Kevin Smith has released via Twitter that Dynamite will be pimping his comic book. While a comic book release might not sound like a movie related topic, this one actually is.

See, Kevin Smith wrote a treatment for a Green Hornet feature film that was never used. So he tucked it away with his stash and as time passed, we now get Seth Rogen’s film being developed.

Well it seems the gang at Dynamite Entertainment got a hold of his script, got Johnathan Lau to do some sketches based on Alex Ross’ designs for the character and now that script will serve as the storyline for the return of The Green Hornet to the printed page!

Check out the announcement and onesheet here:

Dynamite Entertainment releases:

The Green Hornet is back and Dynamite is the new home for the avenging hero and his faithful sidekick, Kato (and, the Black Beauty, ‘natch!)! And we’re kicking things off with a BANG as we launch the first of a new series of adventures starting with the great Kevin Smith. And let’s get it out of the way, right here, right NOW - the scripts are in! Every single one! Joining Smith in bringing his unproduced screenplay to life is artist Jonathan (Black Terror) Lau as they present the one and only origin of the Green Hornet and Kato. This is the comic book version of Kevin smith’s unproduced Green Hornet film and Dynamite is the only place to get in on the action - it all begins here!

The art looks great, and I like that they are making Kato a girl. The “stinger daggers” look appropriately awesome, and Hornet’s bug eye lenses finally make the moniker have more relevance than just a catchy name. Sure, we get the “green” part, but why Hornet? Ok, we get it now.

This will certainly top my pull list.

Yesterday we got a set shot of The Green Hornet costume but it was just the stuntman in the outfit.

Well now we get our first look at Seth Rogen all spiffed up in the full classic Green Hornet digs.

Looks like they haven’t strayed at all from the original look. And Seth looks dedicatedly slim compared to his previous portly persona.

Looks good to me!

Via

This is our first peek at the Green Hornet costume found in Seth Rogen’s big screen adaptation of the classic pulp hero.

I specify that it is his costume as this is NOT Seth Rogen in the green snappy digs but very likely his stuntman. However keeping that in mind, talk of Seth Rogen shedding the pounds to take on the role (and perhaps avert heart failure) make sense seeing this less than portly stuntman in Seth’s costume. Typically Stuntmen are of similar build of the star they are doubling.

The costume seems pretty faithful to the original Green Hornet look.

Via

Nic Cage has always been a bittersweet favourite of mine. When he is good he leaves my jaw in my lap, but when he cranks out a stinker you better run. Seems he does nothing half ass.

So when I heard that Green Hornet was losing another one of its stars, and that star was Cage I was conflicted about how his departure would affect the film. Cage haters will see this as a good thing, and fans lament, but I am on the fence with him, so I have no feelings on the topic.

But the real question was WHY he left. Speculation brews when we see how much trouble this film is facing with people coming and going like a penny arcade peep show.

Collider shares:

The sometimes great, but always fun, actor said that he “wasn’t interested in just being just a straight-up bad guy who was killing people willy-nilly.” He goes on to say that “‘The Green Hornet’ was something that I wanted to do, I think Michel Gondry is very talented and I had hoped it would work but I think Seth Rogen and Michel had a different take on the character.”

So it sounds like he is just laying down the “Creative Differences” card and leaving it at that.

We won’t really know what Rogen and Gondry had in mind for the character til we see their finished product. I have always enjoyed Cage’s badguy roles, so maybe there is something there.

Because it wouldn’t be right if the Green Hornet started to move smoothly now… one of the Hornet’s Black Beauty cars gets roughed up on the set shot.

An avid fan seems to have caught some of the footage of the car during a scene, and during a second take, the driver hits another car and then parks it firmly against a concrete barrier.

I hope they got the footage they needed on the first shot, as it might take a little bit of effort to get that car fixed. Pretty painful to watch a classic ride like that get pounded, especially on a shot where it looks like it wasn’t intended to get banged up.

After all the casting issues, directors, and even Nic Cage walking away from the project, I wonder if Seth saw the car get punched and just shrug and say “of course it did…”

Via

I have had a surface on Green Hornet for a while now. Mostly because I am curious of any pulp comic getting a film, and morbidly curious to see Seth Rogen in the lead role. I still don’t have my head around that one.

But now Edward James Olmos, the Old Man himself has joined the cast, and this jumped up on my dradis.

Cinemablend says:

Edward James Olmos who played Admiral Adama on the recently finished best show on television Battlestar Galactica, and for some reason Olmos volunteered that he’ll be in The Green Hornet. No word on what part he’ll play, but Olmos is on his way to the set. Expect order to be restored at any moment. Better shape up Rogen, Admiral on deck.

I could see Olmos playing a mob boss or some other corporate leader that Green Hornet is trying to take down. Perhaps for selling disposable diapers or reuniting Menudo. But nothing has been announced as to who he might play.

Interestingly enough, Britt Reid is a blood relative of The Lone Ranger. Dan Reid was revealed as the Lone Ranger’s Nephew, who was also Britt’s father, making the Masked Man the great uncle of the Green Hornet.

Perhaps Olmos will play a retired Lone Ranger. That would rock. (and might encourage Paul Rudd to helm a Lone Ranger film)

I am still skeptical about Seth Rogen’s take on Green Hornet. I keep thinking its going to be goofball slacker comedy that we love seeing him in, but then hope that its going to be the opposite and we would get a fitting tribute to the character on screen.

I give Seth Rogen the benefit of the doubt, but when his director Stephen Chow stepped down (but still agrees to co-star) I had to extend that benefit a little further. Now it appears that Chow is out. The guy is just to busy with other things that are more important to him. Ok, stretch that doubt a little further…

But then I saw the casting call for his replacement.

Cinematical says:

Chow has another feature he would like to do, and the ongoing scheduling problems the film has suffered appear to have resulted in him bowing out of the project. Thankfully, the filmmakers are maintaining only the highest and most specific standards in their search for a replacement:

“[KATO] ALL ASIAN ETHNICITIES, Male, 20’s - early 40’s. Brit Reid’s manservant/chauffeur by day and Green Hornet’s martial arts-skilled sidekick by night. Actor doesn’t have to have Martial Arts experience.”

I can appreciate that they are accepting any variety of ages, as that part is not as important to the character as much as the presence. But to define him as “Green Hornet’s martial arts-skilled sidekick by night” and then put a casting call out that says they don’t have to have any martial arts expierence?

Now my benefit of doubt was already stretched, so I have none left to assume there are many dancers that make fine martial artists on screen (Van Damme and Swayze come to mind) but I at least would have wanted to see someone capable of martial arts to play Green Hornet’s martial arts-skilled sidekick!

I’m running out of hope for this movie. At least we will have Kevin Smith’s rejected script coming out this summer as a comic book so we can compare a “what if” to what Rogen finally comes out with.

Seth Rogen is a comedic actor I really like. I dare say that there are few movies he has been in that I haven’t loved. But aside from Superbad, I am so far not impressed when he is the lead writer on the gig. And now with his upcoming take on Green Hornet, I just don’t know what to expect at all.

What I didn’t expect was a female love interest, but perhaps I should have.

Dark Horizons says

Cameron Diaz has been offered and is apparently in early talks for the female lead role in “The Green Hornet” for Sony Pictures

Now put yourself in Seth Rogen’s shoes. Only in an Apatow World would Seth be able to score with the girls he hits up in his films. Honestly.

And if you were put in charge of a movie, wouldn’t you cast a super hot woman as your love interest? And Cameron Diaz might be the hottest so far on his fictional bedpost notches.

We will have to wait and see if she accepts the role to find out more about how it will play out in the film.

Green Hornet has seen its share of hiccups lately, from Stephen Chow dropping out, to rumours of filming delays and now Seth Rogen has gone on record to assure us that everything is back on track. And they have their director.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind director - Michel Gondry!

MTVMovies Blog says:

His new “Green Hornet” collaborator is none other than Michel Gondry, the eye-popping auteur who gave us “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” “Be Kind Rewind,” and too many classic music videos to list here. Capping off an exhaustive search, the “Pineapple Express” funnyman said Gondry is the perfect director for his comedic take on the crime-fighting newspaper publisher who first slipped into his green mask in 1936.

I had been holding out hope that they would not be making the Green Hornet into a comedy. I do enjoy a good pulp adventure styled superhero film, though still working up the courage to see The Spirit.

I would have liked to have seen Seth Rogen step away from the comedy and try something new. I love the guy, and his comedy is just the kind of thing that sends milk out my nose so I will go see anything with him in it. But his comedies are not adaptations of existing properties. Now he is taking on a lesser known superhero property and making it into a comedy? This mix is like cola in my cereal.

But this Michel Gondry fella has some experience with comedy stuff and knows how to get dark and earthy when he needs to. It might take some time and a trailer or three for me to get used to Green Hornet as a comedic character, but at least if they are going that way they have a good director on board.

We just mentioned a few days ago that Green Hornet would not be filming in 2009 and now Seth Rogen has come forward to reassure that this movie is still happening as planned.

FirstShowing says:

“[The studio heads] have every intention on making it, and assuming we’re able to hire a new director in the upcoming weeks, which seems like a distinct possibility, it should still hit the release date,” Rogen told HitFix. Not only is he starring in the film and co-writing it, but he’s also producing, which means he has more than just a strong say in what happens.

I am still undecided about seeing Rogen as the Green Hornet. And with Stephen Chow pulling out on directing but still staring it in, I couldn’t decide if that was a good or bad thing either. If he walked altogether, I would think he gave up on the project, but he is still on the job, just not in the comfy chair.

So provided they get themselves a new director, which shouldn’t be hard to find, the movie will be going on as intended with this as one small speed bump in their plans.