Actor/writer Seth Rogan exercised his comedy chops in the Judd Apatow comedies The 40 Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up, but is he ready to exchange karate chops as a comic-book superhero? Columbia Pictures seems to think so. According to The Los Angeles Times, Rogan has inked a deal to write and possibly star in a big-screen treatment of The Green Hornet.
From Lone Ranger creators Fran Striker and George Trendle, The Green Hornet debuted as a radio serial in 1936 and eventually made its way to comics, television and film. The stories followed the adventures of Brit Reid, a millionaire publisher who dons a mask to fight crime with the help of his Asian valet, Kato.
The characters were first portrayed in serials by Gordon Jones and Keye Luke, who was best known as ‘No. 1 Son’ in the Charlie Chan films. Martial arts legend Bruce Lee portrayed Kato alongside Van Williams as the title crime fighter in 26 episodes of the 1966 television incarnation. Several of the episodes were spliced together and released as a feature in 1974, but more recent attempts to bring the property to the big screen have been foiled. Universal had its eye on the franchise for a while and Clerks director Kevin Smith was at one time developing a script for Miramax.
Neal H. Moritz will produce the film through his Sony-based production company, Original Film. The producer of Evan Almighty, Click and Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift is developing the project with Rogan and Sony/Columbia Pictures is looking at releasing it sometime in 2009.
Rogan is also set to lend his voice to two literary adaptations, Paramount/Nickelodoen Movies The Spiderwick Chroncles and 20th Century Fox Animation’s Horton Hears a Who. Next month, he can be seen as a goofball police officer in Superbad, a comedy he co-wrote with Evan Goldberg.
