Knocked Up Star to Knock Out Green Hornet Flick

Upstart star of the well-received summer blockbuster "Knocked Up," Seth Rogen will write and play the eponymous character in the movie remake of the comic-book hero Green Hornet. The movie had previously toyed with casting its leading man under the celebrity auspices of George Clooney and Jake Gyllenhaal.

Columbia Studios signed a deal with Rogen to at least write and probably star in "The Green Hornet," reported the Los Angeles Times. The film will either tail-end or revitalize the comic-book-remake genre, most previously represented by a sequel that has yet to financially live up to its predecessors: "Spider-Man 3."Rogen's everyman persona should translate disjunctively onto the comic-book protagonist: a rich publisher by day turned crime-fighting, justice-distributing superhero by night. One wonders if Rogen will imbue the film with the blubbery, man-child wit that attributed to his "Knocked Up" success. His newfound celebrity status may or may not sustain his ambitious future goals for his film career: everyone's former favorite baby-daddy plans to star in the August-release "Superbad" along with a slew of others in the coming year.

People still speculate as to who will co-star in "The Green Hornet" as the Hornet's stereotypically limited sidekick Kato. Chinese action star Jet Li may well add some aggressive weight to Kato and counteract Rogen's physical weight, the Los Angeles Times reported.

"The Green Hornet" should hit theaters in 2009.