Although it’s only a couple of months until the mega-budget comic book movie Green Lantern is due to start filming, the only cast member we’ve known about is Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan, who gets a magical ring that gives him incredible superpowers. Until now there’s been no news on any other characters, or indeed the plot.
However, now we know who’s going to play the female lead, as Blake Lively has been cast as Carol Ferris . According to THR, in the film Ferris “runs her father’s aerospace company and hires cocky test pilot Hal Jordan, who later becomes the intergalactic policeman Green Lantern. In the comics, the romance became complicated when an alien race bestowed her the power of a crystal called the Star Sapphire.” Of course that doesn’t mean she’ll get the Star Spaahire in the film, but it certainly suggest the Ferris could have an interesting character trajectory.
Apparently the likes of Keri Russell and Jennifer Garner were also in the running for the role, but instead they decided to go with the 22-year-old Gossip Girl star.
Now maybe I’m wrong, but how many 22-year-olds do you know who run an aerospace company? That’s not to mention that she’s 11 years Ryan Reynolds junior. She ain’t bad in Gossip Girl, but there does seem a bit of a mismatch between actress and role here, although I could be wrong. Apparently despite the fact the character was meant to be in her 30s, Lively “impressed the studio and filmmakers with her audition. Warners was also impressed with her work in The Town, its adaptation of the gritty Chuck Hogan novel directed by Ben Affleck now in post-production.”
Greg Berlanti, Marc Guggenheim and Michael Green have written the script, with Michael Goldenberg currently rewriting. The plan is to start shooting Green Lantern in about 10 weeks time, with Martin Campbell behind the camera. As a result, I’m sure we can expect plenty more casting news in the next few weeks. Green Lantern is currently scheduled for a June 17th, 2011 release.