Justin Timberlake Puts His Dick In The ‘Green Lantern’ Box

Posted by Rob Hunter (rob@filmschoolrejects.com) on July 10, 2009

lantern-finalists

Martin Campbell’s Green Lantern movie is due to start shooting in Australia before the end of the year… and they have yet to find an actor to take on the title role. Rumors have been rampant of late focusing most notably on Bradley Cooper. Well rumors no more, THR has listed the three names currently in contention for the role… and one of them is pretty damn disturbing.

THR is confirming a rumor first posted by AICN that Warner Bros. has narrowed the potential actors down to just three… Bradley Cooper, Ryan Reynolds, and Justin Timberlake. I’ll let you soak that in for a minute… Cooper, Reynolds, and Timberlake.

Apparently the studio requested two rounds of screen tests for all three actors in the hopes of agreeing on which should take on the role of Hal Jordan, aka Green Lantern. A Monday holding deadline came and went without a consensus between director Campbell, producer Donald De Line, and the studio, and now all three actors are free to accept offers elsewhere.

There’s quite a bit at stake here so you can’t fault the filmmakers for treading carefully, but they may be moving a bit too slow. Aside from being scheduled to start production this year, Green Lantern has already seen it’s announced release date move from December 2010 to June 2011. Large-scale effects movies like this need all the turn around time they can get for CGI and other post-production work, so the longer they delay the more danger they’re in of being bumped even further.

Most people seem to agree that Cooper is a good fit for the role. His biggest drawback would have been a lack of recognition among movie-goers, but thanks to the success of The Hangover he’s now become a much more recognizable face. He’s a solid actor capable of both comedic and dramatic turns and should be comfortable with the physical requirements as well. But isn’t he already booked for The A-Team movie?

Like Cooper, Reynolds would be able to slip into the ring quite effortlessly. He’s shown repeatedly that he’s a surprisingly good actor with the right material, and he’s also done extensive physical roles from Blade: Trinity to the recent Wolverine movie. It’s that last one that may pose the problem though… he’s scheduled to return to the Deadpool role for his own stand-alone movie. Will he be allowed to take on both Marvel and DC characters by the respective parent companies?

And then there’s Timberlake.

So what do you think? Any defenders of that last option? Anyone want to give a shot at convincing the rest of us that Timberlake would be the right choice here? Russ Fischer over at /Film thinks it’s a good idea and does a valiant (albeit brief) job putting across his argument. He’s wrong of course, but gets an A for effort.

Thoughts? Complaints? Recipes?

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Sam Hardisty

While I can't defend Timberlake as a choice for the role in terms of the character (I've never really followed the Green Latern cannon), I don't think his ability to act should be brought into question. Although it may be because he's a musician bridging over to acting, he received some decent praise for his role in Alpha Dog, and wasn't terrible in Black Snake Moan. I think there are probably better choices in terms of the "suited-for-the-character", but I think most people just assume Timberlake would be a terrible actor and ruin it from that perspective.

Cole_Abaius

1. Melt 1 stick of butter in an electric frying pan.
2. Slice 1 ring of bologna and brown in butter.
3. Dice potatoes and carrots. Use as many vegetables as you want, depending on how many guests you are having for dinner.
4. Dissolve 1 large diced onion and 2 beef bouillon cubes in 1 1/2 cups of water.
5. Cook until done, about 40 minutes.

Reebee7

Bradley Cooper has a, dare I say, Douchebag look and quality about him I don't see in GL. Reynolds would have worked well, but he's too Marvelized now. And JT... I just don't like it.

emilyofaustin

i'm actually going to have to disagree with you. justin timberlake has proven himself to be a solid actor rather than your typical musician turned fine-we'll-give-him-a-bit-part-in-the-next-teen-sex-romp. his dramatic work in "alpha dog" and "black snake moan" was very impressive, and of course we've all seen him pull off his fair share of comedy sketches. i didn't want to like timberlake when he first hit the big screen, but he's seriously surprised me time and time again. can he carry an entire movie by himself? i don't know. but i'm more than willing to give him the opportunity.

Sean Finn

While all three would be solid choices for the role if it were a comedy, being they've been in their fair share of comedies. I'd only be comfortable casting either Cooper or Reynolds, given that they've played serious roles in the past, which I assume is the nature of the "Green Lanterns". Yet, Timberlake does have the acting talent to hold his own, as we've seen on "Saturday Night Live". Let's just pray to God that if he is cast, he doesn't give a repeat performance of his "The Love Guru" role.

The Rake

Clever blog post title. I don't think The Lake should be cast here. He overshadows the role with his "celebrity." He hasn't proven he can really act, outside of singing in skits (Alpha Dog excluded). I guess this role should go to Cooper by default of the 3 options. Hangover has put him on the map but he's not so big that we will go "I am distracted by Cooper in this role."
The Rake
http://thefilmnest.com

Phoghat

For those of you who are not cognoscente of the fact, I AM OLDER THAN ALL OF YOU PUT TOGETHER. Having said that, I was a preteen in the 50's and my Dad was a truck driver. One of his delivery routes was comic books to the local Woolworth's 5&10 (look that up on Wikipedia).
The woman who was in charge of the comics would give him all the unsold comics from the month before. I got piles of comics from her and my favorite was Green Lantern.
maybe it was just my preteen wish fulfillment but there was something about an ordinary guy getting a magic ring that let him do almost anything (except if it was yellow).
So what I'm saying is, they better not screw this up for me. This boomer WILL go medieval on their ass.

Cole_Abaius

And stay out of Woolworth's!

hempknight757

The fact that Timberlake is mentioned is a joke & I'm not a hater, but no way could he ever be a lead actor. Cooper I think doesn't really fit the look, but like him.. stick with A-Team. Reynolds I think this could finally be the movie that sets him apart, but with that said he is playing Deadpool so I don't really like that. Still what great two characters to play can't get much better than that then Batman & Wolverine. I'd like to see an unknow actor like Clay Olah. By the way love that their doing Hal Jordan! How about just get a solid actor.

KevinCarr

Although this is after the final decision, I will go out on a limb to defend Timberlake, if he had been chosen. The guy ain't a bad actor. He was good in Alpha Dog and played against type in Black Snake Moan. And lest we forget that he was the funniest thing in The Love Guru. Three very different movies, and he owned in all of them.

Plus, JT would have used this as a role to break out as a serious mainstream actor. He definitly could have done it. RR is going to just give us another version of RR, which isn't great no matter how charming he can be.

Think of what a stir it would have caused if in 1988, we could look in the future and have said that Robert Downey Jr. of "The Pick-Up Artist" would rock the house as Tony Stark? Or if someone would have predicted that the dude from "Newsies" would rock as Batman? Or if the Aussie kid from "10 Things I Hate About You" would give us the best Joker who ever lived?

Justin Timberlake Puts His Dick In The ‘Green Lantern’ Box

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