty."
