Cage in talks for 'Green Hornet' villain

Rex Features

Nicolas Cage is circling the villain role in comic book adventure The Green Hornet.

According to Variety, the Knowing star is in early talks to portray a gangster who goes up against Seth Rogen's masked crimefighter.

It has also been confirmed that Cameron Diaz is in discussions to play the love interest, a reporter who works for the newspaper owned by the Hornet's alter ego Britt Reid.

The superhero film, which Columbia Pictures has scheduled for a July 9, 2010 release, will be directed by Michel Gondry (Be Kind Rewind) from a script by Rogen and Evan Goldberg.