25 Jan – Singapore was abuzz with excitement yesterday as "The Green Hornet" stars Seth Rogen, Jay Chou and director Michel Gondry was in town to promote their latest superhero action-comedy, due out island-wide this 27 January 2011.
During the press conference at St. Regis Hotel, Canadian actor Seth Rogen ("Pineapple Express"), who plays a dual role in the film as the titular character and scriptwriter, explained that he together with his screenplay partner Evan Goldberg wanted a protagonist who looked the least like a hero.
"Christian Bale could beat the crap out of me easily as with most other people who play superheroes. So we thought we'd skew away from the usual superhero films and start with someone who's most unlikely to be one - unintelligent, physically incapable and not morally centric - I think I offer all those things in spades," joked the comic actor who recently proposed to his girlfriend of six years, Lauren Miller.
Rogen also revealed that he had to lose some weight in the process: "Most people don't want to see a fat superhero and we didn't want him to turn out as the Green Bumblebee!"
Largely unknown in America although hugely popular in Asia, Taiwanese pop singer Jay Chou ("Initial D") who plays sidekick Kato gave insight on his experience of working in Hollywood saying, "It feels somewhat like a vacation because films there can be done within three to four months, while in Asia I have to rush through filming in a month."
"Moreover, the budget in Hollywood is bigger... not that I'm being paid a lot," kids the singer.
On the casting of Chou, French director Michel Gondry ("Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind") elaborated: "We first auditioned Jay over Skype, which was very weird because of the connection delay, but he seemed pretty funny and cool so we flew him to Los Angeles. When he and Seth read together, the dynamic was clear and they reminded me of the classic buddy movie pairings."
Gondry also recalled his humorous experience while promoting the film in China: "When we went to Beijing, Seth and I only had two questions! And if they had wanted to ask us something, it would be like 'How was it like working with Jay Chou?' There's no doubt he's a star in Asia, when previously we weren't sure."
Rogen joked, "The whole time we thought he might've been lying to us, but turns out he really is very famous."
Chou added that Gondry would even observe whether or not there would be his fans at the airport during their promotional visits and compare which country had more fans.
The singer also said that the most difficult thing about playing Kato was the fact that it was previously donned by the iconic Bruce Lee. Thus, Michel and Chou felt that Kato should be very different here by bringing the character closer to reality.
At the end of the conference, Rogen teased reporters that he would like to collaborate with Chou on an album saying, "I'm not a good singer, but I can rap."
Chou, who sang the soundtrack's theme song, said, "Who said you can't sing? I hear him sing sometimes and his rhythm is good. If we're going to cut an album, we should do it now while the movie's still hot."
"Seth can just focus on rapping and I'll do the rest," added Chou.
Later in the day, the trio appeared at Bugis Junction and then hit the 'green carpet' at night for "The Green Hornet" gala premiere at The Cathay, which was also attended by various Singapore artists namely Allen Wu and Mark Lee.
"The Green Hornet" opens in Singapore on 27 Jan 2011 and is now playing in Malaysia.