Why Nicolas Cage Is Not in 'The Green Hornet'

© Sylvain Gaboury/PR Photos

Nicolas Cage has made use of his appearance at the Toronto International Film Festival to explain his sudden departure from "The Green Hornet". While promoting "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans", the lead actor in the "National Treasure" series reasons he has a different take on the film's villain Chudnofsky from director Michel Gondry and star/co-writer Seth Rogen.

According to The Canadian Press, the Academy Award-winner claimed he "wasn't interested in just being just a straight-up bad guy who was killing people willy-nilly." He further said, " 'The Green Hornet' was something that I wanted to do, I think Michel Gondry is very talented and I had hoped it would work but I think Seth Rogen and Michel had a different take on the character."

The 45-year-old Cage, in addition, explained that there wasn't enough time to develop the script that meets his expectation on the villain. "I had to have some humanity and to try to give it something where you could understand why the character was the way he was but I don't think there was enough time to develop it," he noted.

Nicolas Cage had been in talks to star as the lead villain for quite a while when words were coming out that the "Ghost Rider" actor and Columbia Pictures were not able to come to terms on a deal. Since then, the studio has signed Christoph Waltz, the Colonel Hans Landa of "Inglourious Basterds", to take over the role.

"The Green Hornet", in the meantime, is an adaptation of WXYZ's radio show created by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker. Penned by Rogen and his writing partner in "Knocked Up", Evan Goldberg, it centers on Britt Reid, a newspaper publisher by day and masked vigilante Green Hornet by night, and his adventures in fighting crimes. December 17, 2010 will be the date it is opened wide in U.S. theaters.