When Sony announced last week that filming had begun on The Green Hornet, they included the news that Nicolas Cage and his hair were in talks to play the villain in the comic book movie. Normally a studio only does that if it’s a case that everything’s been worked out and it’s just a matter of the actors signing on the dotted line. However THR’s Heat Vision blog is now saying that Cage is off the project because he and the studio weren’t able to come to terms on a deal (nothing with Cage had been filmed).
There’s no news on what the problem is, although it’s likely to either be money or the fact that Cage’s schedule is so busy that they couldn’t find a way for Cage to play the villain in The Green Hornet, as well as starting production soon on the thriller Hungry Rabbit Jumps, which was announced yesterday. Whatever the reason, it looks like Cage is out and the hunt is on for a new villain. To be honest though, we’d imagine the studio has a back-up, as it would be foolish to go into production on a film if a deal falling through on one of the major roles could result in the whole production process getting held up (which could cost millions).
It’s actually not that uncommon for back-up actors to be on contract and get paid a bit of money, just to be on standby. Although we can’t gurantee that’s what’s happened here, don’t be surprised if Cage’s replacement is announced pretty swiftly, almost as if that person was prepared to play the role all along.
Filming on The Green Hornet, starring Seth Rogen, Cameron Diaz and Jay Chou is going on now in LA, so they’d better bring in that new villain pretty quick.