Fake Nationality: Kato in the radio series, film serials, and television series. While the first radio actor to voice the role was apparently Japanese (Raymond Hayashi), American Roland Parker voiced Kato for most of the series run (as his nationality shifted from Japanese to "generic Oriental" to Filipino), while American Mickey Tolan played the role towards the end. In the serials, Kato's nationality was specified as Korean, but the role was played by Chinese actor Keye Luke. And in the TV series Kato was (presumptively) Japanese (though some sources say that producer William Dozier conceived of Kato as being Korean) but played by Chinese actor Bruce Lee.
The TV series
Cast the Expert: Bruce Lee helped choreograph many of the show's fight scenes, and taught co-star Van Williams some basic techniques that he is sometimes seen using throughout the series.
I Am Not Spock: Van Williams was reluctant to star in this series for fear of typecasting and only agreed because he was strongarmed into it by his agent. After the series ended, he declined to participate in most events and media associated with it, making an exception for a cameo in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story to pay tribute to Bruce Lee.
Keep Circulating the Tapes: the show has never been officially released on DVD or Blu-ray, making it much harder to obtain than one would expect given its longstanding cult following.
Technology Marches On: Today, the Black Beauty's aerial scanner feels remarkably more current than anyone could have guessed back in the 1960s with aerial drones becoming increasingly popular consumer items.
What Could Have Been: Van Williams, among others, pushed to give Bruce Lee more to do in the TV series since it was obvious that he was garnering the most viewer interest with his martial arts moves, preferably in a hour format. The producers wouldn't budge and the series was cancelled earlier than it could have been.
Seth Rogen has admitted that the making of this movie, and its subsequent failure, was a "nightmare," adding that he'd "sooner not work for a year," then do a sequel. Michel Gondry also recently bemoaned his lack of creative freedom on the film, and regrets directing it.
Some actors like Edward James Olmos, however, enjoyed working on the film.
Cowboy BeBop at His Computer: As specified under the Interchangeable Asian Cultures page: IMDB at one point listed John Cho as Kato's actor instead of Jay Chou. Cho himself joked on Twitter: "I am beginning to suspect that I am not in the Green Hornet movie."
Dyeing for Your Art: Seth Rogen trimmed down noticeably for this role, even looking a bit gaunt after his 11-day coma (though that's probably down to lighting).
Old Shame: Nicolas Cage was initially cast as Chudnofsky, but dropped out. He intended to play the role with a Jamaican accent, much to Michel Gondry's dismay.
Michel Gondry was initially set to direct the film for Universal Pictures back in 1997, for what was to be his directorial debut. The script was written by Edward Neumeier and featured a villain who ate human hearts. Gondry initially wanted Vince Vaughn for the lead, but the parts of Britt and Kato were offered to Mark Wahlberg and Jason Scott Lee.
After the rights to the property were purchased by Miramax in 2001, Kevin Smith was attached to write and direct the film in 2004, with Jake Gyllenhaal in the lead. The story had Britt Reid and Kato as old men in retirement, with Britt Reid, Jr. a.k.a. Green Hornet II (Gyllenhaal) and Kato's daughter donning their fathers' masks to combat a new evil. Smith pulled out of directing, due to an insecurity of directing with such a large budget. He stayed on as writer, and wrote two drafts, but with no further progress with the script, the rights were let go, and purchased by Columbia Pictures. Then, Seth Rogen became attached to star, and write a completely different screenplay. Smith's screenplay was adapted into a comic book miniseries, called Green Hornet: Sins of the Father, published by Dynamite before the movie's release.
In late 2008, Stephen Chow was set to direct and co-star as Kato. However, creative differences prevented him from doing so. Although, for a while, it seemed he was still set to play Kato when Michel Gondry became attached. Rogen stated the reason for Chow's departure, was that the director wanted Kato to implant Britt with a microchip and control him with a joystick, something Rogen wasn't keen on.
Throw It In!: Jay Chou improvised the "I don't want to touch you" line seen in the trailer.
