With shooting imminent, the people behind the adaptation of the DC comic character Green Lantern are busy lining up their cast. As the end of last week it was announced that Blake Lively would play the female lead opposite Ryan Reynolds in the film, and now comes news that they’ve probably found their villain.
Variety reports that Peter Sarsgaard is being lined up to play Hector Hamm, the pathologist son of a senator who is seen as a disappointment in his father’s eyes, but dicovers fragments of a meteor that give him supernatural powers. In the comics Hammond’s powers have generally had to do with the mind, although they’ve shifted over the years depending on the incarnation. At the moment it’s still not clearly exactly which version of Hammond (or indeed the Green Lantern) the film will most closely follow.
Sarsgaard would seem to be a great choice, as he’s incredibly versatile, but has never really had the mainstream success he derserves, instead going for interesting projects, such as the recent An Education. However as he’s already filmed a role in this year’s Tom Cruise/Cameron Diaz film, Knight & Day, it looks like he’s up for appearing in more crowd-pleasers.
The actor hasn’t signed on the dotted line yet, but assuming he does, he’ll join the Martin Campbell directed film when it starts shooting in March.