Marc Guggenheim Talks About Scripting GREEN LANTERN

Marc Guggenheim Talks About Scripting GREEN LANTERN

The Green Lantern writer talks about the original draft that leaked online and the multitude of script rewrites that went down on the project.

By MarkJulian - Jul 06, 2012 06:07 PM EST
Filed Under: Green Lantern
Source: The Outhousers



Talking to the folks over at b>The Outhousers, Green Lantern writer Marc Guggenheim has a frank discussion about his involvement on Green Lantern---

The original Green Lantern script leaked online before the movie hit theaters. It was set more in space and dove into the Green Lantern Corps. a little more. Was the end result a product of too many voices on the project at once?
MG: It's complicated because movies are very different from television. In movies, there are always "more cooks in the kitchen." It's a dance and I actually look at the process of filmmaking...when you just consider the number of pieces,not people but the components that all have to come together, that all have to align to make a movie good, it's kind of a miracle when it actually turns out well. You're dealing with a huge, complex piece of machinery and Green Lantern is an extraordinarily ambitious property to tackle. You have space, you have earth, you have the combination of the two, and ring constructs and how they work. There's just a lot of pieces that all have to come together and for some people, the way those pieces came together was not satisfying and some people thought it was a very entertaining film.

I don't typically like to second-guess how and why things turn out the way they do. At the end of the day, going back to what I said previously, it's sort of a miracle that any movie turns out well. Green Lantern has gotten a little bit of a bum rap on the internet and even in the mainstream press. I think if you go back and take a look at it with fresh eyes, it actually stands up better than peoples memory of it.

But at the same time, you go, "this is the project, this is the way it turned out, and you move on while asking, "What can I take from this experience?" Which is true, whether you turned in The Dark Knight or Howard the Duck. There should always be an element of learning to improve your craft. I'm not unhappy that the draft that is online is online, it was our very first draft. We did a total of 5 before another writer came in and did a rewrite but I'm glad that it's out there for people to see what were the raw, knee-jerk, first intentions before they there were even the realities of a budget and production. It's very much a blue-sky draft. As a writer, I always enjoy reading other writers blue-sky drafts because they're educational as far as what they were seeing in their head.
Are we entering a 'cosmic age' with the looming possibility of a Green Lantern sequel and Marvel now apparently, moving on Guardians of the Galaxy?
MG: We live in this golden age of visual effects where so many things are possible, you're always limited by time and money and things are possible toady that were not even possible 5 years ago. And you can really tell stories on an incredibly large canvas. It's an exciting time but it's always important to make sure that the spectacle doesn't drown out the character. One of the things I loved about The Avengers movie was that it was this bid budget movie but there were all these little, wonderful character moments or character arcs woven into what probably could've gotten away with just being a big spectacle.



Wow, I'm sure no script is ever greenlit on the first draft but five sounds excessive and even that wasn't enough because Michael Goldenberg rewrote the script after the fifth try. I actually never managed to read that leaked draft but researching online, reactions to it were overwhelmingly positive. Hopefully Warner Bros. will have news for us at next week's Comic-Con.



Running Time: 1 hr 54 min
Release Date: 17 June 2011 (USA)
MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Mark Strong, Blake Lively and Peter Sarsgaard
Directed by: Martin Campbell
Written by: Greg Berlanti (screenplay), Michael Green (screenplay),Marc Guggenheim (screenplay), Michael Goldenberg (screenplay)

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lsoshow2
lsoshow2 - 7/6/2012, 6:10 PM
It is interesting to hear from him but...it's kind of sad too.
marvel72
marvel72 - 7/6/2012, 6:11 PM
i would never admit to writing the script to the green lantern.

"i know right"
Super12
Super12 - 7/6/2012, 6:13 PM
I'd love to read the original few scripts. This movie could have been incredible with the correct writing and pace. I think there were too many writers involved in the process IMO
lsoshow2
lsoshow2 - 7/6/2012, 6:14 PM
The original draft wasn't that bad.
write33
write33 - 7/6/2012, 6:19 PM
horrible movie by talented people. it's crappy, but it happens.
Scooby
Scooby - 7/6/2012, 6:22 PM
I just can't deal with Ryan Reynolds.
95
95 - 7/6/2012, 6:24 PM
They really should of ditched Hector Hammond.
KnobGoblin
KnobGoblin - 7/6/2012, 6:26 PM
"I think if you go back and take a look at it with fresh eyes, it actually stands up better than peoples memory of it."

No, no it doesn't. I find myself turning it on whenever I see it air on HBO and just end up shaking my had at how bad it is, and turning it off after ten minutes. I used to just do that with Batman & Robin. Green Lantern is the new Batman & Robin in my eye's, it's the perfect example of what NOT to do. It's just awful in every conceivable way imaginable.
JDUKE25
JDUKE25 - 7/6/2012, 6:26 PM
Yeah, I agree with grif. Just have Stewart introduced in the next one.
Intothepoop
Intothepoop - 7/6/2012, 6:27 PM
YOU SUCK.
mctrinket
mctrinket - 7/6/2012, 6:29 PM
The problem with the movie was...it was boring. How do you make a boring Green Lantern movie? It's almost like they tried to do it.
TimL
TimL - 7/6/2012, 6:29 PM
Needs a reboot, a sequel wont help.

Otherwise Justice League movie going to fail before it's even out.
Darkknight2149
Darkknight2149 - 7/6/2012, 6:31 PM
Should Warner Bros. reboot Green Lantern or form a sequel? Those interested May share what they think and vote at http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/dcmarvelrelatedfilms/polls/?poll=4534

Fansite: dcmarvelrelatednews
Darkknight2149
Darkknight2149 - 7/6/2012, 6:35 PM
You can also read my review at http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/dcmarvelrelatedfilms/news/?a=62956

Same fansite: dcmarvelrelatednews
MJPETTY7
MJPETTY7 - 7/6/2012, 6:36 PM
I liked Green Lantern... It was a good movie in my opinion. Yeah, the Directors Cut was better, but it wasn't a bad movie. It get to bad of a rap, like Superman Returns. Movies like Spider-Man 3, Catwoman, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, and Batman & Robin however, they deserve it...
THEDARKKNIGHT1939
THEDARKKNIGHT1939 - 7/6/2012, 6:37 PM
shit movie. Rushed out for the stupid ass Justice League movie.
gmoney0505
gmoney0505 - 7/6/2012, 6:37 PM
Wasn;t really thinking he was going to say Yeah WB put all their hands in the script.

The movie is missing character development and not a plain story. A panel by panel of Green Lantern: Secret Origin would have been perfect for me.

JUst think they should do a Green Lantern Corps movie instead of just Green Lantern. Focus more on the corps than just the human ones.
AmazingFantasy
AmazingFantasy - 7/6/2012, 6:39 PM
So he admits to destroying one of my most loved charecrers as a child growing up?

Well I still have MARVEL ehehehe.
BlazinTexan
BlazinTexan - 7/6/2012, 6:39 PM
Ryan Reynolds was the not the problem with this movie.
PeterParker1991
PeterParker1991 - 7/6/2012, 6:40 PM
Green Lantern had potential. Clearly Warner Bros. didn't feel the need to take advantage of that and the advancement of today's technology. Bring on the Reboot.
GreenLanternVan
GreenLanternVan - 7/6/2012, 6:42 PM
I'm curious, what did you guys think of Sinestro's suit? I read so much regarding the cgi suit, but I thought it looked great myself. Maybe the actual "design" of Hal's suit is more the issue than it being cgi? Sinestro looked baddass!
gmoney0505
gmoney0505 - 7/6/2012, 6:55 PM
@CeramycTyle
The suits looked great especially Sinestro. It is just the CGI suits probably took away form other scenes and characters form being worked on. There is no reason for Tomar-Re to look so freaking good and have the Guardians, Kilowog, and Cloud Parallax to not look so great.

The problem with the movie was not even the CGI, it is mainly the script with no character development, subplots coming out of nowhere with no development so you can care about it, underused Hector Hammond & Sinestro,
Minato
Minato - 7/6/2012, 7:00 PM
"the story was the main problem with the final product, hammond and a cloud was just stupid. comparing it to star wars was ridiculous too."

agreed
Vapes
Vapes - 7/6/2012, 7:03 PM
" I think if you go back and take a look at it with fresh eyes, it actually stands up better than peoples memory of it."

Ha.
No, it doesn't. I tried the rental re-watch. It really doesn't.
KnobGoblin
KnobGoblin - 7/6/2012, 7:07 PM
The core problem was the script, but the casting and overabundance of bad CGI sure didn't help matters. Add to that the sheer stupidity of the light constructs like Hot Wheel's tracks and the Superman ripoff score and this movie is the perfect shit storm of God awful.
BrowniesExplode
BrowniesExplode - 7/6/2012, 7:08 PM
I just think it was the villian chose and he should of trained like batman instead of like 5 min and the the guy who worked for parallax
BackwardGalaxy
BackwardGalaxy - 7/6/2012, 7:11 PM
As much as I dislike Ryan Reynolds in anything, he was NOT the reason GL failed. The character designs were also quite awesome and totally justified the copious amounts of CGI. The writing was just bad. That's all. And Martin Campbell had a total brain fart. Dude's a stud at making Bond movies, though.
BooYah
BooYah - 7/6/2012, 7:56 PM
Hopefully GL gets his chance to shine in the Justice League movie.

In other news:
[frick] the NBA
thatdylhooper
thatdylhooper - 7/6/2012, 7:57 PM
this guy wants a job at marvel studios
ShadowlordSavage
ShadowlordSavage - 7/6/2012, 8:01 PM
The film should've either been based on Secret origins or Emerald Dawn, may be even a combination of the two. It could've had Atrocitus or Legion as then main villains may be even the Manhunters could have shown up. Either-way potential was wasted.
justsomedude
justsomedude - 7/6/2012, 8:09 PM
Where they messed up the movie was having to have earth in it... If they had focused solely on OA they would've had more opportunity to flesh out the lanterns and their backstories. Also sinestro actually ran away from a fight (with parallax/krona) after only taking 1 or 2 shots at the bad guy/thing. That fight should've been a bad ass fight scene that should've shown exactly how powerful and dangerous sinestro was (he would've still lost the fight).
Intothepoop
Intothepoop - 7/6/2012, 8:26 PM
i like the training with sinestro. that was the only "cool it's greeen laaantern moment". but then he started acting like a wuss and wanted to cry and they lost me.

i still remember what i said to my friend when the movie ended:
"dude, you know me, i love the last indiana jones movie, but this" *points to screen* "is BULLSHIT".

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