Development Variety reported in October 1992 that
The Green Hornet was one of the properties represented by
Leisure Concepts Inc., and though the trade paper said, without explanation, "rights in limbo", negotiations were ongoing with
Universal Pictures. By September 1993,
Chuck Pfarrer had finished the screenplay.
Rich Wilkes was hired to rewrite Pfarrer's script, which resulted in
George Clooney signing a
pay-or-play contract. Clooney dropped out in December 1995 to star in
Batman and Robin (1997), and an anonymous source at Universal told
Entertainment Weekly the following May that
Greg Kinnear was being looked at for the title role.
Jason Scott Lee by this time had signed on to co-star as Kato.
Lawrence Gordon and
Lloyd Levin had been signed on to produce by January 1997.
Mark Wahlberg was offered the lead role, but the film languished in
development hell and Gondry eventually left.
Christopher McQuarrie was writing a script by June 2000, but with it uncompleted by October, Li moved on to work on
The One (2001) while remaining attached to
The Green Hornet. After spending about $10 million in development since 1992, Universal put
The Green Hornet in
turnaround in November 2001, by which time Li and the producers were no longer involved.
Paramount Pictures and
Columbia Pictures showed interest in picking up Universal's
option, but
Miramax Films won the bidding that month with what
Variety reported as "a deal approaching $3 million". In May 2003 the studio was working with automobile companies on
product placement opportunities for the Black Beauty. As part of the deal, Miramax Films would receive its "hero car" and $35 million in additional marketing. The car company that would have landed the deal would be given the chance to help develop
The Green Hornet, since a script had yet to be written and no director was attached to the planned 2005 release.
Variety noted this figure would have tied the record $35 million deal between
Ford Motor Company and
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) that featured the company's
Aston Martin Vanquish,
Jaguar XKR and
Ford Thunderbird in the
James Bond film
Die Another Day. In February 2004, Miramax Films president
Harvey Weinstein hired
cult filmmaker and
comic book writer
Kevin Smith to write and direct the film, based on their previous four-film collaborations. Smith commented: "I dig the fact that he kicked off a run of billionaire playboys who decided to put on a mask and fight crime and that he was
Batman before there was a Batman. I always said I'd never do a superhero film, based on my limited experience writing on
Superman Lives and having to answer to the studio,
Jon Peters, the comics company and eventually a director. Then there's a
fandom that gets up in arms if you even try to stray from their character. Here, there is simplicity in the character and the situation". Jon Gordon and Hannah Minghella were now on as producers, with Harold Berkowitz and George Trendle, son of the character's co-creator, as executive producers. In mid-November of that year, Smith said he had written about 100 pages, and estimated another 100 to come. In February 2006, Smith's official website noted: "Kevin officially no longer has anything to do with the
Fletch or
Green Hornet projects". Smith went on to write the
Dynamite Entertainment comic book
Green Hornet, which has run 11 issues as of late 2010. In March 2007, producer
Neal H. Moritz, who had been trying to acquire the film rights to the character for years, obtained the rights and through his Sony-based production company Original Film optioned them to Columbia. In July,
Seth Rogen, in addition to starring in the lead role, was hired to co-write the script with frequent collaborator
Evan Goldberg and named as an
executive producer for
The Green Hornet. Rogen said that month he had not begun writing the screenplay yet, but anticipated the tone would be that of "a buddy action movie" with humor, "like
Lethal Weapon and
48 Hrs. In September 2008, Columbia Pictures announced a June 25, 2010 release date, and that Hong Kong star
Stephen Chow had signed to direct and to co-star as Kato. Chow, a fan of the TV show as a kid, explained: "The idea of stepping into
Bruce Lee's shoes as Kato is both humbling and thrilling, and to get the chance to direct the project as my American movie debut is simply a dream come true". Chow dropped out as director the following December over creative differences. Columbia Pictures announced that
Michel Gondry would direct the film in February 2009, on which Chow had remained as Kato, after impressing Columbia production presidents Doug Belgrad and
Matt Tolmach with his
pitch. Gondry had previously been involved with
The Green Hornet when Universal Pictures was planning its version in 1997. By this time the release date had been pushed to July 9, 2010. The studio was then in early talks with
Nicolas Cage to play the gangster villain, and Cameron Diaz was negotiating to play researcher and love interest Lenore Case. The filmmakers had wanted
Van Williams, who played the Green Hornet in the
1960s television series, to make a
cameo appearance as a cemetery guard, but Williams declined to play the role.
Locations Moritz considered filming
The Green Hornet in
Michigan,
New York and
Louisiana, but ultimately chose
Los Angeles,
California as the primary location shooting: "Ultimately, we made the decision, and thankfully the studio agreed with us, that the creative positives of shooting in Los Angeles outweighed the
tax incentives offered to us elsewhere".
Props The production modified 29
Imperial Crown sedans from model years 1964 to 1966 to portray the Green Hornet's luxurious supercar, the Black Beauty. Twenty-six of those cars were wrecked during production and three survived in pristine condition. One such vehicle was given away by the parent company of
Carl's Jr. and Hardee's as a sweepstakes prize and later consigned to the 2017
Barrett-Jackson auto auction at
Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, where it was sold for $29,700. ==Release==