Green Lantern Update: Main Cast & Villain Switch?

[ad4m22]

A fair few months ago, we brought you the news (http://www.movie-moron.com/?p=9265)of the main characters to be expected to take part in the upcoming superhero flick Green Lantern. Well, now we can reveal to you the actors cast in those roles.

Hal Jordan/ Green Lantern



This one has been known about the longest. Ryan Reynolds, Wolverine's Deadpool, is going to step into the green-and-black spandex for the title role. It makes sense - he's a very good actor with a variety of roles under his belt. Hell, Deadpool was on screen for all of three minutes and became easily the best part of Wolverine, thanks entirely to Reynolds' impressive handling of a terrible script.



Carol Ferris



Hal Jordan's boss/ love interest will be played by Blake Lively, best known for playing Serena van der Woodsen in TV's Gossip Girl.



Hector Hammond



In talks for the role of love rival/ drooling psychic supervillain is Peter Sarsgaard, best known for Orphan and the forthcoming Knight & Day. Should be interesting to see how he manages to inflate his head to play the role properly.



Now for the most interesting bits of news trivia: director Martin Campbell (GoldenEye, Casino Royale) revealed in a video interview that Watchmen/ A Nightmare On Elm Street's Jackie Earl Haley is not in the running to be Sinestro, the series' most prominent villain. Instead, he wants Mark Strong as his Sinestro.



Mark Strong was most recently on screens in Guy Ritchie's flawed-but-so-much-fun-it-was-kind-of-forgivable Sherlock Holmes, where he became such a good villain it was a shame he wasn't used more. BUT! Here's another interesting tidbit of information - Martin Campbell has hinted that Sinestro won't be the chief antagonist in the first film. Instead, it stands to reason that Hector Hammond will be the baddie - for the first film at least - with Sinestro slowly being corrupted throughout the proceedings. This works well with us, and any opportunity to see Mark Strong as a villain is always a plus.



The quote that dropped the hint:

"I think it will stick closely to the origin story, but we all know Sinestro, for an example, is a character who goes over to the dark side, and of course, Carol, played by Blake Lively, in later versions becomes a bad guy as well. I think people will be able to see forward to the characters that in the comic went on to (become bad guys)... but people will be ahead of us on all that I think."

This leaves the role of Hal Jordan's mentor Abin Sur currently unfilled. I'd go for Ben Kingsely - he was in Bloodrayne and The Love Guru, he's gotta be going cheap. Plus he's bald.



But Campbell has let slip yet another piece of information - two of The Green Lantern Corps (the good guys) alien team members are going to be in the movie, Kilowog and Tomar-Re. This is especially confusing considering that Kilowog looks like this:



And Tomar-Re looks like this:



This is clearly going to be set in a very different world to the ones set up by Iron Man and The Dark Knight. Luckily, Campbell knows how tough selling this movie to those without access to Wikipedia is going to be:

"Kilowog will be... Tomar-Re is in it. Sinestro is in it. Abin Sur is in it. All the origin people. Carol, of course... All the main characters are there, and it's a complex story. The origin story of Green Lantern is complex, probably one of the most complex, which makes it a challenge to get it right."

Source: http://splashpage.mtv.com/2010/01/15/exclusive-green-lantern-director-says-mark-strong-in-talks-to-play-sinestro-confirms-kilowog-more/, http://www.superherohype.com/news/greenlanternnews.php?id=8993

[dnwilliams]

This is clearly going to be set in a very different world to the ones set up by Iron Man.

DIFFERENT UNIVERSE MAN!

[Sheridan Passell]

MAAASSSSOOOONNN!

[ad4m22]

I know, Marvel/ DC. Using it as an example of a superhero grounded in reality. Not a cock-up. Mah!

[dnwilliams]

Fair enough. But Thor is technically an alien, so Iron Man will be interacting with unreal things quite soon...

[dalmatianjaws]

I thought Thor was a god? Or was that you?

[dnwilliams]

I thought Thor was a god? Or was that you?

Thor *is* a god, but your interpretation of 'god' is allowed to be fluid. As a god his powers are magic based, and any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. This line of reasoning allows Thor to be a wielder of technology so sophisticated we cannot undrstand it. As for his heavenly realm, it can be another planet or dimension. It's been this way in the comics for a while, and I expect Tony Stark will rationalise like this in the movies at some point in a science/faith argument a la Locke and Jack.

[Marvel's Kevin] Feige was asked if it will be difficult to meld the fantasy of Thor with the high-tech science fiction in Iron Man and The Avengers. "No," he said, "because we're doing the Jack Kirby/Stan Lee/Walt Simonson/J. Michael Straczynski 'Thor.' We're not doing the blow-the-dust-off-of-the-old-Norse-book-in-your-library 'Thor.' And in the 'Thor' of the Marvel Universe, there's a race called the Asgardians. And we're linked through this Tree of Life that we're unaware of. It's real science, but we don't know about it yet. The 'Thor' movie is about teaching people that."

You've seen Stargate right? Gods as Aliens? Like that.

Oh, and, alleged Kilowog, Abin Sur and Tomar Re concept art has leaked:

[Sheridan Passell]

Gods as Aliens?

Knowing.

[dnwilliams]

Haven't seen that movie but I take it you're trying to belittle the Thor mythos by comparing it to a Nic Cage movie. Your mind tricks won't work on me, Passell!

[dalmatianjaws]

So basically, it's Thor without any good reason to be Thor. Why not just "Alien Man"  That's a good title.

With Brananagh in charge, trust me, he will look god-like and strut around spouting tedious monologues.

[Sheridan Passell]

Concept art is looking pretty good. Kilowog should be wearing sandles - at least - or his feet will get cold.

[twaddington]

I'm surprised Branagh didn't cast himself as Thor, knowing his ego.

[dnwilliams]

So basically, it's Thor without any good reason to be Thor. Why not just "Alien Man"

You're missing the point - he is ABSOLUTELY the god. It's your perception of what a god is that's getting in the way of you realising that...
A god and an alien, by definition, are both beings not of this world, often with power beyond our understanding. Asgardians have godlike powers, they are the Norse pantheon of myth.

[dalmatianjaws]

Oh, alright, I get what you're saying.

So basically, it's Thor without any good reason to be Thor. Why not just "Alien Man"  That's a good title.

[Sheridan Passell]

Wait, am I in a time loop again? Is this The Matrix?

[dnwilliams]

My palm is firmly on my face.

[dalmatianjaws]

[Sheridan Passell]

Pure genius.

[Sheridan Passell]

Poor Adam Mason. Doesn't deserve this at all.

[dnwilliams]

You guys made my day.