You know, the more I mull this one over, the more I like it. It was officially announced on Friday that actor-director-pop star Jay Chou has officially landed himself the coveted role of Kato in the upcoming Seth Rogen scripted, Michel Gondry directed theatrical version of The Green Hornet. Yeah, I know that fans were pretty worked up about the potential involvement of Stephen Chow as a potential director and Kato, but I've always had hesitations about that choice given the relative size of Chow's ego and Kato's role in the film. One is significantly larger than the other. On the other hand, Chou has proven himself as a solid actor, a hard worker and a convincing action performer who seems far more concerned with the quality of his work than he ever has with his own stardom. This works. The full announcement in below the break.
CULVER CITY, Calif., August 7, 2009 – After a worldwide search, Jay Chou, the multi-hyphenate singer-actor and a star throughout Asia, has joined the cast of Michel Gondry’s The Green Hornet in the iconic role of Kato, it was announced today by Doug Belgrad and Matt Tolmach, presidents of Columbia Pictures.
Michel Gondry, the film’s director, added, “Jay is incredibly unique and charming and fights like a wild dog! When I filmed him next to Seth, they had such great chemistry, and I knew the movie will be great."
Chou said, “It’s an overwhelming experience to take on a role made famous by Bruce Lee. I won’t try to be Bruce Lee’s Kato – I will try to bring my own interpretation to the part. Of course, it’s a dream role, and I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
A classic character of film, television, radio, and comic books returns to the big screen in Columbia Pictures’ feature film The Green Hornet, starring Seth Rogen as the vigilante crime-fighter. The film will be directed by Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) from a screenplay written by Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg (Superbad, Pineapple Express), based upon “The Green Hornet” radio series created by George W. Trendle, and produced by Neal H. Moritz (The Fast and the Furious). The film is slated for release summer 2010.
A pop-star phenomenon throughout Asia, JAY CHOU brings unexpected gravity and depth to his acting roles. Born Chou Chieh-Lun in Taiwan, 1979, Chou began playing the piano at age four. His mother supported his musical gifts and he went on to master piano and cello. Music, songwriting, and basketball dominated his high school days, and he was first noticed in 1998 when a friend sang one of his pop compositions on a TV talent contest, accompanied by Jay on piano. Alfa Music launched Jay's career, first as a tunesmith and then as a singer. In 2000, his debut album "Jay" quickly propelled him to stardom with numerous hits. His unique musical style is a fresh-sounding fusion of eastern and western traditions featuring strong lyrics and a personal style of storytelling.
With his soulful voice and infectious tunes, his second album, "Fantasy," and seven subsequent albums, have continued to win legions of fans young and old throughout Asia. He has been the best-selling Mandarin artist in the world for the past nine years, with a busy performance schedule touring Asia and North America and numerous music industry awards.
Apart from many music videos, Jay began film acting in a starring role in Initial D (2005), a comedy-action hit in China. In 2006, he starred opposite Chow Yun-Fat and Gong Li in Zhang Yimou’s The Curse of the Golden Flower. Since then, he starred in Kung Fu Dunk, and made his directorial debut and starred in Secret. He will next be seen in the Chinese film Ci Ling and in Yuen Woo-Ping’s True Legend.
Do not want
Not too glad about Gondry directing this. I understand this film could use some small-scale hand-made semi-crappy looking approach, but Gondry always seems to be on the wrong side of the line when dealing with these things.
He seems like a nice guy, and I admire his talent to some extent, but it's hard for me to get excited about this. I'm not a big Gondry fan, and while I liked Chou in [i]Initial D[/i] (when nobody else did, heh) [i]Kung Fu Dunk[/i] got some horrendous reviews and I thought [i]Secret[/i] was desperately flawed. Without Guey Lun-Mei it would have been awful.
I think I'm the only fanboy who is looking forward to seeing how this ends up on the big screen... Big fan of everyone who is involved with this project.. Gondry can direct a bag of staled potato chips and make it interesting...
The problems with Kung Fu Dunk have everything to do with the script and direction. Chou himself does everything that was asked of him in that film and does it well.
Um, nothing against Jay Chou. But, I'm not a fan of Seath. Therefore, I will not be going to check this one out. I wish him well.