There surely are purist fans of “The Green Hornet,” and the original TV series, but Seth Rogen is not one of them. He admited to the Hollywood Reporter in a recent interview that he and writer partner Evan Goldberg secured the superhero property to use as a launching pad to explore what they wanted to explore, not out of love for the character.
The five purists out there will likely scream and shout, but we think his candidness is refreshing and really, who the hell out there has a super strong affection for this show? We say use it for what you want and make it relevant today. Obviously we’re semi-ignorant of the original and didn’t grow up with it, but it just doesn’t sound like there is much depth to begin with and anyone who’s going to impute a superhero movie with even a modicum of some psychology behind the characters is alright with us.
“Me and Evan always wanted to make a superhero movie about a hero and a sidekick. That’s the movie we’ve been trying to write for years, kind of like deconstructing the relationship between a hero and his sidekick. And we just couldn’t crack it. And then one day we got a call saying “Green Hornet” is up for grabs, and we realized that could be the perfect format for us to do our weird hero-sidekick movie. I mean, we liked the ‘Green Hornet,’ but we were not particularly fond of the character or loyal to it in any real way. But it’s worked out well, and I think it has few enough fans that they won’t be disappointed because all people really know is that Bruce Lee was the sidekick. That’s all they really need to know going in.”
Filming is expected to begin around June. “The Green Hornet” is being directed by Michel Gondry and is due in theaters June 10, 2010.
I’m starting to really dislike Seth Rogen. Writing your character’s rape scene is not something I could do so tongue-in-cheek.
This reminds me of an interview in which Alan Moore criticizes the Wachowski brothers for adapting V for Vendetta in order to explore contemporary American political concerns rather than writing their own story to address these themes. While I do think there is room for re-interpreting old material to explore new ground, I have to admit that Moore has a point in how there’s a certain creative neglect about doing so. If Rogen and Goldberg want to deconstruct the hero-sidekick relationship, why not write their own superhero story to better accommodate their creative interests? The answers come naturally enough — easier to write, a built-in fan base for a recognizable cultural icon, etc. — but they don’t justify the decision on an artistic level.
That said, some re-interpretive adaptations DO work, especially when they tease out, amplify, and/or extend latent themes in the original source material. The Dark Knight and Iron Man are two good recent examples (though admittedly overused — sorry about that). The Dark Knight takes questions about vigilantism and the psychological state of Batman and his enemies that were already explored to a significant extent in the comics, and tied them with contemporary worries about terrorism and government response to terrorists to create a story that resonated with the original comic while also addressing today’s political issues. Iron Man’s original themes of Cold War military industrialism were likewise recast in the light of today’s new understanding of international relations and military conflicts (although the film cops out at the end by focusing on yet another lamely nefarious supervillain with no substantial motive or philosophy).
Hopefully Rogen and Goldberg can create just as rich a relationship between their exploration of the hero-sidekick relationship and the original series’ themes. I think that would kick ass, and they’re certainly capable of doing it.
Of course, this is all bullshit to some extent, because I know very little about the Green Hornet — so how would I know if what they did jived with the original series at all? Which is, I suppose, why they chose to seize that particular property rather than something with a larger and more rabid fan base. Hopefully I’ll get up to speed before this comes out.
Lolita, don’t be dumb. Rogen didn’t write that movie.