Green Lantern Movie Casting
by Shawn Lampron | Monday, July 13, 2009
A few eons ago in online writing terms, I wrote a quick article on Green Lantern, detailing the excellent storylines being pumped out by its scribe Geoff Johns. I’ve extolled Green Lantern and Captain America alternately on GeekForceFive, holding them as virtuous examples of how mainstream comics can be critically and commercially successful. Since my innocent meanderings, the murmurs of a Green Lantern movie have risen to a veritable geek crescendo as the casting news shifted this movie from a probably to a definite. What I’ll be doing within this article is looking at the unlikely quartet who allegedly made it to the final four for the portrayal of this hero, as well as the character himself, Hal Jordan.
Hal Jordan
While being called Green Lantern is analogous to being called “cop,” given the number of Green Lanterns in the Green Lantern Corps, Hal Jordan has always been the quintessential bearer of the moniker. The son of a pilot who became a pilot himself, Hal Jordan is usually depicted as shown above. He’s a white male with brown wavy hair who appears to be anywhere from thirty to forty depending on the artist. Just as important as his physical depiction is the attitude. Hal is usually shown to have a willingness to take quick action, even erring towards recklessness at times. Strong-headed, he has a touch of arrogance that can annoy others, but helps fuel his powers. Green Lantern rings are powered by will, so if you believe you’re the man and you can do anything, the ring will respond.
The Three Runners-Up
Proving once again that some studio execs just don’t get it, a group was reported to be pushing strongly for a Justin Timberlake version of Green Lantern. Even if this man had never been a Michael Jackson wannabe in the whitest boy band ever, I would never be able to shake the image of Justin crying while getting Punk’d by Ashton Kutcher on MTV. Clearly, this isn’t the man to fit the image and the rugged manliness of one Hal Jordan. I could rail on this all day, but I’ll just let his brooding man-boy mug tell the story.
Another pretty boy, but I will admit that I have a soft spot for Jared Leto. Discounting that he’s reportedly one of the biggest man-whores in Hollywood, I have a great deal of respect for him as an actor. He’s been in Requiem for a Dream, Fight Club, and has even brushed up on his chops by portraying Mark David Chapman. To top it all off, I actually like his band 30 Seconds to Mars. However, despite the fact that he’s age-appropriate for the role, the Dorian Gray-style deal he made with the Devil has left him unable to age like normal human beings. Also, I can’t really see him as carrying that rugged flyboy swagger.
Out of the final four, this is the man I was hoping would carry home the crown, but alas, he lost out. I will admit that I haven’t seen The Hangover, but Wedding Crashers is a raunchy comedy that is near and dear to me. In it, Bradley Cooper shows the sort of brash asshole edge that an actor would need to portray Hal Jordan. This is a man I could envision getting a Dishonorable Discharge from the Air Force for slugging his superior officer. Hell, he’s even got the hair. Alas, it was not to be. For those who haven’t heard, the winner was:
As I remarked on Twitter, it must be a new requirement that every comic series inject Ryan Reynolds into a role. Many other fans are trying to play the voice of reason, stating that it’s no big deal that he portrayed Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine and will get his own vehicle for that character. However, many of those geeks are forgetting that Ryan was also in an awful little movie that served as the end piece for the Blade series. While not precisely canon, Blade was another Marvel vehicle. Apparently, Ryan Reynolds won’t be happy until he makes every geek on the planet miserable with envy: he has killer abs, is portraying every badass comic character he can get his grimy hands upon, and gets to hump Scarlet Johansson without getting slapped with a restraining order or a lawsuit.
While I’m not thrilled by how this exciting little brawl turned out, I can whisper to myself in the dark of the night, “At least it wasn’t Joey Fatone.”
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