With director Michel Gondry supposedly just days away from beginning principal photography on "The Green Hornet", Variety is reporting that Nic Cage is in talks to play the film's villain opposite Seth Rogen as the titular masked crime fighter.  Let's hope they talk fast.  No news on the name or nature of this villain so that means that we still don't know much about "The Green Hornet" other than its title and the fact that it was written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. That would have been enough to ensure its awesomeness a year ago but a lot of weird has happened to the production since then.  More after the jump...

Even with the clout that comes with a film that was written by Rogen and Goldberg (also known as "The Guys who Brought you 'Superbad'"), "The Green Hornet" has had to fight to stay on Sony's production schedule and has endured the exit of Stephen Chow - twice!  In my opinion the addition of director Michel Gondry ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind") was an inspired choice but I'm guessing that the studio might not see the big, artsy picture quite as clearly.  Enter Nicolas Cage.

Love him or hate him, Cage has been getting the job done at the box office lately - even the crap that was "Knowing" was an above average money-maker.   And in these trying economic times, commercial viability counts for a lot.

Variety's article also confirms that Cameron Diaz is in negotiations to play the Hornet's love interest.  I am as lukewarm on Diaz as I am on Cage so I have had to pin all my hopes on Rogen and Gondry finding themselves one hell of a bad-ass Kato.  And remember, time is of the essence here - "The Green Hornet" is still scheduled to fly into theatres on July 9, 2010.