Ryan Reynolds Officially Puts His Dick In the ‘Green Lantern’ Box

Posted by Dr. Cole Abaius (cole.abaius@filmschoolrejects.com) on July 11, 2009

Yeah, yeah, so this headline doesn’t quite make as much sense as when it was Justin Timberlake in the favored spot, but we can’t always get what we want.

Speaking of not always getting what we want, The Hollywood Reporter is Hollywood reporting that Ryan Reynolds is the guy. He’s Hal Jordan. He’s The Green Lantern. End of story. Clearly, any finalized news was going to hit fans pretty hard in one direction or another, but this choice is one that I think will split a ton of the automatic audience for this film.

I say that mostly because:

• Ryan Reynolds is a fantastic actor with great range; but
• A lot of people have only seen him play himself in movies.
• He’s charming and charismatic, but
• That doesn’t really make him Hal Jordan.
• He may be the best, most appealing choice for a comic book franchise; but
• He already was the best, most appealing choice for a comic book franchise.

Whatever the case, it sounds like Bradley Cooper’s camp is probably a little disappointed in the choice – one that could have taken him to the next level of stardom even more so than his role in The Hangover. So are the Timberlake camps, and apparently the Jared Leto camp (a name which seems to always come out of nowhere whenever studios throw it around).

By now we all know that a decision was held up because none of the major entities could agree – which is good news. Here’s why:

After months of negotiations and a short list that was just a little too long, it seems like the screen tests for The Green Lantern are what put Reynolds over as the winner. Thus, Donald De Line (who is not a stupid man by any stretch of the imagination), director Martin Cambell, and Warners all came to a consensus after seeing what all of the choices would really look like as Jordan. It’s not much, but it’s definitely better than a blind choice at hoping someone is right for the role.

Enough from me. What do you think?

Read more articles by Dr. Cole Abaius