Tom Cruise, Joel McHale, Bradley Cooper, Ryan Reynolds, Armie Hammer, and Jake Gyllenhaal are on the shortlist of actors DC Entertainment is considering pursuing for the role of Hal Jordan in “Green Lantern Corps,” multiple people with knowledge of the project exclusively tell TheWrap.
The casting process is still in the very early stages, and there are no talks with any of the actors as of yet. DC is considering whether Reynolds, who played Jordan in the 2011 film “Green Lantern,” should return to the role, an insider told TheWrap. His superhero stock soared last year when he starred in “Deadpool.”
Cooper and Jared Leto auditioned for the 2011 film before it went to Reynolds, who appeared in “Green Lantern” alongside Peter Sarsgaard, Blake Lively, Mark Strong and Angela Bassett. Cooper was last seen in “War Dogs” for Warner Bros. Leto starred as The Joker in the studio’s “Suicide Squad.”
Cruise is particularly interesting because he has never played a comic-book superhero before, though he does anchor the “Mission Impossible” and “Jack Reacher” action franchises.
Gyllenhaal is a longtime fan favorite for the role and defended superhero movies last year at SXSW: “Superhero movies have inspired me. I remember when I saw ‘Thor” I was really inspired. There’s a reason for myth. They are so moving and so important…. Sometimes I’m in a scene playing what people might interpret as a sociopath and I’m thinking of ‘Thor,’” he said.
Hammer has trolled fans on social media about playing the role, including in Twitter interaction with actor Joe Manganiello, who will play Deathstroke in Ben Affleck’s Batman film. Hammer will next be seen in “Call Me By Your Name,” premiering at Sundance.
Warner Bros. has set David Goyer and Justin Rhodes to write the script for “Green Lantern Corps.” Goyer will produce while DC Entertainment President Geoff Johns and Jon Berg will executive produce, based on a treatment by Goyer and Johns.
One year ago, Johns confirmed that Green Lantern and the entire Green Lantern Corps will be joining the “Justice League” films.
“We’ve been to the bottom of the oceans, we’ve been to ancient Greece mythology, we’ve been to the past and future Flash, into the digital world with Cyborg, we still got to go to space,” the longtime writer of the comic book “Green Lantern” said. “So the Green Lanterns and the Green Lantern Corps will be coming to join the Justice League universe.”
The studio had no comment.