It was the television role that launched action-film icon Bruce Lee into our consciousness.
Kato!
He was the side-kick/driver to hero Green Hornet, played by actor Van Williams in the TV series of the late 1960s.

By KEVIN ‘CHILL’ HEARD
Managing Editor

It was the television role that launched action-film icon Bruce Lee into our consciousness.

Kato!

He was the side-kick/driver to hero Green Hornet, played by actor Van Williams in the TV series of the late 1960s.

The basic plot was this. Playboy and media mogul Britt Reid fights crime as a masked vigilante with the help of his trusty man-servant Kato. The thing was, it was the sidekick who was issuing out the larger majority of the beatdowns.

When the “The Green Hornet’s” one-year TV stint was done, the guy who played the sidekick literally fought his way to super-stardom. Bruce Lee became a true global icon –an international action star of the highest order.

In an effort to not only recreate but build on Lee’s success, “The Green Hornet” has been recently revived, but this time in a film version. With producer Neal Moritz and Director Michael Gondry at the helm of a script written by the film’s star Seth Rogen and his writing partner Evan Goldberg, the world-wide search for the man who would play one of the most dynamic sidekicks in TV history was on. After an audition via Skype, the search for Kato was over, an Asian pop-star Jay Chou was chosen.

The film’s co-star Cameron Diaz loved the selection of Chou. “Jay is remarkable,” exclaims Diaz, who as a member of the “Charlie’s Angels” film sequels – another TV series turned mega movie success story – has seen her share of action in film. “He didn’t speak any English when he [came to the set]. He spoke it the same way he learned the fight choreography, he spoke and learned his English lines phonetically.” Most importantly Diaz added, “And he looks very cool!”

Chou, an international pop music star who commands 100,000 fans at a show, brought his own style and swagger to the role, as opposed to trying to duplicate the charisma of the late Bruce Lee.

With the opportunity to check in with Chou while on the Sony Pictures lot in Los Angeles, Chou with the assistance of an interpreter issued a cool air of humor and confidence about playing the film’s martial arts master, stating “I didn’t get hurt in the fight scenes because I am Kato.”

Unlike the TV series’ Kato, who was in many ways subservient to the Green Hornet, Chou’s sidekick is not opposed to knocking this Hornet on his butt for getting a little too fly at the mouth about his Hornet hero superiority.

The 3-D martial arts moves in “The Green Hornet,” in addition to Chou’s character’s “Kato vision,” is a must see for action fans of all ages.