Recently there has been immense speculation as to who is going to carry the mantel of Green Lantern. I began to think about the essentials of Hal Jordan’s character. He’s a good looking every man, cocky, smart-ass, and pure of heart and deed. An image of Han Solo immediately popped into my head.
I tried to think of an actor who’s played characters that remind me of Han Solo and like many of us, I thought of Nathan Fillion, who was a favorite pick of mine for a long time. I’m sure DC wants Green Lantern to be huge and hopefully the beginning of another franchise so they will need a fresh face with wide spread appeal. Unfortunately I think Fillion’s appeal has peaked and cooled, but we still love ‘im!
On a recent Green Lantern post Sam Worthington’s name was mentioned again and for some reason it made me remember something. During the filming and post-production of Terminator: Salvation, there was much praise for Worthington. I believe I read that a crewmember said that he was the next Han Solo.
He could have said Harrison Ford but that’s the same thing. Harrison Ford=Han Solo and vice versa. Because of Terminator, we know exactly who he is and we think he's awesome. The rest of the world is whispering and murmuring, "That guy is not bad, good fella too." This is not the only reason I think Worthington is going to be the next GL, there IS a little bit of logic here too.
My logic stems from what IMDB says Worthington has planned for his film future. I noticed that his slated film plans stop after “Clash of the Titans” in 2010. Next I checked on the other two actors rumored to play GL. Both Pine and Cooper are booked up to 2011-2012 and we know that GL is supposed to be out in the near future at about the same time.
Why have Worthington’s plans stopped at 2010 when looking at his upcoming film list is impressive and seems carefully crafted to gain widespread appeal? Could there be something that is supposed to be hush-hush?
His next movie is "Last Night" with Kiera Knightly and Eva Mendes. This is a drama/romance and will expose Worthington to different demographics, stirring interest from the loins of girls 17 to 35. The big star here is Knightly so she is carrying the film. Worthington is not yet a leading man but will probably get a chance to show off some acting.
Next is James Cameron’s “Avatar”. Which is an Action / Adventure / Sci-Fi / Thriller.
IMDB gives him top billing but there are so many people in this film it is hard to tell who the main character is going to be or who the main box office draw is going to be. I think the main draw is that it’s Cameron and that the film is supposed to change the industry. I believe in “Avatar” Sam will remind us sci-fi nuts that he plays an awesome hero and will be exposed to non-comic book and non-sci-fi fans alike.
Next is, “The Dept” which is a Nazi drama/thriller. The brief synopsis on IMDB says:
A Nazi war criminal is pursued by a group of agents who take the law into their own hands in order to bring their target to justice.
Once again, Sam gets top billing and seeing as though this movie has a short cast, I believe he will be the leading man and will be the sole box office draw. I think this is a test to see what kind and how much box office draw Sam Worthington has. It will also expose Sam to a different audience but still in the action-y realm, for the total non-sci-fi guys who didn’t see “Avatar” will be exposed to Sam for the first time. I honestly believe his role as Green Lantern will have been announced by this time. I think it will be announced after or right at “Avatar’s” release.
Finally we come to “Clash of the Titans”, where Sam fills the role of the Greek hero Perseus. He is obviously the main character but not the sole box office draw beside Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes and the general interest in the remaking of this classic film. If all goes well for Worthington, his popularity and box office draw should be way up and "Clash" will bring us back to a comic book-like frame of mind in preparation for the space epic, Green Lantern.