KungFuHustle Tagged Articles at Cinematical

On Friday, Spoiler TV posted casting call information for the role of Kato in The Green Hornet, Seth Rogen's long-struggling feature based on the iconic radio and television hero. Prior to the call, Kung Fu Hustle star, writer and director Stephen Chow was attached to play the role, and it would have been one immaculately suited for the longtime fan of Bruce Lee, who originated the role on TV. But now it appears that Chow has another feature he would like to do, and the ongoing scheduling problems the film has suffered appear to have resulted in him bowing out of the project. Thankfully, the filmmakers are maintaining only the highest and most specific standards in their search for a replacement:

"[KATO] ALL ASIAN ETHNICITIES, Male, 20's - early 40's. Brit Reid's manservant/chauffeur by day and Green Hornet's martial arts-skilled sidekick by night. Actor doesn't have to have Martial Arts experience."

According to the IMDB, Chow has moved on to CJ7 2, the sequel to his answer to E.T., which was released in 2007 (and, in the interest of full disclosure, a film for which I contributed the quote "a sweet, funny family fantasy film"). Meanwhile, Rogen is without his ass-kicking sidekick, begging the question: who do you think they should cast as Kato? Suffice it to say there are countless working Asian and Asian-American actors who could handle the role's physical demands, but given what one presumes will be a slightly more comedic bent to the characters' mythology, who would you suggest strap on Kato's black mask and share the screen with Rogen's hirsute Hornet?

It's been five long years since Albert and Allen Hughes gave us Hell -- From Hell that is -- and though they have been busy with television projects, it is time they got back to the big screen. Well, their next project has now been confirmed as the long-awaited adaptation of the TV-series Kung Fu. For those unfamiliar with the show (I admit, I've never seen one episode), it featured David Carradine as a Shaolin monk who is forced to flee China and ends up in the American wild west.

A script was written for the movie version by Howard Friedlander and Ed Spielman, both of whom worked on the show, but it will be rewritten by Cory Goodman, who also wrote the upcoming Andrew Douglas film Priest. There is no word on casting yet, though Carradine will have to be involved somehow, but Warner Bros. is planning for a 2008 release to coincide, and hopefully garner a promotional tie-in with, the Beijing Olympics.

Considering The Hughes Brothers had been trying to get this job for past two years, they hopefully know what to do with it. Though we don't know who the other filmmakers were who wanted the gigs, I have to wonder if Quentin Tarantino was interested, at least as a writer or producer. After all, he has paid homage to the series through dialogue (Pulp Fiction) and casting (Kill Bill's title character is played by Carradine).

The tie-in part of the story makes me wonder if Hollywood will be putting together any other martial arts films around the same time. We still haven't heard the full stories on the Bruce Lee biopic Martha wrote about last summer, or the mysterious Rob Cohen-directed, Bruce Lee-starring film that Erik mentioned last month. And maybe Kung Fu Hustle 2 is on hold for this very same reason. Okay, I doubt it. The Olympics and cinema may already be linked enough by the promotional videos being shot by Oliver Stone, Giuseppe Tornatore and Majid Majidi.

Any fans of the show care to chime in with your opinion?