Industry Insiders Bash ‘Green Lantern’ in Defense of Blake Lively

Jan 18, 2011 by Rob Keyes 

In discussing the star potential of Blake Lively, industry insiders take shots at ‘Green Lantern,’ explaining its critical reception will not affect Lively’s future.

With mixed reaction to its first trailer and negative feedback for the title character’s CGI costume, Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment’s big screen introduction to Green Lantern may have some challenges to overcome in bringing their Emerald Knight to mainstream audiences.

Fortunately, Green Lantern has all the financial support it needs and more importantly, talent to back it up. Starring alongside Ryan Reynolds is Blake Lively as Carol Ferris. New York Magazine’s Vulture column put up a feature a few days ago about Green Lantern and her future as a Hollywood superstar, asking industry “insiders” about their thoughts on her career thus far, and her potential going forward. While no one was named, several agents and managers shared their thoughts on Lively, a few making a point to talk about Green Lantern… in a rather negative fashion.

After discussing her role in Gossip Girl and her strong performance in The Town, the article movies into the “What Hollywood Thinks” section, where they reference Lively’s biggest role to date, and only currently confirmed upcoming performance, as the leading lady in Green Lantern – Here is the paragraph we’re looking at:

And both are also quick to say that should the forthcoming Green Lantern flop (and it’s been a troubled production), it won’t hurt Lively much. Says the manager, “Whatever the mistakes were with Green Lantern, she needs to not react to them and do an indie movie just because a big superhero movie didn’t work. It’s always about the role and the director. The hotter the person, the easier it is, and she’s very hot right now.” The agent adds, “Even though Green Lantern is supposed to be terrible, it doesn’t mean it’s not going to do extremely well and enhance her foreign value. Clash of the Titans was horrendous, but it didn’t slow down Sam Worthington any.”

The author(s) indicate that the film has been a “troubled production,” followed by the agent and manager discussing the “mistakes” with Green Lantern and how it’s “supposed to be terrible.” And with a cherry on top, it’s compared to Clash of the Titans, Warner Bros.’ poorly received (critically) summer blockbuster that went through the infamously rushed post-conversion 3D process. As far as I know, none of these involved have seen the film so perhaps they’re talking about Ryan Reynolds’ contentious costume.

How will Blake Lively's career be affected by Green Lantern?

Before writing this up, I contacted the author and verified that the quotes are not coming from Lively’s agent or manager, so take from it what you will. There’s a good chance it’s all hearsay from people that have little to nothing to do with the production or people involved with the production of Green Lantern. This is how bad rumors start.

Follow us on Twitter @rob_keyes and @screenrant.

Green Lantern arrives in 2D and 3D theaters on June 17, 2011.

Source: New York Magazine

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‘Taken’ Director Attached to Alien Invasion Film ‘Earth Defense Force’

Have you ever noticed how certain types of movies tend to come out at the same time (such as Dante’s Peak and Volcano or Armageddon and Deep Impact)? This isn’t a fluke. Hollywood filmmaking is about making money first and foremost, which is why studios release similar films to try and anticipate popular trends.

Currently, the trend that seems to be sweeping Hollywood is alien invasion. Not including Skyline, which is in theaters now, or the canceled Roland Emmerich film The Zone, next year will see multiple alien invasion movies, including Cowboys & Aliens, Battle: Los Angeles, and Battleship. Now, we can add one more alien invasion film to that list: Earth Defense Force, or EDF.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, director Pierre Morel (Taken) is attached to direct the movie, which, as the name implies, focuses on an effort to protect Earth from an invading force of alien attackers. The film is being produced by Sam Raimi and Bill Block and will be distributed by Warner Bros.

THR writes that Morel turned his attention to EDF after Universal passed on his pitch for Ouija. Check below for a brief (and we mean brief) description of the project.

“EDF is set after three alien fighters attack the planet, leaving countries humiliated. The governments of Earth then race to create a space fighting force in preparation for a second attack by an approaching alien horde.”

There’s nothing wrong with a good sci-fi movie, and Pierre Morel is a more than competent director, so on the surface this should be good news. However, something just doesn’t sit right with the fact that this is yet another alien invasion movie. There’s also the fact that EDF‘s plot sounds a lot like Year 12 and/or Falling Skies, two upcoming projects (a movie and TV show, respectively) set in the aftermath of an alien invasion.

Will audiences eventually tire of seeing aliens destroy the world’s major cities? Maybe, maybe not. In either case, this news doesn’t inspire much confidence that Hollywood will be abandoning this trend anytime soon.

Perhaps I’m being cynical, though. No matter how many times I’ve seen it, I still enjoy Independence Day when it’s on, and that may be the most formulaic of all modern invasion movies. What do you think of a Pierre Morel-directed alien invasion film?

Source: THR

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