"Sh*t," our dads say… "Seth Rogen and Michel Gondry making a Green Hornet film?"

Ridiculing Seth Rogen's Green Hornet movie has become almost de rigueur among both fans and journos alike. And yes, we've engaged in the practice ourselves, doubting Thomases that we are. Something about the idea of funny-man Seth Rogen playing Britt Reid, aka Green Hornet, just strikes us as the worst example of miscasting. Then there's been the continual inferences (and Rogen's participation doesn't help here, either) that the film would be a send-up of the property, doing for The Green Hornet what director Todd Phillips did (or undid) for 2004's Starsky & Hutch—turn it into a farcical mockery of itself.

Add to that the seemingly continual problems that have plagued the production, beginning with Stephen Chow's exit from the project both as an actor (he was slated to play Kato) and as director. One wonders if Chow didn't get the early memo that this was perhaps planned from the get as a goofball comedy.

It's all enough to make any filmmaker a bit sensitive, and sensitive is precisely what Green Hornet director Michel Gondry has become, or so it would seem. Unfortunately, in his earnestness to plead the case for his new film, he's only ended up leaving us with more doubts.

Speaking at the South by Southwest film festival in Austin, Texas, Gondry previewed his vision for The Green Hornet, and remarked that while it would be more conventional than some of his quirkier past efforts such as Be Kind Rewind, it would still offer his trademark style.

"I think the way the action unfolds, there is a sort of sense of geometry in the dynamics in the scenes," Gondry told SCI FI Wire in an exclusive interview on Sunday. "I think that corresponds pretty much to my style."

But when elaborating on his vision, Gondry took exception to those who have been criticizing him for veering from early source material, some of which can be legitimately found in 'Green Hornet' comics dating back to the '40s…which Gondry apparently believes don't exist.

According to the director, who seems to hold the opinion that the original radio series is the only legitimate basis for the movie, there's really no comic-book for the character at all. "Let's set the record straight," Gondry said. "There is no comic book of the Green Hornet, so I don't want people to tell me, 'You didn't respect the comic book,' because I dare them to show me the comic book. I know that Kevin Smith did one lately. It's probably great, but that's his vision. There's no right to claim Green Hornet is a comic-book figure. It's a radio show to start with, and ... a TV show from the '60s, so that's what there is. If people think we owe to follow the rule of a comic book, there is no comic book of The Green Hornet, so f--k that. I'm sorry, but I don't owe anything to any aficionado of the comic book. I'm doing a film."

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In his apparent frustration, Gondry seems to be talking out of both sides of his mouth here, on the one hand saying "there is no comic book of The Green Hornet, so f--k that," then turning around in the very next sentence and saying, "I'm sorry, but I don't owe anything to any aficionado of the comic book," which would seem to suggest that he's simultaneously acknowledging the existence of the comics.

Sorry, Mr. Gondry, but the character has appeared in a variety of media, including film serials in the 1940s, a network television program in the 1960s, and, yes, multiple comic book series from the 1940s to the 1990s, including Helnit's version which began in 1940, Harvey Comics version in the same year, Dell Comics one-shot with the character in 1946, Gold Key Comics version based on the TV show in 1967, and NOW Comics version in 1989.

Frankly, it's a ridiculous claim. It would be like Christopher Nolan suggesting that the only version of Batman that should be drawn upon is the original Bob Kane iteration, and ignoring everything that appeared subsequently, much of which improved upon Kane's original vision. Green Hornet became much more than just those early radio plays.

More proof that Gondry and Rogen have no clue what they're doing? Or that Gondry is merely blowing smoke to cover for the fact that he's planning a farce? According to the SCI FI Wire report, the director openly stated that Green Hornet would present a lighter comedic touch that's been missing from recent comic book movies.

In reality, most of the recent comic book movies have most certainly featured light comedic touches, from Spider-Man to Batman Begins. One assumes Gondry has something more in-your-face in mind. Is this more evidence of a full-on screaming spoof? It's hard to say — and that might be too harsh an assessment —  but with comments like these and Rogen as Green Hornet, that's the fear, one that frankly hasn't been assuaged much by Gondry's apparent ignorance of the property's history.

The Green Hornet opens Dec. 22.