‘Green Hornet’ director: 3-D hype will fade

Gondry prefers to use computer-generated images to enhance the narrative


James Cameron’s 2009 film “Avatar” may be seen as legendary by many, but for French director Michel Gondry, director of the newly-released superhero flick “The Green Hornet,” the 3-D technology of “Avatar” just does not appeal.

“I personally don’t like using CGI technology when shooting the characters’ faces,” Gondry told reporters Wednesday at Hotel Shilla in Seoul, ahead of the Korean premiere of his superhero comedy.

“You cannot deliver the characters’ emotions that way. I respect ‘Avatar’ and what it has contributed to the film history. But I like to use 3-D to enhance the narrative (not characters).”

Co-starring Canadian actor and screenwriter Seth Rogan and Taiwanese mega pop star Jay Chou, “The Green Hornet” ― also categorized as a 3-D film ― tells a story of a young slacker businessman (Rogan) who becomes a crime fighter along with his late father’s assistant and skilled martial artist, Kato (Chou).

“This movie can be watched as 3-D, and even 2-D if you choose to take off your 3-D glasses from time to time throughout the movie,” Gondry said.

He also predicted that the heated debate on 3-D technology and 3-D movies will soon disappear.

“We haven’t been always talking about our movies being in color ever since the industry turned its back on black and white,” he said.

“I think the same will happen with 3-D. It soon won’t be something very new to the public.”

“The Green Hornet” was co-written by Rogan and his colleague Evan Goldberg, based on the character of the same name that had originated in a 1930s radio program, who later was featured in comic books and a television series.

“My writing partner and I have been always super hero fans and comic book fans,” Rogan told reporters.

“We wanted to add something original to the superhero movie genre. We wanted to add our own sensibility into it.”

Rogan said he and his partner wanted to create a somewhat different hero in “The Green Hornet.”

“Most of superheroes in movies are pretty heroic, strong and morally centered,” he said. “But we were interested in starting with someone who wasn’t any of these things yet slowly starts to gain these qualities as the movie develops.”

The Kato Character, played by Chou, was once played by legendary Bruce Lee in an ABC television series from 1966 to 1967.

“Bruce Lee was immense, and it was important for us not to copy him,” said Gondry. “That’s one of the reasons why we chose Chou because he didn’t want to imitate Lee. He was himself. It was very cool.”

Chou, who showed up at the conference wearing a green tie, said one of the biggest challenges he faced while working on the film was the language barrier.

“Things could have been a lot easier if I knew English,” said Chou in Chinese, speaking through an interpreter.

“I spent a whole month memorizing the script and learning the language.”

When one of the reporters noted he reminds her of Korea’s popular singer Rain who starred in “Ninja Assasin,” Chou playfully disagreed.

“I’m surprised to hear that,” Chou told the reporter. “I’m not a good dancer and I’ve got no muscles like Rain.”

Noted for his inventive visual style and manipulation of mise-en-scene in his previous works, such as “The Science of Sleep” (2006) and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (2004), Gondry brought his own little camera to the press conference, taking photos of the media crew.

He said he likes Korean director Bong Joon-ho and his 2009 film “Mother.” Gondry and Bong worked together for their 2008 international joint film project, “Tokyo.“

”The Green Hornet” opens in theaters in Korea on Jan. 27.

By Claire Lee (clairelee@heraldcorp.com)