One of the more interesting things that happened this past week in movie news was the news that Nicolas Cage had dropped out of playing the villain in "The Green Hornet" even though filming had already begun. https://collider.com/2009/09/08/nicolas-cage-flies-away-from-the-green-hornet/ The actor was then replaced a couple of days later by "Inglourious Basterds'"' Christoph Waltz https://collider.com/2009/09/14/inglourious-basterds-christoph-waltz-is-playing-the-villain-in-the-green-hornet/ and the internet was happy. It was being rumored that Cage had dropped out because of money issues but the actor has now cleared up everything. To find out why Cage dropped out just click on the jump.
The Canadian Press (via SuperHeroHype) tells us that Cage discussed his decision while appearing at the Toronto International Film Festival. The sometimes great, but always fun, actor said that he "wasn't interested in just being just a straight-up bad guy who was killing people willy-nilly." He goes on to say that "'The Green Hornet' was something that I wanted to do, I think Michel Gondry is very talented and I had hoped it would work but I think Seth Rogen and Michel had a different take on the character."
Cage then talked a little bit more about what he planned for the villain by saying that "I had to have some humanity and to try to give it something where you could understand why the character was the way he was but I don't think there was enough time to develop it." I find this interesting and I have no idea if Cage should be applauded for wanting to make what sounds like a purely evil character into a character that you understand. It's definitely a good reason for wanting to drop out of a film, but what makes it interesting (and kind of funny) is that this is all coming from Cage. I never would have thought that Cage was taking this performance and character so seriously. I still would have liked to have seen Cage playing the bad guy, but I'm definitely way more excited to see Waltz on screen again after seeing his stellar performance as Hans Lander in "Inglourious Basterds".
"The Green Hornet" is still set to hit theaters December 17th, 2010.