The story follows the adventures of Britt Reid, a bored playboy whose life is changed when he inherits his father’s crusading newspaper, The Daily Sentinel. He saves the life of Kato, a Japanese man with incredible technical and martial-arts skills, who becomes Britt’s closest ally — and transforms Britt’s car into the supercharged Black Beauty, which gives them an edge as they search for evidence to expose the city’s underworld in the newspaper. When Britt and Kato witness a brutal mob hit, Britt invents his secret identity — taking his name from his powerful car’s defective horn.

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Movie Trivia

• Seth Rogen shed 30 pounds to play the titular role.
• In late 2008, Stephen Chow was set to direct and co-star as Kato. However, creative differences prevented him from doing so although, for a while, it seemed he was still set to play Kato when Michel Gondry became attached. Seth Rogen stated the reason for Chow’s departure was that the director wanted Kato to implant Britt with a microchip and control him with a joystick, something Rogen wasn’t keen on.
• Nicolas Cage was initially cast as Chudnofsky, but dropped out. He intended to play the role with a Jamaican accent, much to director Michel Gondry’s dismay.
• Abbie Cornish was in early talks to play Lenore.
• George Clooney, Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Wahlberg and Vince Vaughn were previously considered to play the lead role.
• Jet Li had a pay-or-play deal for the role of Kato back when the Weinsteins had the rights.
• 29 copies of the Black Beauty were made from scrounged 1964, 1965, and 1966 Chrysler Imperials, many of which were rusted out and had to be rebuilt. Only three survived production intact.

Movie Quotes

Lenore Case: I’m only thirty six.
Britt Reid: Thirty six? Holy shit, I had no idea. I thought you were 31, tops. I don’t even know if I can hire a thirty six year old. We’ll have to build a ramp, huh?

Lenore Case: If you ever so much as look at my ass again…
Britt Reid: I can’t even see your ass.
Lenore Case: …I will sue you for sexual harassment. Do you understand?
Britt Reid: Hugs?

Production Notes

When Cameron Diaz heard about the opportunity to work with Michel Gondry and Seth Rogen, she didn’t need to think twice, saying “I was in New York and got a call that Seth Rogen and Michel Gondry were doing The Green Hornet. Those two names separately were incredibly interesting to me. But hearing those names together? It made the project completely irresistible. When I thought of those two minds together, I didn’t care what it was. I just had to be a part of it.”

“She’s smarter than both Britt and Kato put together,” Diaz says about her character. “They have no idea what they’re doing, whether it’s running a newspaper or being vigilante crime-fighters. Lenore is passionate about journalism and she’s obsessed with criminology and forensics.”

“We were so lucky to have Cameron play Lenore. She’s obviously known for her comedy,” producer Neal H. Moritz says about the casting of Cameron Diaz. “It was easy for us to have scenes between the three of them that were not only endearing and emotional but really funny as well.”

“The most fun we had,” picture car captain Dennis McCarthy recalls, “was when Seth came down one day and just got crazy. He was in the car, there put a camera guy in the backseat, and he burned rubber and did donuts for hours. He loved it. He did great.” Jay Chou had the same pleasure, and even Cameron Diaz, who doesn’t drive in the film, came out and did “burnouts, flies and spins. Out of all our cast, she was probably the best driver,” McCarthy grins.