Sebastian Stan Nearly Beat Ryan Reynolds for Green Lantern Role
The Winter Soldier actor reveals he auditioned alongside A-list stars for the infamous 2011 superhero flop that became Reynolds' biggest regret.
Sebastian Stan came close to landing one of Hollywood's most notorious superhero disasters. The actor recently disclosed he auditioned for Green Lantern back in 2011, competing against Ryan Reynolds and other major stars for a role that would become cinema's cautionary tale.
During a Happy Sad Confused podcast appearance, Stan described the intimidating audition room. "I remember getting there, and it was like, me, Justin Timberlake, Jared Leto, Ryan Reynolds, and maybe one other person. And I'm looking at these guys, going, 'I'm f*****. There's no way this is happening for me.' Looking back, I'm almost glad it didn't because I don't know if I could have handled that level of attention like some of those guys."
The Casting That Changed Everything
Reynolds ultimately secured the Hal Jordan role in what became a $200 million catastrophe. Blake Lively joined as Carol Ferris, with Mark Strong, Peter Sarsgaard, Angela Bassett, and Tim Robbins rounding out the cast. The film earned just 25% on Rotten Tomatoes.
The experience scarred Reynolds so deeply that he reportedly told DC Studios co-boss James Gunn to "get the f*** out of here!" when approached about reprising the character. Stan, meanwhile, appears headed for DC's The Batman sequel, possibly as Harvey Dent.
Director's Honest Assessment
Martin Campbell, who directed Green Lantern, admitted his disconnect from comic book culture doomed the project. "I'd never done one before. I think quite honestly, if you're going to do a superhero movie, you have to be in that world a little bit, you know what I mean? You have to be excited by it," Campbell told Variety.
He criticized the villain design specifically. "I also felt that Parallax, our bad guy, was just a cloud with a face on it — literally, that's all it was."
Reynolds' Powerless Position
Reynolds later explained his inability to influence the production at that career stage. Speaking at the Wall Street Journal's CMO Council Summit, he described feeling voiceless during filming.
"You know, that was a time in my life when I was 'Yes, sir, no, sir. How high can I jump, sir?' You sit there, and you go, 'I have really strong thoughts and opinions on a creative matter,' and someone else on another movie, I remember, made a creative decision, and 'I thought, well, that's a nail in a coffin that I alone will lie in.'"
The actor acknowledged the harsh reality of superhero movie failures. "They don't say, 'This producer's movie flopped,' or 'This director's [movie flopped].' That's me. So if I'm going to be on that headline, I'd like to be the architect of my own demise — or success."