Why John Woo's Kato Movie Never Happened (& Why It Should Have)
John Woo came close to directing a Kato movie in the '90s that would've starred Phillip Rhee, but it sadly never happened, even though it should have. John Woo is a highly respected action filmmaker all around the world, rising to fame in Hong Kong with hits like Bullet in the Head and Hard Boiled. Rhee is also known as the face of the Best of the Best series of martial arts films, so bringing the two together for a Kato movie would seem like a match made in heaven.
Speaking to Scott Adkins on The Art of Action, Rhee said that in the '90s, he'd written a script for a Kato movie, though it "had nothing to do with The Green Hornet". Rhee explained following 1993's Best of the Best 2, some producers took interest in his script, including Oliver Stone. This led to Rhee eventually signing a three-picture deal with Warner Bros. to include the Kato project.
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However, when John Woo was brought aboard as director by Rhee's writing partner, Rhee said that Warner Bros., seemingly perplexed by John Woo's movie work at the time, balked at him as the choice of director. As Rhee said, he felt that the studio's outlook on Woo was "disrespectful" and "They didn't offer him a lot of money." This ultimately led to Rhee's Kato project not moving forward, while Rhee further explained that Universal then approached Woo with an offer to direct the Jean-Claude Van Damme action movie Hard Target, which Woo accepted (Adkins himself would later lead the 2016 sequel Hard Target 2, directed by Roel Reine.)
It's not fully clear from Rhee's comment on Kato's lack of connection to The Green Hornet whether his script simply didn't involve the Green Hornet and focused on
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