LAUREN MONTGOMERY: Were actually having a lot of fun trying different artistic styles on different movies Bruce felt his style has been done enough, and I just had my turn plus I knew there were many other character designers who are infinitely better at designing aliens that I am. We were lucky to get Jose Lopez to create the characters for Green Lantern. I think he even took a pay cut from his last job to do Green Lantern, but this project really allows him to let his animation go wild. Youve never seen anything like some of his designs for this film. His take on the familiar characters is fairly true to form, but hes designed literally an entire universe of completely new characters in the different Green Lanterns, aliens and background characters. There are a lot of awesome, fantastical creatures. Like
me, Jose is trained in animation instead of comics, so his style really lends itself to being animated and everything he's done has looked spectacular. I think it's really looking different from anything we've ever done.
QUESTION: Did Jose ever over-step any boundaries and need to be reined in?
LAUREN MONTGOMERY: Actually, his first designs were a little too stylized. For the main characters, the designs were a little too streamlined we had to make Sinestro more like the comics. But once he got that figured out, he really went crazy. It was exciting to see him come in with these characters. Even his Weaponer designer is far different than what weve seen before, but DC was okay with it. So we just let him run wild.
QUESTION: Were there any beyond-the-norm issues strategizing a color scheme for a film with an entire army of characters wearing the same color?
LAUREN MONTGOMERY: We tried desperately to avoid as much green as we could in backgrounds and supporting characters, so the Green Lanterns and the rings and their effects were the only green portions of the scene. We also tried to stay away from copious amounts of yellow so that would make an impact later in the film. When you eliminate two of the main colors, it kind of limits you, so we had to utilize a lot of shades of blue, red and orange, and I think we were able to make it work. It was a really wise decision on Bruce's part to keep the green and the yellow to the characters that were defined by that color.
QUESTION: Did you learn anything directing Wonder Woman that you were able to apply and/or improve upon for Green Lantern: First Flight?
LAUREN MONTGOMERY: Wonder Woman taught me that you can't board the whole movie by yourself (she laughs), so I just let my storyboard artists do their job on Green Lantern. I let them come up with their ideas and I focused on keeping everything cohesive. Ultimately, I think the movie is better for it. I guess I learned to be more relaxed and to not be such a control freak. Which I think is good (laughs again). It certainly made my work load a lot easier.
QUESTION: How much origin story should Green Lantern fans expect to see?
LAUREN MONTGOMERY: As we had already done the origin story a few movies back in Justice League: The New Frontier, we really didn't want to spend a whole lot of time telling that same story over again. So in Green Lantern: First
Flight, the origin story is over and done before the opening credits. That way we get right into Hal Jordans first adventure.
QUESTION: What do the four main voice cast members bring to their roles?
LAUREN MONTGOMERY: Christopher Meloni is a very serious actor and really got into the character to understand all the little nuances of exactly what Hal was thinking at every moment. He would ask very interesting, detailed, unexpected questions so he could totally get the mind set, and in doing so he was able to deliver an incredible performance that that really defines Hal as a confident hero, but not cocky or a jerk. Hal Jordan has a humor to him that isn't quite as big as the Flash, but still not stiff like Batman. Christopher was able to give us that fun side of Hal, too.