Columbia Pictures have finally found a replacement for Stephen Chow, announcing today that 30 year old Taiwanese "mega star"
Jay Chou will fill the shoes of Bruce Lee as the iconic sidekick Kato in
The Green Hornet. After an extensive talent search which has taken up most of this year, director
Michel Gondry claims it was the chemistry between Chou and co-writer/lead
Seth Rogen during the screentests that won the mega star the role over the competition, which is precisely how it should have been done. I don't care that I haven't heard of him or know his work, in some ways I actually prefer it for this kind of iconic part. Seemingly Chou is one of those guys who can do anything, releasing a million selling album every year for the past eight years, owning his own record company, directing films and music videos and even finding time to star in
The Curse of the Golden Flower and a few other Asian flicks. Though he does curiously seem to be a singer more than an actor/or martial arts expert?
The Green Hornet is out next July, written by Seth Rogen and
Evan Goldberg (
Superbad) and starring Rogen, Jay Chou,
Nicolas Cage (as the villain) and
Cameron Diaz (as the love interest).