Which Green Lantern, and who should star?

[shivkala]

While my preference is Hal Jordan, I do hope they work John Stewart, Guy Gardner, and Kyle Raynor in, somehow. I know it's kind of a superhero movie cliche nowadays, but something similar to James Rhodes in Iron Man, with a tip of the hat to the character/hint at the sequel. Unfortunately, I don't see how they'd do it without making it hokey.

As for actors, when it was on the air, Don Franklin in seaQuest DSV always struck me as looking like how I pictured John Stewart to look if he were a real person. I also think Will Friedle would be a great Kyle Raynor, especially since he's had experience (at least voice acting experience) playing young heroes who come into their own (Terry McGuinness and more recently Jaime Reyes).

 

[M'rk son of Mogh]

I've heard people suggest Ben Browder as Hal Jordan.

I'm down with that!

 

[Guy Gardener]

Freddie Prince Junior and Sarah Michelle Gellar are looking for a new project to do together.

 

[ElScoob]

For what it's worth, I always thought that Dennis Quaid in full-on The Right Stuff Gordo Cooper mode would have been a great Hal Jordan (assuming that you could get 1983-or-so-era Dennis Quaid, of course).

Ideally, someone who can pull off that attitude.... tha man-without-fear, "who's-the-greatest-pilot-you-ever-saw? You're-lookin'-at-him" thing, and a look that evokes Paul Newman circa 1959 would be the way to go. Are there actors around that could do that?

(Perhaps ideally we could get a Time Bubble and yank Newman himself out of 1959; he could have done the role in his sleep...)

And I had to address this...

Hayden Christensen should play Hal Jordan. His wooden acting is perfect.

OOOOHHHHHH GOOOD NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! ( runs SCREAMING from the computer)

I'm serious, Hayden is perfect. That boring personality. That lack of charisma. That obnoxious, elitist, arrogance. That willful, tragic unawareness of modern hipness. That annoying sense of entitlement. The fact that everyone around them is a thousand times cooler then they are. And they both went evil and killed all of their friends. He was practically playing Hal Jordan in Star Wars. O'Neil's classic Green Lantern/Green Arrow run was basically one, long running gag about what an uncool, out of touch, tool Hal was. Which is why it was a classic, because it was the first to point out the obvious.

The only cool thing Hal Jordan ever did was punch out Batman, a character even more annoying then he is. If Anikan had done that to Jar Jar, that would have been awesome.

I can see your point, and Hal as the late-50s Cold War single-combat-warrior test pilot was a perfect foil for the late-60's liberal-man-of-conscience Oliver Queen.

I reject the notion that Hal lacked charisma, though. Out of touch, certainly--but uncool? Never. I am reminded of a clip I've seen of Dean Martin introducing the Rolling Stones on a TV variety show; he makes a couple lame jokes and comes off as a little snide, even, about these limeys with the hair and the jeans and the yeah-yeah music.

But even Elvis wanted to be Dean Martin when he grew up.

I am also reminded of a piece Hunter Thompson wrote about Air Force test pilots in the late 60s. These were highly educated, very disciplined individuals, about as far removed as you can get from a Gordo Cooper or indeed a Chuck Yeager as you can get. I wonder how cool and charismatic and with-it they might have looked next to Oliver Queen...

Hal Jordan, to me, is a nice cocktail of Mercury astronaut (probably excluding John Glenn), Dean Martin, and Paul Newman. And how that combination adds up to anything less than pure cool I don't know. Perhaps you and I will just have to disagree on that point.

--g

 

[Guy Gardener]

John Byrne wrote a story in action comics weekly where hal figured out that only brain damaged or retarded people are completely fearless, so he must be one or both and then some events transpired.

I take it one step further and suggest that the Guardians constructed and seeded special strains of syphilis across the cosmos which in rare exceptions would give them their fearless legions. if only there was a genetic marker found in all species that predetermined fearlessness.

Max Payne was a shit movie.

Then sadly, I'm also touching on that metachlorian bullshit too, but the power battery was able to weigh the emotional rainbow of millions, if not billions of people in it's proximity (okay Mogo helps.) to find the truely fearless? That bastard is not using a Vista platform i can tell you.

Fuck me if Abin Sur had crashed in the greens of Arkham asylum, they would have been spoiled for choice.

 

[DBR]

warner brothers has already confirmed that it will be hal jordan.ryan gosling apparently is the frontrunner to play him.

Really? Damn I'm good.

I think Ben Browdrer would be awful. Terrible. He has comes across as having very little personality to me. he was the same guy on Farscape and Stargate, which makes me think he isn't that great of an actor. I've heard of other actors being described as wooden, but then Browder would be petrified.

I like the George Eads idea. Don't know if he has enough...presence, but I haven't seen him in anything other than a dozen or-so CSI episodes.

 

[Praetor]

For what it's worth, I always thought that Dennis Quaid in full-on The Right Stuff Gordo Cooper mode would have been a great Hal Jordan (assuming that you could get 1983-or-so-era Dennis Quaid, of course).

Ideally, someone who can pull off that attitude.... tha man-without-fear, "who's-the-greatest-pilot-you-ever-saw? You're-lookin'-at-him" thing, and a look that evokes Paul Newman circa 1959 would be the way to go. Are there actors around that could do that?

(Perhaps ideally we could get a Time Bubble and yank Newman himself out of 1959; he could have done the role in his sleep...)

And I had to address this...

OOOOHHHHHH GOOOD NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! ( runs SCREAMING from the computer)

I'm serious, Hayden is perfect. That boring personality. That lack of charisma. That obnoxious, elitist, arrogance. That willful, tragic unawareness of modern hipness. That annoying sense of entitlement. The fact that everyone around them is a thousand times cooler then they are. And they both went evil and killed all of their friends. He was practically playing Hal Jordan in Star Wars. O'Neil's classic Green Lantern/Green Arrow run was basically one, long running gag about what an uncool, out of touch, tool Hal was. Which is why it was a classic, because it was the first to point out the obvious.

The only cool thing Hal Jordan ever did was punch out Batman, a character even more annoying then he is. If Anikan had done that to Jar Jar, that would have been awesome.

I can see your point, and Hal as the late-50s Cold War single-combat-warrior test pilot was a perfect foil for the late-60's liberal-man-of-conscience Oliver Queen.

I reject the notion that Hal lacked charisma, though. Out of touch, certainly--but uncool? Never. I am reminded of a clip I've seen of Dean Martin introducing the Rolling Stones on a TV variety show; he makes a couple lame jokes and comes off as a little snide, even, about these limeys with the hair and the jeans and the yeah-yeah music.

But even Elvis wanted to be Dean Martin when he grew up.

I am also reminded of a piece Hunter Thompson wrote about Air Force test pilots in the late 60s. These were highly educated, very disciplined individuals, about as far removed as you can get from a Gordo Cooper or indeed a Chuck Yeager as you can get. I wonder how cool and charismatic and with-it they might have looked next to Oliver Queen...

Hal Jordan, to me, is a nice cocktail of Mercury astronaut (probably excluding John Glenn), Dean Martin, and Paul Newman. And how that combination adds up to anything less than pure cool I don't know. Perhaps you and I will just have to disagree on that point.

--g

Amen.

 

[shivkala]

John Byrne wrote a story in action comics weekly where hal figured out that only brain damaged or retarded people are completely fearless, so he must be one or both and then some events transpired.

I thought that was Peter David who wrote that story.

 

[JacksonArcher]

Hal Jordan was in the script I read, so I would presume he's going to be the guy wearing the ring and the balcava mask. As for who could play Jordan, I hope Campbell or whoever is selected to direct goes for a young, Harrison Ford type. Nathan Fillion honestly wouldn't be a bad choice. Neither would David Boreanaz. I also hope WB doesn't demand a celebrity, big-name actor just because Green Lantern isn't a well-known property. I hope the director chooses an actor of merit firstly, in the tradition of Christian Bale, Robert Downey Jr., Edward Norton, etc.

 

[Guy Gardener]

John Byrne wrote a story in action comics weekly where hal figured out that only brain damaged or retarded people are completely fearless, so he must be one or both and then some events transpired.

I thought that was Peter David who wrote that story.

Actually that makes a lot more sense. My Bad.

 

[Lonemagpie]

I'd prefer John Stewart, not "because we need more minority superheros" (though we may do) but because I liked that version best - I thought he was fab in the Justice League animated series.

Dunno who'd play him though.

Not that it matters, cos it's the Hal Jordan version they're doing.

 

[Guy Gardener]

But Hal is going to have a crisis when the Guardians force him to chose between Carol and the responsibilities of the Ring... Cue John Stewart who gets his ass kicked after 5 minutes, so Hal takes the brothers bling off his unconscious body to save the day and steal the glory.

It's not that Hollywood writers are bad, it's just there is an expected formula which makes money, and deviancy is not appreciated by the monsters at the top of the food chain throwing millions at actors and directors and writers.

 

[Thrall]

For what it's worth, I always thought that Dennis Quaid in full-on The Right Stuff Gordo Cooper mode would have been a great Hal Jordan (assuming that you could get 1983-or-so-era Dennis Quaid, of course).

Ideally, someone who can pull off that attitude.... tha man-without-fear, "who's-the-greatest-pilot-you-ever-saw? You're-lookin'-at-him" thing, and a look that evokes Paul Newman circa 1959 would be the way to go. Are there actors around that could do that?

(Perhaps ideally we could get a Time Bubble and yank Newman himself out of 1959; he could have done the role in his sleep...)

And I had to address this...

OOOOHHHHHH GOOOD NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! ( runs SCREAMING from the computer)

I'm serious, Hayden is perfect. That boring personality. That lack of charisma. That obnoxious, elitist, arrogance. That willful, tragic unawareness of modern hipness. That annoying sense of entitlement. The fact that everyone around them is a thousand times cooler then they are. And they both went evil and killed all of their friends. He was practically playing Hal Jordan in Star Wars. O'Neil's classic Green Lantern/Green Arrow run was basically one, long running gag about what an uncool, out of touch, tool Hal was. Which is why it was a classic, because it was the first to point out the obvious.

The only cool thing Hal Jordan ever did was punch out Batman, a character even more annoying then he is. If Anikan had done that to Jar Jar, that would have been awesome.

I can see your point, and Hal as the late-50s Cold War single-combat-warrior test pilot was a perfect foil for the late-60's liberal-man-of-conscience Oliver Queen.

I reject the notion that Hal lacked charisma, though. Out of touch, certainly--but uncool? Never. I am reminded of a clip I've seen of Dean Martin introducing the Rolling Stones on a TV variety show; he makes a couple lame jokes and comes off as a little snide, even, about these limeys with the hair and the jeans and the yeah-yeah music.

But even Elvis wanted to be Dean Martin when he grew up.

I am also reminded of a piece Hunter Thompson wrote about Air Force test pilots in the late 60s. These were highly educated, very disciplined individuals, about as far removed as you can get from a Gordo Cooper or indeed a Chuck Yeager as you can get. I wonder how cool and charismatic and with-it they might have looked next to Oliver Queen...

Hal Jordan, to me, is a nice cocktail of Mercury astronaut (probably excluding John Glenn), Dean Martin, and Paul Newman. And how that combination adds up to anything less than pure cool I don't know. Perhaps you and I will just have to disagree on that point.

--g

The fact that you are comparing him to all of these relics is not convincing me that Hal is not that lame artifact that I've always seen him as.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Don't you go talking smack about Dean Martin! That guy matched drinks and tail against the chairman of the board with a blood alcohol level of 5.8 in karaoke deuls which make R18 tentacle penis monster Japanese anime porn look like Barney and friends.

 

[Cicero]

I think Matthew Settle (Captain Spiers in Band of Brothers and Gossip Girl's Rufus Humphrey) could be an excellent Hal Jordan, if one somewhat reimagined as a more modern charming, decisive, and fearless pilot.

 

[Praetor]

Wow, I like that, Cicero.

 

[cb31]

I'd say it should be Hal Jordan. I love the idea of Ben Browder, but would also suggest Nathan Fillion.

I think Browder would be good, but I see Fillion as a better fit for the Flash.

 

[Bad Bishop]

I think Matthew Settle (Captain Spiers in Band of Brothers and Gossip Girl's Rufus Humphrey) could be an excellent Hal Jordan, if one somewhat reimagined as a more modern charming, decisive, and fearless pilot.

In fact, Matthew Settle has already played Green Lantern--in a JLA pilot (1997) that is best forgotten.

 

[Guy Gardener]

But that was Guy Gardner. In name only, but still.

I suppose that's on par with the same actor playing both Jor-El and Zod.

 

[Praetor]

I'd forgotten about that. Why the hell was that character called Guy Gardener anyway? Wasn't he basically Hal?