Set Visit: The Green Hornet

Seth
Rogen & Evan Goldberg interview
/ Michel
Gondry interview

Seth Rogen is a superhero. Strange as that sounds, it’s true. Rogen is starring as newspaper reporter and heir to a fortune, Britt Reid who fights crime by night as THE GREEN HORNET. In the sixties television series the movie is based on, his sidekick Kato was famously played by Bruce Lee. In the film, he’s played by Jay Chou. And instead of being merely a sidekick, Kato is pretty much running the joint. I was thrilled to be part of a set visit a while back where I got to chat with stars Seth Rogen and Christoph Waltz, director Michel Gondry and see a pretty cool scene being filmed. We’ll be bringing you the interviews throughout the week. Are you guys excited for this one?

Many times on a set visit, you’re brought to room, placed at a table where actor after actor sits for a few minutes and then you wait around for a tiny scene to be filmed. Sometimes you only get to watch it on the monitors. Not this time. Things were non-stop from the time we got there until we left. First, we were brought to a huge office set. Not one room, not two, but an entire newspaper office…and it looked like someone drove a car through it. Which, by the way, someone just had.

Gondry wanted this to be done as practically as possible. Thought it was one floor off the ground, in the film, the office is towards the top of a sky scraper. That’s where you get your CGI. But the rest? Practical. Maybe it wasn’t the best day to wear sandals. I stepped delicately over broken glass, shattered desks, a zillion papers and avoided hanging metal bars. It looked pretty damn cool. I’m a fan of a CGI/practical combo for the most part, and to see something like this was a thrill for a film freak.

We got to wander around Kato’s workshop, and then we checked out a few versions of the Hornet’s car, Black Beauty. I know you guys have probably seen the shots from various cons, but it was pretty amazing in person. We saw a smashed up model and then got to sit in an earlier one. It’s got suicide doors, guns…your basic superhero car of awesomeness. Then we were taken to watch a scene being filmed. We arrived at Britt’s room, where we saw a fight scene filmed from two sides. The pool outside, and inside the room. Britt’s room was pretty spectacular. I would happily move in. Alright, I’d probably pull the hot chick posters off the ceiling and replace them with hot guys, but…I might leave the mirror. There were music posters all over the walls and a bar with a monkey head in the back.

As we waited around, crew member after crew member came over to chat with us, talking about how much fun this show was to work on. Seth also took time out to come over and greet us all. In the scene, Kato and Britt are fighting and Britt goes through a stained glass window. Obviously there was a stunt guy for that part. We saw rehearsal after rehearsal, and finally, glass broken by a stunt guy’s ass. I Rogen my job. A while back at the ZACK AND MIRI MAKE A PORNO junket, I asked Rogen if there were going to be any nods to the fact that the Green Hornet is the Lone Ranger’s great-nephew. Though he wasn’t sure back then, we saw a Lone Ranger poster in Britt’s room.

We were all getting ready to head out for the day when we were told that we were getting our picture taken with Black Beauty…and getting a chance to ride in it. It may be LA, but rarely do you get to ride around in a car with giant Gatling guns on the top. The stares from passers by were priceless. Wouldn’t mind putting a few of those on my Honda. People rarely tailgate a car with mounted guns.

The film comes out on January 14. Check back all week for interviews with the cast and crew!