This morning reports appeared that the role of Kato in Green Hornet – the Michel Gondry-directed, Seth Rogen-starring superhero movie – was up for grabs. Spoiler TV received word that there was a casting call out for Kato – the production, they said, is looking for a non-specific Asian who doesn’t even need to have martial arts experience.

Looking into the reports I’ve come across sources that confirm that Chow is indeed out of the picture. Apparently it’s a scheduling conflict – Chow has another film that he’d rather do.

So what now? This movie has been on a really long and winding road, and it still has a ways to go before it goes into production. There have been major setbacks (many of them based around the slowly shrinking involvement of Chow), but Green Hornet keeps chugging along. There will be a press day for Funny People soon, and I imagine someone will get Seth Rogen to cough up more info.