Michel Gondry
It looks that way. Michel Gondry’s negotiating for The Green Hornet‘s director’s chair after Stephen Chow backed out in order to focus on his own next film, although he’s still expected to play Kato. Seth Rogen stars and co-wrote the script with his partner Evan Goldberg.
Gondry’s a pretty wild choice to direct an action-comedy summer tentpole movie that leaves a number of questions. How will that mesh with his obsessive do-it-yourself aesthetic? It’ll be fascinating to see, although I’m not sure I hold out much hope for the film. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is still his best film* but that got bogged down in silly detours featuring the supporting cast, while Gondry-scripted The Science of Sleep and Be Kind Rewind were at times fun and quirky while being fairly unsatisfying from a story standpoint. I suppose it’s a good thing that he isn’t writing this one, although we’ll see if Rogen and Goldberg’s irreverant and meta-filled take on the Green Hornet legacy is any better. Ultimately, it’s Gondry’s art design that tends to bring magic to his films, so it’ll be very interesting to see how that comes together with a $70-100 million budget and big corporate expectations.
The Green Hornet is currently scheduled for June 25th, 2010 release.
*Actually, Dave Chappelle’s Block Party is his best film by leaps and bounds, but it’s of a completely different nature.
