Seth Rogen‘s The Green Hornet has filled in some vacant roles, including the huge co-star role of Kato, which was long-expected to be handled by Stephen Chow.

The role of Kato was officially announced last week by Columbia Pictures. The part will be played by Jay Chou, a singer and actor from Taiwan who appeared in The Curse of the Golden Flower. Chou is definitely not as big as Stephen Chow, but it is pretty admirable that they’re giving the part to someone less known here in the States. It’s also a little confusing trying to figure out why they go for the star power in people like Nicolas Cage and Cameron Diaz, but a more obscure name for Kato. It should be interesting to see this all play out.

The Geeks of Doom posse began its invasion Wednesday night of the 2009 San Diego Comic-Con, which kicked off with a special preview night. The GoD gang stuck to the main exhibit hall, which was crazy packed with attendees, and took the opportunity to snap some pictures of some of the bigger exhibits for major movie studios, comics publishers, and toy giants, as well as of the area just outside the convention center.

Check out the images below from the exhibit hall (click for larger, full view with descriptions).

Here are some highlights from today:

• District 9: The upcoming film had a big viral presence at last year’s Con. This year, the District 9 MNU (Multi-National United) truck was parked on the side of the convention center, right on the side of the hotel I’m staying at.
• The Green Hornet: The Green Hornet car was on the exhibit hall floor, but was not yet unveiled.
• Wolverine: Madame Tussauds has created a Hugh Jackman as Wolverine wax figure, which can be viewed at the Fox booth at the convention. The figure will be relocated to Madame Tussauds in Hollywood on August 1.
• Transformers: Full-size version of Bumblebee as a car and a robot.
• Iron Man: An entire Stark Industries showcase with the various Iron Man suits.
• Jane Wiedlin: For the record, Geeks of Doom loves Go-Go’s guitarist Jane Wieldin, who not only checked into the hotel right before us, but also rode up in the elevator with us twice. Wieldin is a true geek (remember her in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure?) and will be at the Con at Autograph Alley each day promoting comic book Lady Robotika and other goodies. Check out her full Con schedule at her MySpace page.

As we are all aware, there’s been some drama in regards to Seth Rogen‘s attempt at bringing The Green Hornet to the big screen. Stephen Chow was tapped to direct the movie and star as Kato, but things didn’t go so smoothly and he stepped down from the chair.

Now it’s being reported that a new director is in negotiations: Michel Gondry.

Gondry is best known for his brilliant Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, as well as The Science of Sleep and Be Kind Rewind. A superhero movie seems a little odd for Gondry’s style, but hell, Tsotsi director Gavin Hood is doing X-Men Origins: Wolverine, so have at it, sir.

As expected, almost right after reports were swirling that The Green Hornet was in big trouble, writer/star Seth Rogen has chimed in with where he thinks the project is.

The movie’s issues began when Stephen Chow was announced as being attached to direct and to star as Kato, but then decided he probably wouldn’t direct anymore. As that went on, rumors started to arise that the project was in trouble and that many people close to the project were saying that it was either dead or very unlikely to happen any time soon.

Drew McWeeny from HitFix was the main source who heard these far-from-promising rumors (see The Possible Sad, Sudden Death Of “˜The Green Hornet’), and so it was fitting that Seth Rogen took the time to e-mail him directly and set things straight.

Over the years, many news pieces have been produced in regard to The Green Hornet and it’s potential new movie specimen. Among these pieces were news of Kevin Smith making the movie, Kevin Smith not making the movie, Seth Rogen making the movie, and Seth Rogen getting Stephen Chow to star as Kato and direct the movie.

Since it was announced that Rogen was doing it with writer/friend Evan Goldberg, the project moved along smoothly and it really looked like something that was going to get done this time around.

Then came word that Stephen Chow was probably still going to play Kato, but no longer going to direct… or was it the other way around? No one really seemed sure what was going on, and with this, those big, dark clouds began to move in slowly.

Now comes word that as feared, The Green Hornet appears to be clinging to the weakest possible tuft of grass on top of the steepest of steep hills.