Did it concern fans of “The Green Hornet” at all that in the last week Nicolas Cage has signed on for two new projects, one, a 3D revenge actioner called, “Drive Angry,” and another, an underground vigilante revenge film (gee, original) called, ‘The Hungry Rabbit Jumps“?
Should it have? (We alluded to this a bit this morning, because it seemed obvious where this was heading).
Well, apparently Cage already starred in his requisite, “indie” or “creative” picture of the year during Werner Herzog’s “Bad Lieutenant,” because the actor has dropped out of Michel Gondry and Seth Rogen’s take on “The Green Hornet” which started shooting last week with Cameron Diaz and Jay Chou in Los Angeles. “Dropped out,” would actually be a misnomer. The actor was only ever in talks and negotiations with Sony — no scenes were ever shot — and according to THR he and the studio were not able to come to terms on a deal.
Sony/Columbia is now actively seeking a new thesp to play the main antagonist. Sucks perhaps for the film that is now hitting theaters December 2010, but really, was wackjob Nic Cage the best man for this gig? We’re not actively huge advocates for “The Green Hornet” project despite the winning pair of Gondry and Rogen, and are not sure who this film really is for, but surely they can get someone much more interesting and without the bloated salary demands. Who needs a name like his? How about someone who can really act, like a Jeremy Renner? But knowing Sony, they want a namebrand adversary and maybe, who can blame them.
Sorry to be a hater because I like the stuff you blog about, but there you go again speaking the language of a soulless capitalist: "Who is this film for?"
Why (as a film-lover) be concerned about whether a film has a built-in market? Why judge a film (that no-one really knows much about anyway) according to it's ability to live up to people's pre-determined tastes?
Don't be so quick to dub Renner an anti-star; I'm guessing the main reason he occurred to you was "The Hurt Locker", which isn't exactly hurting his career. I think it's more likely they'll go with a character actor against a first-biller like Rogen, which I think also has a lot to do with why Cage isn't doing this.
Green Hornet… again? Seriously, only you care about this property.
I look forward to TRON crushing the shit out of this movie.
FLYNN LIVES!
2 questions.
1. Of all the films Nicolas Cage has made why say no to to this?
2. You tend to blog a lot about the same movies and leave others untouched? For example, I can't even remember how many times you've mentioned/posted pictures of Seth Rogen and Michel Gondry in relation to The Green Hornet and yet I don't recall even a mention of, let's say, Gentlemen Broncos… which looks at least as interesting if not 3 times more interesting than Green Hornet and has a good cast with Sam Rockwell and Jemaine Clement. Why the selectivness?
Gentleman Broncos looks like total ass, are you kidding? a colossal joke and looks possibly worse than Napoleon Dynamite.
Green Hornet…. is not something I'm particularly interested in, but once you start on a story, you gotta follow through.
They should definitely get somebody in the vein of Sam Rockwell in Charlie's Angels. A great character actor slumming it for a paycheck. How about Steve Buscemi? That would be awesome and he hasn't been in a lot lately.
@Brad. I don't mean it from a "soulless capitalist" POV, I mean it from a fan POV.
Who are the Green Hornet fans out there? People like 46-year-old Michel Gondry, i.e. people who grew up with this this are 45-50 and probably not the audience clamoring for this thing.
Rogen himself said they used the property because it was mostly unknown and he could do pretty much what he wanted with it since the younger, modern, current audience has no investment in it.
Again, they have no investment in it. So who's it for? Curiosity seekers.
Buscemi would be a good choice.
It's a Michel Gondry studio superhero movie. That alone sounds deliriously fun. I don't understand the negativity either, most of which seems to stem from "Who cares about this flimsy character?"