‘Green Lantern’ (2011): 10 Things You May Not Know

The Green Lantern film we got in 2011 was almost a completely different movie. At different stages of production, both Kevin Smith and Quentin Tarantino were both approached to direct. Ryan Reynolds was also not the original choice for Hal Jordan. Bradley Cooper, Jared Leto, and Justin Timberlake were all in the running for the role. 

Additionally, things could have been even weirder. The film almost revolved around an original character named Jud Plato, and he was to be played by Jack Black. Yes, Jack Black. Robert Smigel’s original screenplay had the brand-new character, a reality-TV star, move the earth out of the way of a meteor, in turn causing natural disasters all over the place. 

The late Michael Clarke Duncan revealed in an interview that he was actually a fan of the Green Lantern comics, even before getting the role as Kilowog in the film. He stated that while Kilowog is a big, imposing presence, at his core he’s a very kind being. The actor also said that Kilowog was his favorite character in the comic because he was the only one Duncan could relate to. 

In the original Robert Smigel script, Superman was in the film, and had a pretty weird cameo. After Jack Black’s character knocks the earth out of rotation, he decides that conjuring Superman with his ring is the only appropriate response to fix his mess. What? 

Superman was also written into the actual script used for the movie. In his cameo, he would have been Clark Kent and was one of the beings considered to receive a power ring. 

Being the movie that was initially supposed to kick off the massive DC Extended Universe, Green Lantern had a lot of weight on its shoulders. That’s why when it bombed, DC and Warner Bros. had to really rethink what their next moves were going to be with the universe, resulting in everything being dark and humorless for a bit. While Marvel thrives with its combination of humor and serious scenes, Warner Bros.’ attempt at a fun, lighthearted comic book movie didn’t work, so they called Snyder. Funny enough, Zack Snyder was originally approached to direct, but turned it down in lieu of Watchmen. 

At one point or another during the turbulent shooting process, many different iterations of the main Green Lantern character were supposed to be in the film. One of the first film pitches, made by actor Corey Reynolds, had John Stewart as the titular hero. It was imagined as a trilogy with Hal Jordan, and eventually the entire Justice League being introduced. 

Also, in the initial script, Alan Scott (the Golden Age Green Lantern) was set to appear in the movie, acting as a government agent incognito. Alas, the cameo did not happen, and the role became Amanda Waller, played by Angela Bassett.

Lastly, in the numerous rewrites between inception and completion, many things were removed. One of which being Guy Gardner. The fan-favorite Green Lantern was supposed to appear in a cameo role alongside Ryan Reynolds’ Hal Jordan. Maybe that could have saved the movie (probably not). 

Adding to the list of behind-the-scenes issues that took their toll on the film, the CGI work on Green Lantern was rushed. Two months before release, millions of dollars were allotted to be spent on extra SFX work; whether they actually spent the money on the effects isn’t apparent. This led to the movie, which was mostly CGI, to not look polished.

From the animated suit (why?) to the villain looking like vomit, the $9 million was apparently not enough. On top of the rush on the effects, the movie also received a last-minute conversion to 3D, which definitely didn’t help things.

In the Japanese release of Green Lantern, the villain Parallax was renamed Mousou Dairinin, meaning “Paranoia Agent.” A reference to the anime of the same name, which features a similar entity haunting people. 

It’s no secret that Ryan Reynolds isn’t a big fan of the Green Lantern film, even going as far to retcon it in Deadpool 2. But why would he accept the role in the first place if it was so incompetently written? Well, he accepted without even seeing the script because no script existed.

During production on the film, the director (Martin Campbell) was in low spirits for a myriad of reasons. The first being that Campbell was used to working with practical effects, so the copious amounts of CGI in the film didn’t sit right with him. He also was adamant about Bradley Cooper in the Hal Jordan role, resulting in an awkward working relationship between the director and Reynolds. Finally, Campbell was banned from the editing room. He accredits this to too many voices in the editing room, and an incessant amount of studio interference.  

Geoffrey Rush almost passed on the role of Tomar-Re, however, after seeing an image of the character, he agreed to do it. Why? Because of the beak, of course. After appearing in Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole as an owl and Finding Nemo as a pelican, the actor was drawn to the bird-like appearance of the character. He also based his decision on the fact that Tomar-Re was a mentor to Hal Jordan, noting he had played many roles similar before. 

Whether you love the film or not, I hope you learned a fun fact about Green Lantern (2011)!

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