Movies Showing June 2011: Green Lantern

PLOT:
After a crashed that almost kill test pilot, Hal Jordan, he met a mystical man an grant him a green ring that bestows him with otherworldly powers, as well as membership into an intergalactic squadron tasked with keeping peace within the universe.

The official synopsis from the production's May 2010 press release reads:

In a universe as vast as it is mysterious, a small but powerful force has existed for centuries. Protectors of peace and justice, they are called the Green Lantern Corps. A brotherhood of warriors sworn to keep intergalactic order, each Green Lantern wears a ring that grants him superpowers. But when a new enemy called Parallax threatens to destroy the balance of power in the Universe, their fate and the fate of Earth lie in the hands of their newest recruit, the first human ever selected: Hal Jordan.
Hal is a gifted and cocky test pilot, but the Green Lanterns have little respect for humans, who have never harnessed the infinite powers of the ring before. But Hal is clearly the missing piece to the puzzle, and along with his determination and willpower, he has one thing no member of the Corps has ever had: humanity. With the encouragement of fellow pilot and childhood sweetheart Carol Ferris (Blake Lively), if Hal can quickly master his new powers and find the courage to overcome his fears, he may prove to be not only the key to defeating Parallax…he will become the greatest Green Lantern of all.
NEWS:

• In early 1997, Warner Bros. approached cult filmmaker and comic book writer Kevin Smith, who had then just finished writing Superman Lives, to script a Green Lantern film. Smith turned down the offer, believing there were other suitable candidates to make a Green Lantern movie. Warner Bros. eventually changed the direction of the film into that of a comedy; by June 2006, Robert Smigel had completed a script which was set to star Jack Black in the lead role. However, the studio dropped the comedy idea due to poor fan reaction on the Internet. In an attempt to change the tone of Green Lantern to be taken more seriously, Zack Snyder was approached to direct, but he turned down the offer due to his commitment on Watchmen.
• Actor-writer Corey Reynolds, a comic book fan and personal fan of the John Stewart character, pitched Warner Bros. an idea for a trilogy, with him starring as John Stewart and performing screenwriting duties. Reynolds intended to introduce Hal Jordan, the Green Lantern Corps and Justice League in possible sequels. He finished the script for Green Lantern: Birth of a Hero in June 2007, receiving positive feedback from Warner Bros. with a potential 2010 release date.[28] However, the studio abandoned Reynolds' concept, and in October 2007, Greg Berlanti signed to direct/co-write the film. The decision was made to have Hal Jordan as the protagonist instead of John Stewart. Comic book writers Michael Green and Marc Guggenheim were hired to co-script the film with Berlanti.
• Berlanti, Green and Guggenheim found it difficult writing the script because two of their drafts of the screenplay had been leaked on the Internet during the scripting phase. Guggenheim explained that the characterizations of the Denny O'Neil/Neal Adams run on the comic in the 1970s, and Dave Gibbons' work in the early 1980s, will be portrayed in the film. The writers also took inspiration from the current Geoff Johns stories. "It’s been interesting because we finished a draft just before Secret Origin (ISBN 9781401219901), Geoff’s latest arc, started up," Guggenheim observed in June 2008. "So I’ve been reading Secret Origin with a real interest in seeing "OK, how did Geoff solve this problem?’ There are certain elements just for anyone trying to retell Hal’s origin for a modern day audience has to address and grapple with," he continued. "For example, why the hell was Abin flying in a space ship when he’s a Green Lantern? You don’t ask that question back in the Silver Age, but when you’re writing in the Modern Age, you have to answer these things." The script also features Martin Jordan, Carl Ferris, Carol Ferris, Thomas Kalmaku, Tomar-Re, Abin Sur, Sinestro, Kilowog, the Guardians of the Universe, Legion and Hector Hammond as well as cameos by Guy Gardner and Clark Kent.[31] The story follows the original Hal Jordan/Green Lantern storyline, including the battle between Legion and Abin Sur, Abin Sur's crash landing on Earth, as well as the choosing of Hal Jordan over Guy Gardner and Clark Kent. Some parts are drawn from the Emerald Dawn mini-series.
• By December 2008, the writers had written three drafts of the screenplay and Warner Bros. was preparing for pre-production. However, Berlanti was forced to vacate the director's position due to scheduling conflicts with This Is Where I Leave You and Martin Campbell entered negotiations to direct in February 2009. The release date was set as December 2010,[34] before being moved to June 17, 2011.
• It was announced in July 2009 that Ryan Reynolds had been cast as Hal Jordan/Green Lantern. In January 2010, the film was greenlighted for production to begin in March. It was also reported that Hal Jordan's love interest, Carol Ferris, would be played by Blake Lively. Carol ultimately will become the villain Star Sapphire, although there's no word whether there might be some hint of that in the first movie. Later that same month, it was revealed that Peter Sarsgaard would portray Hector Hammond and that Mark Strong was in negotiations to play Sinestro. Also in January 2010 concept art for Kilowog, Abin Sur, and Tomar-Re surfaced. On February 9, 2010 Tim Robbins joined the cast as Senator Hammond, the disapproving father of Hector Hammond. On March 14, 2010, it was announced that Temuera Morrison and Taika Waititi had joined the cast as Abin Sur and Tom Kalmaku, respectively.
• Budgeted at $150 million, Green Lantern was initially scheduled to begin filming in November 2009 at Fox Studios Australia. The start date was pushed back to January 2010,[40] but the production moved to Louisiana, where, on March 3, 2010 test footage was filmed in Madisonville involving stunt cars. Principal photography began on March 15, 2010 in New Orleans. On March 24, nine days after filming began, Angela Bassett joined the cast as Dr. Amanda Waller, a government agent who is a staple of the DC Comics series.
• In April filming took place at the University of New Orleans Science Building, located on Founders Ave in New Orleans, LA. Though the majority of filming that took place were for interior scenes, the movie crew had local law enforcement and private security block off the entire building's perimeter from a few blocks away. It was also reported that filming had taken place at the WDSU 6 news studio. Later in April Jon Tenney revealed that he will play Hal Jordan's dad, test pilot Martin H. Jordan. Filming began at New Orleans Lakefront Airport in May, 2010. In June 2010 it was reported that Mike Doyle has been cast for the role of Jack Jordan, the older brother of Hal Jordan.
• In July 2010 it was reported that Ryan Reynolds was injured while shooting scenes for the film, separating his shoulder and was in "lots of pain".