Michel Gondry Calls The Green Hornet The Worst Moment Of His Career

Director Michel Gondry has reflected on his one superhero movie, ‘The Green Hornet’ - and doesn’t have much nice to say about it.

The 2011 take on the classic comic book/pulp hero with Seth Rogen was by no means a flop, earning almost $228 million at the global box office off a £120 million budget.

Even so, it largely fell flat with critics and audiences, and is not generally looked back on as a career highlight for anyone involved (including supporting stars Cameron Diaz and Christoph Waltz).

Gondry - who was by that point a well-regarded director with arthouse leanings, thanks largely to ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’ - tells The Hollywood Reporter that working on the film was not a great experience.

The French filmmaker had in fact been linked to the project for many years, dating back to when it was first in development (with George Clooney and Jet Li initially tipped to star as The Green Hornet and Kato):

“I had worked on the first version of ‘The Green Hornet’ for several years. It was in ’96 or ’97, and I had worked with Ed Neumeier, who is a screenwriter who did ‘RoboCop’ and ‘Starship Troopers.’

“We wrote a script that was really [evocative] of the original. And then after one month working with it and having done drawings and so on, the executive of the studio, that was Universal at the time, just said they had shelved the project.

“They just said to me, ‘Next time you pick a project, make sure it’s on the top of the pile.’ And I was very frustrated because that was him who asked me to work on this project. So that was quite a low part of my career.”

Nonetheless, Gondry wound up directing ‘The Green Hornet’ from a new script by Rogen and Evan Goldberg, when Chinese action-comedy star Stephen Chow - initially set to both direct and co-star as Kato - dropped out over creative differences. (Jay Chou replaced him as Kato.)

While denying rumours that he clashed with Rogen on set (“He was very nice. We got along very well”), Gondry admits directing the film was not all smooth sailing.

“It was, at times, difficult for me to find my place. What happened is he [Rogen] was writing and acting and producing the film. And so it was hard for me to be able to express myself. Although I don’t feel I was put aside.”

Notably, Rogen has co-directed his subsequent writer/producer/star vehicles ‘This Is The End’ and ‘The Interview’ with his partner Goldberg - whilst Gondry, meanwhile, hasn’t directed another studio movie since ‘The Green Hornet.’

He explains, “It’s hard to fall in love with the big movies, expensive movies, where you go on board and the script is already quite advanced.

“By this time, I feel that there is not enough room for me to be creative or to feel connected to the character and the story.”

Still, when asked if he would direct another big budget movie, Gondry replies, “Yeah, why not? But not a superhero one.”

For his part, Rogen as also expressed dissatisfaction with ‘The Green Hornet,’ telling Collider in late 2011, “It’s a lot more fun to make cheaper, much dirtier movies.”

Picture Credit: Sony, WENN

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