We’ve got a bit of clarity on what former DC Chief Creative OfficerGeoff Johnshas up his sleeve for theGreen Lanternreboot movie. Back in May 2016, a few months afterBatman v Supermanhit theaters and startled Warner Bros. executives with some of its strongly negative responses (though clearly notallnegative), the studio aimed to course correct a bit going forward. At that time, WB was still on the hunt for its ownKevin Feigeto help creatively run the DC films coming up, which at that time was a bit in flux as WB was in the midst of tooling with the edit ofSuicide Squadand had just firedSeth Grahame-Smithas the director ofThe Flash.
It was then that Johnswas chosen to help run DC Filmsalongside WB executiveJon Berg, and together the two aided in craftingJustice League,Wonder Woman, andAquaman, among others. Then this past June, it was announced that Johnswould be exiting his top post at DC, making way for newly installedWalter Hamadato run the ship. As part of the announcement, it was revealed that Johns wouldn’t be leaving DC entirely—he’d move to a more creative role, and his first order of business was to write the script forGreen Lantern Corps.
ThisGreen Lanternreboot has been in the works for a few years, withDavid S. Goyerhaving previously been announced as a screenwriter. But when Collider’s own Steve Weintraub spoke with Johns for an exclusive interview at San Diego Comic-Con, Johns revealed that he’s very much starting from scratch. When asked if he was looking to Warner Bros.’ previousGreen Lanternmovie for lessons-learned about what not to do, Johns said he’s looking at pretty much everything and is focused on completely revamping the character:
“Well I think you look at everything that worked and didn’t work on anything. Like revamping a character, reintroducing a character I’ve done it a lot. The creative viewpoint and the way into the character and rebooting it and changing it and introducing it is informed by everything. It’s informed by comics, both what works and what doesn’t work. I don’t wanna spoil any of the story there, but if people liked my run onGreen Lantern, then hopefully they’ll like what I’m doing.”
As for the status of theGreen Lanternreboot, Johns says he’s currently writing the script but the film is far from greenlit:
“Right now look I’m just writing a script and hopefully this script gets into a place where Warner Bros. and Walter [Hamada] and everybody is really excited about it, and when we get that right then we’ll move ahead on the project. But we gotta get it right.”
When asked specifically if he’s thinking about using practical suits this time around as opposed to the CG suits of the 2011 film, Johns said he prefers practical but admits that’s a decision that’s a ways off:
“I look at what they did with those suits and—look I have so many opinions that I won’t say, but that’s really up to once we get a director. That’s such a down the line conversation with the director and costume designer. You think about it, but when I’m writing the story I’m not like worried about the practicality yet of the suit. In my head tangible is always cooler, an enhanced tangible suit is better. But it’s really gonna be about where we are with the director and everything else, and that’s a question [to be asked when] we get a great script and a great director and they wanna make the movie, then we’ll get there.”
Warner Bros. has certainly pumped the breaks when it comes to announcing release dates of DC films before actually putting those projects together, so it could be years beforeGreen Lantern Corps.gets off the ground or Johns could churn out a great script that puts it on the fast track. This year they had initially eyedSuicide Squad 2as the next project up, but theMargot Robbie-led spinoffBirds of Preycame together quickly and that took pole position. So you just never know.
Check out what Johns had to say in the video above, and look for the full interview on Collider soon.
