Official Green Lantern Casting and Discussion Thread

[Brendan]

I put these ones on another thread:

Wentworth Miller as Hal Jordan

Jordana Brewster as Carol Ferris

Leonard Roberts as John Stewart

I also like the idea of Hugo Weaving as Sinestro

 

[Superman Pwnage]

Why? because of the JLU on cartoon network which they cancelled, and if it was from that okay so that means young kids would only know that John Stewart was GL. Now that show is not on anymore and those same kids who liked GL go to a comic book store ask for a GL comic book and guess what they will Hal Jordan on the cover not John Stewart. So when they do this movie Green Lantern will be Hal Jordan :gl:

If JLU is long forgotten, why'd they put John Stewart in the video game?

They didnt even allow for other Lanterns as hidden replacement characters.

Clearly WB is still pushing John Stewart as GL. He's also the face of GL at all WB's amusement parks.

 

[Brendan]

I think if they were to ever make a series, they should introduce Hal Jordan as the Green Lantern first, and then go straight to having John Stewart to take his place.

Hal Jordan has a lot of good character development and an interesting origin. It would be a shame if they never use him.

 

[Superman Pwnage]

I agree. I like Hal too, and I know what they SHOULD do....

But I'm just stating what they likely WILL do..

 

[Katsuro]

The truth of the matter is, a Hal Jordan would make infinitely more sense as a film than a John Stewart movie would, unless significant changes take place. Seriously, do most people know John's origin? It would not work for a first Green Lantern movie.

Hal's classic Abin Sur origin would be perfect. It would need practically no changing, and would work beautifully on screen. Even Kyle's could work, in a sort of Star Wars: A New Hope type of way. Of course, i'd prefer they do the Hal story first, end it with Parralax, then do a Kyle Rayner movie where he fights Parralax who redeems himself to become the Spectre. John and Guy could possibly make appearances, but they just wouldn't have any real purpose. I cant see what they'd contribute to the overall story, especially John. Seriously, has John ever even had his own book? Hal, Kyle, and Alan all had their own Green Lantern book for some time, Kyle is doing Ion right now, Guy is the focus of the current Green Lantern Corps. book, but has John ever been the main focus of a running series? correct me if i'm wrong.

 

[greenlantern248]

The truth of the matter is, a Hal Jordan would make infinitely more sense as a film than a John Stewart movie would, unless significant changes take place. Seriously, do most people know John's origin? It would not work for a first Green Lantern movie.

Hal's classic Abin Sur origin would be perfect. It would need practically no changing, and would work beautifully on screen. Even Kyle's could work, in a sort of Star Wars: A New Hope type of way. Of course, i'd prefer they do the Hal story first, end it with Parralax, then do a Kyle Rayner movie where he fights Parralax who redeems himself to become the Spectre. John and Guy could possibly make appearances, but they just wouldn't have any real purpose. I cant see what they'd contribute to the overall story, especially John. Seriously, has John ever even had his own book? Hal, Kyle, and Alan all had their own Green Lantern book for some time, Kyle is doing Ion right now, Guy is the focus of the current Green Lantern Corps. book, but has John ever been the main focus of a running series? correct me if i'm wrong.

John had the 3 issue set of Mosaic which did not sell and you could go into any comic book store and get all three of them for like 2 dollars or something. I do know John's origin, Ganthert told Hal he will be chosen and Hal said "Him really?" Ganthert said yes and Hal offered him the ring, that's all.

 

[greenlantern248]

If JLU is long forgotten, why'd they put John Stewart in the video game?

They didnt even allow for other Lanterns as hidden replacement characters.

Clearly WB is still pushing John Stewart as GL. He's also the face of GL at all WB's amusement parks.

Yes Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner are both in Justice League Heros as unlockable characters.

I don't know about John being the face of GL's at WB parks cause everytime I go I always see either Hal or Kyle, don't get me wrong every once in a while I will see John but I see the other two more.

 

[Brendan]

Does anyone think Legion should be in the first movie, or would it seem repetitive to have two yellow alien villians and that they should make Legion and Parallex the same?

 

[batbat_29640]

How do you guys feel about the suit beeing a Star Trek TNG type of military suit instead of just tights? If made with a simular material as the Superman Returns outfit it could have a Superhero and alien made look.

 

[jpmuftak]

How do you guys feel about the suit beeing a Star Trek TNG type of military suit instead of just tights? If made with a simular material as the Superman Returns outfit it could have a Superhero and alien made look.

http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/6638/greenlantern5xr3.jpg

 

[batbat_29640]

http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/6638/greenlantern5xr3.jpg

Wow . . that's exactly what I'm not talking about!

 

[Liquid Ice]

I think they should make GL a young John, but have Hal or or Kyle, more likely hal, be a mentor or something. Hal could pass on the Gl duty of earth to John. My vote is Harry hamlin as Hal and I or somebody young and black as John.

 

[ShadowBoxing]

John had the 3 issue set of Mosaic which did not sell and you could go into any comic book store and get all three of them for like 2 dollars or something. I do know John's origin, Ganthert told Hal he will be chosen and Hal said "Him really?" Ganthert said yes and Hal offered him the ring, that's all.

Unless you were planning on giving John, Hal's origin, you really would have trouble basing an entire on John.

 

[batbat_29640]

If the do a Lantern movie then I'm all for Hal. If they try to give Hal's origin to some one else then that would just upset me enough to treat it like a Catwoman movie and refuse to see it whatsoever. I'm proud to say that I still haven't watched Catwoman yet. Hope I never have to.

 

[GL1]

Seriously, has John ever even had his own book? Hal, Kyle, and Alan all had their own Green Lantern book for some time, Kyle is doing Ion right now, Guy is the focus of the current Green Lantern Corps. book, but has John ever been the main focus of a running series? correct me if i'm wrong.

Correct you? Right away: John Stewart starred in "Green Lantern Mosaic" a trippy litte title that sold well despite disagreeing critics and hate from DC Editorial. It was cancelled, and either forgotten or loosely retconned to make way for Kyle.

There's no reason for DC not to use John, honestly... it's not sales, it's not popularity, DC even put two black characters on the JLA to shout out that it's not racism. The only possible explanation is DC wants to be jerks to WB, who own them quite literally.

As for origin, I think the idea of John's Origin being undoable is pretty silly. The only thing mod would be having the Ring come to him on it's own (ala Post Crisis) instead of having someone deliver it to him. He can be trained by anybody, if his very first adventure involves being trained at all.

 

[ShadowBoxing]

Correct you? Right away: John Stewart starred in "Green Lantern Mosaic" a trippy litte title that sold well despite disagreeing critics and hate from DC Editorial. It was cancelled, and either forgotten or loosely retconned to make way for Kyle.

There's no reason for DC not to use John, honestly... it's not sales, it's not popularity, DC even put two black characters on the JLA to shout out that it's not racism. The only possible explanation is DC wants to be jerks to WB, who own them quite literally.

As for origin, I think the idea of John's Origin being undoable is pretty silly. The only thing mod would be having the Ring come to him on it's own (ala Post Crisis) instead of having someone deliver it to him. He can be trained by anybody, if his very first adventure involves being trained at all.

John needs a motivation. At least Hal's origin strikes people as one where his insecurities about himself, his father, and also the fact that he gets it totally by this mix of fate and chance lends itself much more to a movie then "Hi, here is a ring, you're now a Green Lantern".

So unless your planning on developing something totally different, or using the classic Hal Jordan origin, it really won't make for a movie.

Openning scene

Hal Jordan: I'm to find a new Green Lantern.

Guardian: Yes, him...

Hal Jordan: Him really???

Guardian: Yes, him...

Hal Jordan: Okay.
​

Your lucky if the audience hasn't fallen asleep by then. With Hal's origin you get the establishment of why and how the ring is passed down. The audience is going to have trouble getting around the idea of someone just idly being asked to be a Green Lantern, it doesn't drive much attention.

Furthermore, your asking for someone to carry a big responsibility, at the first sign of trouble they have to have a reason to stick it out. Wolverine wanted his memory back. Spider-Man was avenging his uncle. Batman was avenging his parents. Even the Jedi in both series come along only after tragedy has struck.

Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner (although his takes considerably more explanation) have the more interesting origins. Hal Jordan's also provides a much better basis for the why and the how of the ring. Not saying you couldn't make another story that can accomplish the same thing. However, if your making a movie that will appeal to both comic fans and movie goers alike you're treading on thin ice by rewriting any origins.

It's quiet possible DC would use John, or even Kyle over Hal (the last script featured none...it was thankfully dropped). And I would not even be surprised if they gave John Hal's origin either, it would not surprise me (especially since John in the cartoon had several parrallels to Hal Jordan) if they gave him Hal's job, girlfriend or even dead father. Certainly with Catwoman, making characters black is not a problem to them. However John's origin is undoable, don't kid yourself or let fanboyism blind you. John's origin is not like a Wolverine's or a Spider-Man's, it's simply not cinematic. Which in an action movie is key.​

 

[Darthphere]

Im on the Fillion bandwagon.

 

[batbat_29640]

Im on the Fillion bandwagon.

W00T W00T !! Nathan Fillion for Hal Jordan! . . . and Wentworth Miller should be Kyle.

 

[GL1]

John needs a motivation. At least Hal's origin strikes people as one where his insecurities about himself, his father, and also the fact that he gets it totally by this mix of fate and chance lends itself much more to a movie then "Hi, here is a ring, you're now a Green Lantern".

So unless your planning on developing something totally different, or using the classic Hal Jordan origin, it really won't make for a movie...

...Furthermore, your asking for someone to carry a big responsibility, at the first sign of trouble they have to have a reason to stick it out. Wolverine wanted his memory back. Spider-Man was avenging his uncle. Batman was avenging his parents. Even the Jedi in both series come along only after tragedy has struck.

Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner (although his takes considerably more explanation) have the more interesting origins. Hal Jordan's also provides a much better basis for the why and the how of the ring. Not saying you couldn't make another story that can accomplish the same thing. However, if your making a movie that will appeal to both comic fans and movie goers alike you're treading on thin ice by rewriting any origins.

It's quiet possible DC would use John, or even Kyle over Hal (the last script featured none...it was thankfully dropped). And I would not even be surprised if they gave John Hal's origin either, it would not surprise me (especially since John in the cartoon had several parrallels to Hal Jordan) if they gave him Hal's job, girlfriend or even dead father. Certainly with Catwoman, making characters black is not a problem to them. However John's origin is undoable, don't kid yourself or let fanboyism blind you. John's origin is not like a Wolverine's or a Spider-Man's, it's simply not cinematic. Which in an action movie is key.[/LEFT]

I'll do my best to take my fanboyism off, but I do find it interesting that John's origin is repeatedly looked at from Hal's (and the Guardians') perspective... if we were doing John's origin, wouldn't it come from John's perspective?

Well in this we have a down and out talent with a whole mess o' willpower trying to figure out what to do with his life. Here comes the ring, the answer that suddenly turns into a problem and leads him to all this tragedy. If someone has to die in order for it to be cinematic, slide John's little sister's death up the timeline some.

Obviously, John Stewart's origin does need to be expanded upon to fill a two hour movie, but it clearly doesn't require borrowing from Hal or Kyle's origins at all (though, had pondered the slain girlfriend angle)... John's got plenty of juice on his own.

Another key part of John's origin IS why is he selected, and furthermore, why is he any good at this when he by all accounts should not be. You'd think a person who couldn't find a job wouldn't be so healthy on willpower? What is the line between Justice and simple authority? What is the essence of Willpower? What *does* such awesome power do to a person's mindset? Can one really build a better place one contruct at a time? These themes are every bit as worthy as the "essence of fear," something already done superbly by "V for Vendetta" and "Fearless" among others (Batman Begins?). You wouldn't even have to go into Xanshi, Katma, "The Opener of Doors" and all that stuff to have a compelling John Stewart Green Lantern movie... you wouldn't have an "Emerald Dawn" TPB to copy page by page, but all of the pieces are VERY much there.

THAT said, while it CAN be done and done well, I still feel that a Space Epic with John starting rookie, Hal cool and experienced, and a supporting cast of Aline Corps members done right would be far greater than any Solo GL movie could ever hope to be. A Green Lantern Corps Franchise is simply greater all around than the Hal Jordan Franchise for many reasons, just one of which is that it still includes Hal Jordan.

A wise man once said:

don't kid yourself or let fanboyism blind you

I simply offer the same advice.

 

[sepharih]

Hi, first post.

I must say that I’m torn on the issue at hand. First off, to be clear, I have been exposed to only a very small number of comics focused on the Green Lantern, and all of them were of Kyle Rayner. Sadly, they never really clicked with me, and so most of my knowledge of the character as well as Hal Jordan is secondhand.
The majority of my exposure to the Green Lantern has been through the Justice League animated series; where I did manage to click with John Stewart. As such, when I think of a Green Lantern film, John is immediately the character who comes to mind, and if he’s not in the film then, while I’m willing to deal with it, I simply can’t deny that I’m going to be disappointed.

Now, having said that, I can fully understand and sympathize with the people who hate the idea of doing a Green Lantern film which goes straight to John’s story. After all, as a Spider-man fan I know for a fact that I would have a cow if the filmmakers had said “well, we felt it would be best to just skip to Ben Reilly”.

My question is; if this film ever gets made and it winds up being John Stewart who they ultimately decided to focus on, would it be acceptable? It’s axiomatic that the decision would disappoint you if you’re a Hal Jordan fan, but could you still enjoy the movie without crying “BLASPHEMY!” at the decision? Would we have another Organic web shooters fiasco?

Also,

1. I agree with the point about messing with Origins. When it comes to Superheroes there are probably no more defining or crucially important story arcs to tell correctly than their origins, because nearly every crucial detail is typically an intricate part in what ultimately shapes who the character is for all of their stories. As such, changing origins is almost always changing who the characters are.
I also agree that, based on what I’ve read, doing John’s origin from the comics isn’t exactly the most fitting story for a standalone film by itself. That leaves only two options I think.

A. Do John, but integrate his character with aspects of Hal Jordan’s Origin. The biggest problem with this is that they run the risk of not doing John so much as, instead, doing an amalgamation of both characters. This could wind up diluting the unique aspects of the character.

B. Tell a new origin story that we’ve never seen, but which also feels more in the spirit of John’s character. I have to say that I’m actually leaning more towards this option because I think that Wizard’s “Ultimate DC” article outlined the perfect direction for this choice.

Either way, I do recognize that doing John Stewart would be a fairly controversial decision, but my inner fan provokes me to find a way to squeeze him in.

2. I may be missing something crucially important to the representation of the characters (and if so then let me know), and I understand the reasons explained in the comic why John doesn’t wear one, but if the story decides to focus on Hal or Kyle, do they have to wear the masks? Besides the obvious fact that it wouldn’t be a very effective way of concealing their identities (a point which can, admittedly, be overlooked since most of us are able to suspend our disbelief with the Superman/Clark Kent issue) I also don’t really feel it meshes well with the entire aspect of the Green Lantern Corps as I see it. Seeing as how they’re supposedly paragons of the ideals of bravery and justice I think concealing their identities seems contradictory to their entire nature. I also just think the uniform looks more dignified without it.

 

[greenlantern248]

Hi, first post.

I must say that I’m torn on the issue at hand. First off, to be clear, I have been exposed to only a very small number of comics focused on the Green Lantern, and all of them were of Kyle Rayner. Sadly, they never really clicked with me, and so most of my knowledge of the character as well as Hal Jordan is secondhand.
The majority of my exposure to the Green Lantern has been through the Justice League animated series; where I did manage to click with John Stewart. As such, when I think of a Green Lantern film, John is immediately the character who comes to mind, and if he’s not in the film then, while I’m willing to deal with it, I simply can’t deny that I’m going to be disappointed.

Now, having said that, I can fully understand and sympathize with the people who hate the idea of doing a Green Lantern film which goes straight to John’s story. After all, as a Spider-man fan I know for a fact that I would have a cow if the filmmakers had said “well, we felt it would be best to just skip to Ben Reilly”.

My question is; if this film ever gets made and it winds up being John Stewart who they ultimately decided to focus on, would it be acceptable? It’s axiomatic that the decision would disappoint you if you’re a Hal Jordan fan, but could you still enjoy the movie without crying “BLASPHEMY!” at the decision? Would we have another Organic web shooters fiasco?

Also,

1. I agree with the point about messing with Origins. When it comes to Superheroes there are probably no more defining or crucially important story arcs to tell correctly than their origins, because nearly every crucial detail is typically an intricate part in what ultimately shapes who the character is for all of their stories. As such, changing origins is almost always changing who the characters are.
I also agree that, based on what I’ve read, doing John’s origin from the comics isn’t exactly the most fitting story for a standalone film by itself. That leaves only two options I think.

A. Do John, but integrate his character with aspects of Hal Jordan’s Origin. The biggest problem with this is that they run the risk of not doing John so much as, instead, doing an amalgamation of both characters. This could wind up diluting the unique aspects of the character.

B. Tell a new origin story that we’ve never seen, but which also feels more in the spirit of John’s character. I have to say that I’m actually leaning more towards this option because I think that Wizard’s “Ultimate DC” article outlined the perfect direction for this choice.

Either way, I do recognize that doing John Stewart would be a fairly controversial decision, but my inner fan provokes me to find a way to squeeze him in.

2. I may be missing something crucially important to the representation of the characters (and if so then let me know), and I understand the reasons explained in the comic why John doesn’t wear one, but if the story decides to focus on Hal or Kyle, do they have to wear the masks? Besides the obvious fact that it wouldn’t be a very effective way of concealing their identities (a point which can, admittedly, be overlooked since most of us are able to suspend our disbelief with the Superman/Clark Kent issue) I also don’t really feel it meshes well with the entire aspect of the Green Lantern Corps as I see it. Seeing as how they’re supposedly paragons of the ideals of bravery and justice I think concealing their identities seems contradictory to their entire nature. I also just think the uniform looks more dignified without it.

Well welcome to the Hype, this is a great place to be to talk anything comic book related.

To answer your question about a John Stewart film, I'm a Kyle fan I first got in to comic books around the time Hal went nuts and became Parallax and Kyle took over. Doing a film with John Stewart as the lead to me wouldn't be that bad but I don't think there is a good enough story out there to support him. See unlike Hal and Kyle, John and Guy Gardner dont really have the great of story plots so film wouldn't work for them.

As far as the mask goes I think Hal and Kyle both want to keep their identites secrect cause Kyle's girlfriend got murdered when a villian found out who he was. I believe the same goes for Hal (not the girlfriend killing part) but Hal has a lot of loved ones that a enemy will hurt if they new who Hal was. I don't think they have shown anytype of family or loved ones for both John and Guy and I believe that is why they both don't wear masks.

 

[GL1]

Wow... ever feel like your posts are invisible?

John's Story:
Act I: John is a struggling architect at the end of his rope (just like in comics), intro supporting cast
Act II: John gets the ring, does some cool stuff with it, is unorthodox and overconfident, but amazingly good (just like in comics)
Act III: The ring, it's responsibility and overuse get John into tragedy (JUST like in comics) ie sister dies, loses Tawny Young, loses contract with Ferris Airfield, again, all from comics.
Act IV: John gives up the ring, gets advice and pulls himself up after hitting rock bottom and facing his responsibilities, reclaims ring.
Act V: John confronts the villain and beats him into submission... John begins his GL training with Hal Jordan. (Just like in comics)

Seriously, just because there's no Emerald Dawn for John doesn't mean that there's no story... it's just stretched out a bit. And Hal Jordan didn't have Emerald Dawn at first either, but I don't think we would've said he wasn't movie worthy... or Emerald Dawn-worthy. It's just a matter of popularity... (ie, I'm not interested enough in this character to make him interesting). Now I don't really follow Guy, so I don't know if there's a compelling Origin story in his character, but I don't know enough about him to think that there's not.

On the response:

1) Yes, messing with Origins is definitely Bad.
a) I think we all agree that this is out of the question. The cartoon version uses trace amounts of Hal's origin in it, but I think it's pretty clear that the personalities are night and day.
b) Well, honestly, whatEVER you do is some variation on this. A John Stewart movie would kind of be like John's Emerald Dawn to finally give the character a compelling well defined origin, something done for most heroes from the time period. You would incorporate aspects of the comics on John that we've read already, but as many can tell, a lot of the details are missing because he was sharing the comic with Hal and because of the storytelling of the time period.

2) Well, the thing with Hal and later Kyle, is that they do not conceive of themselves primarily as members of the GLC, but as superheoes, and that is the storyline reason why they wear masks. Their actions, support this dilineation. They don't HAVE to, of course, but it is necessary for them to function as superheroes. The cool thing about John is that he doesn't really care about being a superhero, he's there to get the job done and he's no more likely to wear a mask than make anime constructs to shoot you when he can do it himself. It's an attribute of the characters that I don't believe should cross any more than their origins.

 

[jrpstarwars]

Hal - Topher Grace
Sinestro - Ashton Kutcher

 

[jrpstarwars]

The best actor I heard for Green Lantern was found on the Justice League casting thread. Read and agree 100%.

Jesus Christ himself, Jim Caviezel

 

[GL1]

I put these ones on another thread:

Wentworth Miller as Hal Jordan

Jordana Brewster as Carol Ferris

Leonard Roberts as John Stewart

I also like the idea of Hugo Weaving as Sinestro

I have a lot of trouble disagreeing with these castings... a whole lot. They work on several levels to me, and these are principal characters and the relationships between them makes for some of the best fodder in GL comics.