GREEN HORNET’S New Kato Is Made in Taiwan

You have to admire the drive and dedication of Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, and all the producers of “The Green Hornet” for refusing to give up on getting the film made.  I think others, faced with the constant obstacles and potentially negative press because of those problems (because if production isn’t 100% smooth, then it deserves destruction), they would just wash their hands of it.  But even the challenge to find a new Kato, The Green Hornet’s sidekick who does a lot of kicking, after Stephen Chow dropped out, has been solved by signing Jay Chou to the project.

Learn about Jay Chou after the jump.

According to Sony Pictures’  Twitter feed, Taiwanese Superstar Jay Chou will play the role of Kato.  Using a site called IMDb (it’s really good; you should definitely check it out sometime), I was able to look at his filmography and observed that I had seen none of his movies.  However, his Wikipedia page is absolutely massive, so I will simply mention the important points.  First, Chou didn’t start his career in acting but with music and he built his popularity there before expanding into films.  Second, he does not have an impressive martial arts background like Chou but he did play a “kung fu student and drinking prodigy” in 2008′s “Kung Fu Drunk” and he did have a role in “Curse of the Golden Flower” but I don’t remember if he did any martial arts in that film.  “Golden Flower” was his first appearance for American audiences and American critics applauded his performance while Chinese reaction ranged from negative to lukewarm.

So this man is your Kato, a role originally played in the TV series by Bruce Lee.  From his resume, I’m not sure if Chou is the man for the job but the best description of him is an unknown.  And that’s exciting because not American audiences may find a new international star in Jay Chou.