Ryan Reynolds Interview For ‘Green Lantern’

‘Green Lantern’ stars Ryan Reynolds in the title role, under the direction of Martin Campbell (Casino Royale). In a universe as vast as it is mysterious, a small but powerful force has existed for centuries. Protectors of peace and justice, they are called the Green Lantern Corps. A brotherhood of warriors sworn to keep intergalactic order, each Green Lantern wears a ring that grants him superpowers. But when a new enemy called Parallax threatens to destroy the balance of power in the Universe, their fate and the fate of Earth lie in the hands of their newest recruit, the first human ever selected: Hal Jordan. Alongside Ryan Reynolds for ride are the likes of Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Mark Strong, Jon Tenney, Geoffrey Rush, Tim Robbins, Angela Bassett and Michael Clarke Duncan. Check out what Reynolds had to say about the film below. ‘Green Lantern’ is set for cinemas this Friday, June 17th.

As you delved into the extremely expansive mythology that the comic books have built for Green Lantern, what were the discoveries you made that helped you in developing the character? And how did you want to make this superhero different from the batch of superheroes currently on the big screen?

Ryan Reynolds: A lot of the current iterations of superheroes are a little bit darker and a little bit more serious in tone. The thing I distilled from diving into that mythology and that universe is that there’s a tone that’s a little bit different. It’s a bit of a throwback in that sense, there’s a lot of fun with the character. He’s not a character that’s overly funny, but he’s witty. I always say he’s that guy who can throw a punch, tell a joke, and kiss a girl.

There’s something really iconic and fun about that guy because anything’s possible with him. For me there wasn’t any particular narrative or storyline because we were telling an origin story in this film, it was mostly just tone, finding out who Hal Jordan was, and also distilling what it is that the fanboys love about this character and making sure that that could be found up on screen. Because if they love it, there’s a good chance that a broader audience, who’s being introduced to this character for the first time, is also going to love it. You wanna make it palatable to everyone. But at the same time you can’t forget why so many people love the character already.

The last movie people saw you in was Buried, where you were buried in a box the whole time. How did you go from playing that role, to playing this over-the-top superhero? What is the difference between doing a small, independent movie to this big-budget Hollywood film?

Ryan Reynolds: The two movies are more similar than not actually, in the sense that Buried involved a lot of imagination. The people that I was talking to on the phone the entire time, they’re not on the phone with me. Green Lantern, working and going from a small, wooden box to a large, blue box didn’t feel too dissimilar either. I’d never worked on a movie that required this much imagination….it felt like I was a kid again. Everything you’re seeing in this world, you have to imagine. Granted, we do have amazing people that are working behind the scenes, Grant Major, not the least of which who’s our crack production designer who created a lot of the worlds for Lord of the Rings and those things, would come down with visual references so I had an idea what I was looking at. I have to imagine what that is, and then express it through my eyes for the audience, that was a big challenge. I was definitely happy to be able to get up and walk around, even if I had to wear a crash test dummy suit, for the most part.

Did you ever have any doubt about playing this particular superhero?

Ryan Reynolds: Of course, I have trepidation playing any role. You don’t get into a plane unless you have a great pilot. Martin Campbell was attached, and the opportunity to work with him was huge for me, but also you look at who Martin hires as well. There were all of these incredible talents that were involved so it was impossible to not want to play this guy. Also, I just wanted to learn. I wanted to see what it was like to do a film like this. I had never, ever done anything that involved this much post-production, so I was excited to see how that would all pan out.

What’s your background in general with comics? You’ve played Deadpool and now Green Lantern, how many characters from the Marvel and DC Universe do you plan to knock off?

Ryan Reynolds: By 2014 I’m going to do Wonder Woman, but after that I think I’m gonna hang it up. I’m gonna hang up the lasso and the short, short shorts (laughs). Growing up I read a bit of X-Men stuff and I loved Deadpool. My brother introduced me to Deadpool, and that was a character I loved. Beyond that I didn’t know that much about comics. Those are the ones I stuck to.

Deadpool is a character I really love, I got a great opportunity to play him in more of an ancillary sense in a film, which was great, it allowed me to jump in and play him, but then not be committed to too much beyond that. I do have that Deadpool film that’s in development still, and we’ll see what happens with that, but for the most part Green Lantern’s the first real iconic superhero role that I’ve ever had the great opportunity to play, and I’m pretty damn grateful for that.

You have a fear of flying, and this film is about the struggle between fear and will. How did you use your will to overcome your fear, in terms of doing the wire work and such?

Ryan Reynolds: I was initiated earlier. The third day they basically fired me two hundred feet in the air at sixty feet per second, that got me over it right quick. Without an adult diaper or anything, I just did it, just the regular way……that kind of helped (laughs). But then after a while you’re playing on these wires, and they’re so articulate, these things. The technology for that alone is amazing now. You’re moving left and right and up and down and all that stuff, so I was actually getting, dare I say, a little cocky with it by the end. I was wondering if we could actually find some way to transport me back to my hotel each day on the wires. I loved it after a while. The best way to get over this is just to do it.