The Times-Picayune is reporting that Warner Bros. is set to begin shooting the Green Lantern in New Orleans. The Martin Campbell directed feature recently pulled out of Australia due to the rising cost of the Australian dollar. The movie had been mooted to be moving to Canada but Warner Bros. seems to have taken a liking to New Orleans having recently filmed Jonah Hex there.
An official at Second Line Studios in New Orleans has confirmed that the producers have signed a non-refundable contract to rent stage space to the production. The production is set to occupy Second Line’s sound stages in December with construction crews beginning to build the sets, while principal photography would begin in March and to continue through to July or August.
In other Green Lantern related stories Ain’t It Cool News is reporting an interesting rumour that Jackie Earle Haley (who played Rorschach in Watchmen and is taking over the role of Freddy Krueger in the upcoming A Nightmare on Elm Street) is the first choice to play Green Lantern villain Sinestro.
Sinestro, for those unfamiliar with the comic, is the former mentor of Hal Jordan who grows tired with the bureaucracy of the Green Lantern Corps and sets about trying to make the universe adhere to his will, thus becoming the arch-nemesis of the entire Green Lantern Corps. He is easily the most important bad-guy in the Green Lantern series and was voted 15th overall in IGN’s top 100 villains.
The site is also reporting that Superman may make a cameo appearance in the movie too!
Green Lantern, with Ryan Reynolds as the titular ring-toting hero, is scheduled to be released on June 17th 2011.
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More superhero movie rumours with word again from Ain’t It Cool News that Valkyrie actor Matthias Schweighöfer told the German edition of GQ magazine that he’s in the running for a role in Thor and that Jude Law and Robert De Niro have also joined the cast. The 3 would be set to play the Warriors Three in director Kenneth Branagh’s adaptation of the Marvel comic-book character.
Alternatively, Movieline recently interviewed Mamma Mia star Dominic Cooper for Lone Scherfig’s An Education and found that he was preparing to audition for a role in Thor. The interviewer asked Cooper whether he’d been approached for the role of Fandral the Dashing, one of the Warriors Three.
The Warriors Three are a group of fictional characters who served as supporting cast members in Thor and are made up of the Asgardians Fandral, Hogun and Volstagg.
In any instance Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Natalie Portman, Jaimie Alexander, Colm Feore, Samuel L. Jackson and Stellan Skarsgard are already cast in the comic-book adaptation scheduled for a release on May 20th 2011.