Rumors have been swirling that Mark Strong will play Sinestro, the main baddie in Martin Campbell’s The Green Lantern. Now the comic’s scribe Geoff Johns has confirmed his casting through a tweet: Read the full story

Heat Vision is reporting that Oscar-winning actor Tim Robbins (Mystic River, The Shawshank Redemption) will be joining Martin Campbell’s The Green Lantern. Robbins is to play Senator Hammond, “the disapproving father of the movie’s villain, Dr. Hector Hammond (Peter Sarsgaard), who becomes infused with psychic powers.” It looks the cast is coming together quite nicely as Sarsgaard joined a few weeks ago, next to Blake Lively as Carol Ferris, the leading lady. Ryan Reynolds was first cast as our DC Comics superhero. Read the full story

CBS Films didn’t get off to a promising start with the dismal Extraordinary Measures. It looks like they have ambitious plans though. LA Times reports that a few high profile actors are in talks to play the lead Marshal Matt Dillon for a film adaptation of Gunsmoke, the famous Western TV show. Brad Pitt and Ryan Reynolds are high in the running for the part. Check out a snippet of their report below. Read the full story

Thanks to Cosmic Book News we have some new concept art for Martin Campbell’s upcoming Green Lantern film adaptation starring Ryan Reynolds. Check out the concept art below:

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Lionsgate bought Rodrigo Cortes’ indie thriller Buried this afternoon, amongst several bids for the film which features Ryan Reynolds as a American truck driver buried alive in an Iraqi desert. These reports come after a palpable amount of midnight screening buzz praising Reynolds’ performance and Cortes’ direction.

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The Sundance Film Festival is in full swing and I’ve gathered a number of reviews around the web. The first is for Rodrigo Cortés‘ Buried, the Ryan Reynolds indie vehicle (clip and teaser here). The next is for Cyrus, directed by the Duplass Brothers and starring John C. Reilly, Jonah Hill, Marisa Tomei and Catherine Keener. Check out the trailer for that here and the review round-up below. Read the full story

Most of you might recognize Martin Campbell’s name for being the director of the superb Casino Royale, but he has several projects lined up that have the potential to improve his already more than impressive resume. Edge of Darkness, which features the highly-anticipated return of Mel Gibson to the big screen, will be released on January 29th, and based on this interview from Collider, Campbell has some big aspirations for his next feature as well. Green Lantern, which is currently scheduled for a June 17, 2011 release, is a DC comic book adaptation, centering on a test pilot (Ryan Reynolds), who receives extraordinary powers from a mystical green ring. When asked about his vision of the film, he responded with the following:

“It will be much more in the tone of Iron Man. It’s got to be. Certainly not Batman Begins, which is a pretty dark movie. No, he’s the Hal Jordan character who’s the sort of shoot from the hip, irresponsible kind of cocky test pilot if you will. In fact, the character seems to be the least likely to be chosen as Green Lantern.  Well, of course that’s the fun of it. So no, it’ll be much more like Iron Man. So it’ll have one foot in reality if you see what I mean.”

Considering the acclaim of both Batman Begins and Iron Man, Campbell couldn’t have picked wrong here, but let’s just hope that he delivers. He has already lined up Grant Major (The Lord of the Rings) to be the production designer, and with Peter Sarsgaard (Boys Don’t Cry, An Education) joining the cast, it’s evident that Campbell has a lot of great resources to work with.

Another interesting tidbit from his interview covered the possibility of releasing Green Lantern in 3D. It’s obviously too early in the game for him to have any definitive answer, but his openness on the subject is intriguing:

“[Warner Bros. and I] haven’t really talked about it. But with the worldwide success of Avatar, it’s hard to imagine every studio not re-examining their big budget properties to see if they can release it in 3D and make a few extra dollars.”

Combining Campbell’s past success with the skill of his counterparts up to this point, I must admit that my hopes are high for this film, although it would be ignorant to ignore the fact that this is certainly new ground for the 65-year-old director.

Are you encouraged by Campbell’s decision? Personally, I prefer Batman Begins, but considering the “shoot from the hip” character with which he is dealing, do you think his choice to mirror Iron Man is the right one?

It’s hard to believe (and nice to see) that this film got made. The premise: an American truck driver in Iraq gets captured by terrorists who bury him alive and demand $1 million in order to dig him out. The buried man is equipped with only a lighter and a cell phone.

The entire screenplay exists inside this coffin. With one character: Paul Conroy, played by Ryan Reynolds. The indie is directed by Rodrigo Cortes.

It’s set to premiere at Sundance this month, and this new teaser and clip is sure to up the buzz. [Slash Film]

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Martin Campbell’s Green Lantern is finally coming together. Just a few days ago Gossip Girl’s Blake Lively was cast as the female lead, now we know the villain, thanks to Heat Vision. Peter Saarsgard is in negotiations to play Dr. Hector Hammond, “the pathologist son of a senator who is seen as a disappointment in his father’s eyes. He becomes infused with psychic powers when he discovers a meteor.” Ryan Reynolds will be battling him as The Green Lantern. Read the full story

A few weeks ago we reported that the role for the female lead in Green Lantern starring Ryan Reynolds and directed by Martin Campbell had been narrowed down to five people:

Keri Russell

Diane Kruger

Jennifer Garner

Blake Lively

Eva Green

Well the decision is in, and according to THR the female lead in Green Lantern is going to be Blake Lively. According to THR:

Lively will play Carol Ferris, who runs her father’s aerospace company and hires cocky test pilot Hal Jordan (Reynolds), who later becomes the intergalactic policeman Green Lantern.

THR goes on to say that Lively impressed the studio with her audition and they were also intrigued by her work on The Town directed by Ben Affleck and currently in post-production. The next job of the casting team is going to be finding an actor to play the films key villains Dr. Hector Hammond and Sinestro. Read the full story