Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively to Start in Green Lantern Movie

Ryan Reynolds, who played the Marvel comics anti-hero Deadpool in the 2009 theatrical release of Wolverine, has signed on to play Hal Jordan (aka the Green Lantern) in Warner Brothers' latest attempt to cash in on Hollywood's love affair with the superhero genre. Set for release in June of 2011, the movie will co-star Gossip Girl's Blake Lively as Green Latern's love interest Carol Ferris.

Though over the years the name Green Lantern has applied to various members of the intergalactic police force known as the Green Lantern Corps, Reynolds will be playing the role Hal Jordan, a former Air Force test pilot who was selected to join the Corps for his sterling character and fearlessness. First introduced to the comic book world in DC comics Showcase #22 (1959), Jordan has the privilege of wearing the Green Lantern power ring while playing guardian to Earth's sector of the universe. In a nod to the success of the 2008 hit Iron Man, Reynolds has said "I think you walk away from this first film, and the moments that you remember and the moments that mean so much to you, not unlike Iron Man, are the moments where the guy's not in the suit."

Lively has been cast by director Martin Campbell to play Carol Ferris, Vice President of Ferris aerospace, and the women who hires Jordan to be a test pilot. Aside from being Jordan's romantic interest in the comics, Ferris later becomes super villainess Star Sapphire.

Besides Reynolds and Lively, the movie will also feature Peter Sarsgaard as one of the movie's villain, Dr. Hector Hammond. Hammond will be endowed with psychic powers, courtesy of a meteor he discovers. Other characters scripted to make an appearance in the movie are Sinestro, the arch-nemesis of the whole Green Lantern Corps, and Abin Sur, the Green Lantern who picks Hal Jordan to be the next Green Lantern.

While script writer Marc Guggenheim has been mum about the project, he has let it known that the script plans to be true to the comic book rendition of the character, stating "This is all about 'How do we bring the best version of this character to the silver screen?'"Guggenheim added that his script will have several decades of comic book story lines to "cherry pick" from.

While the movie was first scheduled to be shot in Sydney Australia in November of 2009, increasing production costs estimates have persuaded Warner Brothers to move the set. Currently the proposed location for filming will be in Mexico, and the shooting is schedule to start in March of 2010.

Sources:

Kits, Borys, "Peter Sarsgaard to play "Green Lantern" villain," www.news.yahoo.com

www.green-lantern.moviechronicles.com/

www.superherohype.com/news/greenlanternnews/