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Why Green Lantern won't be a cheesefest; plus, the villain!
Director Martin Campbell (Casino Royale) talked with us for the first time about his upcoming Green Lantern movie, a live-action adaptation of the DC Comics series, starring Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively. Even with a mythology set on other planets and dealing with extraterrestrial forces, Campbell promises to keep the film believable.
Campbell also confirmed that the film would tell the origin story of Hal Jordan and the intended casting of Peter Sarsgaard as the film's villain. "I think he's contracted," Campbell said. "I'm not sure if negotiations have been complete, but he's absolutely who we want."
The director also hinted that he might have plans for an entire trilogy of Green Lantern films. "Oh, sure," he said. "Well, it's like Sam Raimi on Spider-Man, isn't it?"
The movie centers on Hal Jordan, a test pilot who becomes a guardian of Earth by wielding a ring that can create material manifestations of the wielder's choosing. That might seem as fanciful as you can get, but Campbell explained how he feels reality can exist within superhero stories.
"I think the thing to do is keep a sense of reality about it," Campbell said in an exclusive interview Saturday in Santa Monica, Calif., where he was promoting the thriller Edge of Darkness. "Any time we talk about it, we sit in meetings, we have a cheese meter. We talk about de-cheesing any scene. So it's quite funny. We've all sort of got a sort of cheese meter where that becomes our sort of yardstick in terms of keeping it, giving it some sense of reality."
Campbell added: "So often in these superhero movies, nobody seems to get hurt. I remember seeing Wolverine, and he picks people up and hurls them 100 yards into a brick wall. These people, apparently unhurt, sort of get up and continue to fight just as strongly as they did before. Well, there's something absurd about that, in my opinion."
Portraying the green manifestations of the ring would be a new step for visual effects, but it's all based on character. "Well, of course it's willpower drives the rings and forms the constructs via the ring," Campbell said. "I think he's the only superhero that does that."
Campbell was attached to a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds for the Platinum Dunes production company but said that he had to leave that project to do Green Lantern. "I passed on that to do Green Lantern," Campbell said. "It's still with Universal."
Green Lantern is due out in 2011.
By Falconer at 1:04 PM ON 01/18/10
Well! That certainly is encouraging. And so refreshing to find a director who actually CARES about the quality of the storytelling. Unless Martin Campbell is just stringing us along to create false confidence in his work. Remember his declarations, fans, when the movie finally comes out!
By Stopthemadness at 1:27 PM ON 01/18/10
I can't tell if this is really encouraging or not. How exactly does he expect to maintain realizism with a character that receives his power ring from an alien? When Hal Jordan meets the Guardians will they be a bunch of old guys with thinning hairlines in Queens rather than the little blue guys from another planet? Yes, Green Lantern should have a solid story with good characters, but also maintain what it really should be, a comic book superhero steep in cosmic conflict and special effects. All I'm saying is that the director shouldn't take the movie too serious and make it entertaining. Batman and Iron Man does not have to be the template for all comic book movies.
By IronOre at 1:38 PM ON 01/18/10
I liked the director's comment about being hurled into a wall. If someone did that to me, I'd lay there for a while thinking about my life choices, if I was still alive that is.
By Dreamtime909 at 1:49 PM ON 01/18/10
I sure hope that cheese meter detects all types of cheese. It would be a shame if it didn't detect, say, Limburger and the movie turned out to be a real stinker.
By melsner at 1:55 PM ON 01/18/10
usually i say give the director some slack... but the fanboy in me has a couple of quibbles already.
One is that Wolverine and a lot of his foes either have healing factors or invulnerability. Of course they get up after being thrown into a wall. that's sort of the point of "super," at least with their particular powers.
And Green Lantern isn't the only hero who can form constructs... But he's certainly the most well known.
By Joe B. at 2:10 PM ON 01/18/10
This is great to hear! Green Lantern was one of my favorite comic book characters growing up and he deserves to get a good treatment in the movies.
By Paul at 2:12 PM ON 01/18/10
By the way, since the article failed to mention it, the villain is a character named Hector Hammond, a telepath.
By shadow at 2:38 PM ON 01/18/10
Yes stick with story more rather than CGI. People like George Lucas and Michael Bay to name a few, who rely on the WOW factor rather than the real factor, which is a solid base story.
By Jeff at 3:03 PM ON 01/18/10
I just wish movie makers stop trying to make the heroes less powerful and more powerful. With Superman, they do the opposite. they make him literally unbelievably durable in all the movies. On the other hand, the Hulk bleeds and is cut by artillery, something that would never happen in the comics. The TV hulk died falling less than 20 stories from a helicopter. Spiderman on the other hand stops a train, which would rip the comic Spiderman apart just as easily as it would me. Even Superman grunts when he stops trains.
The point is, a guy with a ring that does everything GL's ring does is unbelievable. It's fantasy. No matter how much lipstick you place on it, it's still a fantasy. Roll with it. Be like the Superman movies and let GL fly full force.
I waited 30 years to see a live/CG action Hulk say "Hulk Smash" and do the thunderclap.
The last GL cartoon was pretty darned good. It would be a shame if the live action movie sucked in comparison.
The green lantern's glow has always been equivalent to an exoskeleton in my mind. He shouldn't even need to duck a bullet.
By asocalguy at 3:07 PM ON 01/18/10
@IronOre "I'd lay there for a while thinking about my life choices."
Geez, I do that every morning, let alone after being hurled into a brick wall.
By Todd at 4:41 PM ON 01/18/10
I agree totally with the comment about the last GL cartoon. "First Flight" was fantastic, and didn't really dwell too much on the origin story; in fact, the origin story was over in the first five minutes. The rest of the movie was pretty much a science fiction cop story with one hell of an action ending.
If Martin Campbell approaches this movie with the same care that Lauren Montgomery did for FF, then it should be in good hands. We'll see. I know I'll be there opening day.
By demoncat at 6:53 PM ON 01/18/10
as long as Martin tries to stay true to the core of green latern can not wait to see how he brings dc fourth big gun to the screen and also the se to bring the power ring to life. not to mention how sinestro will look like on screen. the worse it does well and leads to a jl movie team up
By blear at 8:22 PM ON 01/18/10
The point being that a fantasy character can FEEL real, be human, emote, and tell a story is the real point. No, creating giant green hammers with your alien jewelry is not real, and never will be- but if the motivations are relatable, the REAL story can shine through the effects.+
By hermy at 8:48 PM ON 01/18/10
With blackest night in full swing.i really can't wait for the movie.but unlike alot of fans who just can't wait to rip apart every little crumb of info that comes out about the movie.i'm just going to wait untill the silly thing comes out before i make a judgment
By skyhawk at 9:24 PM ON 01/18/10
okay what's wth the spam?
By Capt Hal Jordan at 10:48 PM ON 01/18/10
they need to stay true to the story..the script have been written for them for 40+ years, no need to re-imagine it. The costume and ring have been set for over 40+ years, no need to re-imagine it. I HATE when take liberties with a character and f*ck it up beyond belief.
By Wofltech at 1:11 AM ON 01/19/10
Bah. Its Hal Jordan. Everyone knows the REAL Green Lantern is Alan Scott. All the rest are just tired retreads.
By AngryJonny at 2:48 AM ON 01/19/10
Um, Wofltech, are you in your seventies?
By malohombre at 10:19 AM ON 01/19/10
I caught the Green Lantern First Flight cartoon over the weekend on cartoon network and the fight between Green Lantern and Sinestro was kickass.I was more into it than my son.
By frostygus at 11:29 AM ON 01/19/10
ALL science fiction / fantasy requires a suspension of disbelief. A super-human is exactly as unbelievable as a spacship flying at many times the speed of light. But I'll happily swallow either for the sake of a good story. What matters isn't the setting, but whether or not the reaction of the characters TO the setting is believable.
By guave at 12:03 PM ON 01/19/10
I love the fact that there is a live-action comic book director that actually is putting thought behind each scene...
But I'm more concerned about the talk of doing a remake of Hitchcock's The Birds... please leave the classics alone!!
By Parallaxmjm at 12:03 PM ON 01/19/10
Hammond is only a secondary villain though, Legion is the primary one. I think Campbell will do a good job staying true to the source material. Hopefully, his comments about Mark Strong being a possibility for Sinestro will come to pass instead of Jackie Earle Haley.
By Rudysan at 6:44 PM ON 01/19/10
Blackest Night! Sequel. Pls.
By hermy at 7:35 PM ON 01/19/10
As much as i like your enthusiasm Rudysan.lets not get ahead of ourselves.they need to tell a really good origin story first.lets face it.most of the people who will see this aren't comic geeks.so they need to get up to speed on who he is first.
By Jules Winnfield at 9:18 PM ON 01/19/10
I just want to know how they're going to sneak in a boxing glove GL makes with his ring. You know they have to put one in the movie.
By Zathras at 1:56 AM ON 01/20/10
Still bummed that they chose Ryan Reynolds for the part. Don't think he has the chops for it. Nathan Fillion would've been a better choice and bring more sarcasm/attitude to the role . If you haven't already checked out the Green Lantern trailer featuring Nathan on Youtube, check it out. It's pretty darn good for a faux trailer made by a fan. If only it wasn't too late to recast Nathan as Hal...
By hermy at 7:40 PM ON 01/20/10
I think people need to get over Nathan Fillion not being cast as Hal.Yes i think he would be great.but Ryan Reynolds is a bigger name.and the proposal was a big hit.so the the suits are thinking a name who will put butts in seats.maybe they should release Ryan's screen test.and maybe people will change there minds. Everybody thought WTF when they cast Heath Ledger as the joker.and he won an Oscar
By John Duncan Yoyo at 6:45 PM ON 01/23/10
To @hermy Who the hell is Ryan Reynolds? Never heard of him. He looks good in the mask though.
By Mr.E at 9:36 PM ON 01/23/10
I can't wait for this movie! Geoff Johns, the current GL writer is also writing the movie's script! The only thing I'm dreading is having to sit through the origin story again! I know it by heart, but oh well.
By Bob at 1:54 PM ON 01/25/10
@Mr.E: I don't know where you heard that, but IMDB says that the screenplay is being written by Greg Berlanti, Michael Green, and Marc Guggenheim.
@Duncan Yoyo: See http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005351/ for Reynolds' filmography.
@Jules Winnfield: WIsh I knew where this "green boxing glove" idea came from. I've read almost every Green Lantern story from 1959 to 1993, and I only remember three or four times that Hal created a boxing glove. Green Arrow, on the other hand, was famous for his "boxing glove arrows" before his makeover in 1969.
@Parallaxmjm: I think that the Legion idea was scrapped. That's OK with me, because after "Emerald Twilight" and Peter David's arc in Action Comics Weekly, "Emerald Dawn" was my least favorite GL story ever.
@Stopthemadness: You make a good point, but there's a difference between "realism" and "believability." It's possible to make unrealistic things believable, and I'm hoping that's what they'll do in this film.
By Movie downloads at 4:52 AM ON 02/07/10
Iron Man was also a 2nd or 3rd tier Marvel hero until the movie came out. Aside from the not so great casting, I think this has potential to make Green Lantern a much more mainstream superhero
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