Variety is reporting that Miramax is putting the Green Hornet back on the fast track with comic book maven Kevin Smith writing the script and planning to start shooting by late summer.  Though often thought of as a comic book character, the Green Hornet's origins were in radio, with Fran Striker and George Trendle creating the character for a serial in 1936.  There was a Green Hornet comic book series, which ran from 1940 to 1949 and some movies as well, but it was the Batman-influenced TV series, which starred Van Williams and Bruce Lee, that made the strongest impression on modern American pop culture.

Kevin Smith told Variety that he was attracted to the character because 'he was Batman before there was a Batman.  I dig the fact that he kicked off a run of billionaire playboys, who decided to put on a mask and fight crime.'  Smith also likes the fact that the Green Hornet is not a current comic book character and is not shackled with all sorts of narrative baggage.  For Miramax, a studio better known for arty epics like The English Patient and Cold Mountain, the Green Hornet is a chance to create an action-packed summer tentpole film.  Two years ago Miramax picked up the rights to the Green Hornet from Universal, which had spent nearly $10 million in futile attempts to make a Green Hornet film (see 'Miramax Options Green Hornet').  Interestingly enough, Smith told Variety that he was interested in the stars Universal had envisaged for the project -- George Clooney as millionaire playboy Britt Reid and Jet Li as Kato.