One of the gaping blemishes that was staring at us in Seth Rogen‘s The Green Hornet, was that it looked like Nicolas Cage was going to be signing on as the villain in the movie. Cage’s star has steadily declined over the years, and though he does still have shining moments, more often than not, his effect is of the negative type.

Now comes word from Nikki Finke that not only is Cage stepping away from this project, but that Inglourious Basterd favorite Christoph Waltz has now been cast in his place, playing the role of Chudnofsky. Waltz is a relatively unknown here in the States, but with his eye-catching turn as Nazi Colonel Hans Landa in Basterds — a role that already has most saying will snag him an Oscar nomination — this is huge step up from Cage. And even though he’s not instantly-recognizable here, keep in mind that Waltz has almost 100 IMDB listings dating back to 1977 (mostly in foreign productions), so he has all kinds of experience in his trade.

The Green Hornet has seen about as many ups and downs as a film project can see before its release. To its credit, it has fought and fought to keep moving forward, and all of the puzzle pieces seem to be falling nicely into place. If you’re out of the loop on the story so far, you can catch up here.

As it stands now, the movie is being directed by visonary film maker Michel Gondry, and it stars Rogen, Jay Chou, Cameron Diaz, Edward James Olmos, and now Waltz. After a recent five-month delay, it is currently looking at a December 17, 2010 release date.