The studio and producer Neal Moritz are in the process of setting a new director to keep the picture on track to begin production by spring.

The character began on radio in the 1930s and is best known from the '60s TV version. But a bigscreen translation is having a long gestation, going through many incarnations, including as a proposed George Clooney vehicle.

Chow, who directed and starred in "Kung Fu Hustle" and "Shaolin Soccer, signed in September to direct the film and play the role originated in the TV series by "Bruce Lee. He stepped out as director over creative differences.

The film was scripted by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, and Rogen is starring as the masked crime fighter. The script will likely be polished, and a director could be in place by year's end.

Creative differences in this case being Stephen probably wanted to make this more of a comedy venture than Rogan had planned. Actually, I doubt if these guys know what direction they want to take this movie in. An action comedy? A serious action movie? Who knows. The two have different styles when it comes to writing comedy, so it was more than likely they couldn't come to an agreement on what the hell it is they want the picture to be. Not that big of a deal since Chow is still in the movie as Kato and I'm sure will be lending his skills to the fighting sequences.