Green Lantern Corps could still be a ways off, but there is movement on it. Back in January, we reported that the studio had hired David Goyer (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice) and Justin Rhodes to pen the screenplay with the pitch being a "Lethal Weapon movie in outer space." The idea would be to have the story focus on Hal Jordan and Jon Stewart, and it’s not a bad pitch, especially if you want to create some distance from 2011’s Green Lantern and start fresh rather than simply take a second stab at the superhero.
Now it’s looking like Warner Bros. might want Goyer to direct in addition to writing. Here’s what Jeff Sneider had to say about the situation on his Meet the Movie Press podcast [via /Film]:
“I’m hearing David Goyer could very well wind up directing Green Lantern Corps himself. When you look at screenwriters that are taking the plunge and directing these movies themselves, we saw rumors last month that Simon Kinberg was going to direct the next X-Men movie. David Goyer is responsible for this entire DC Universe, he wrote Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. He wrote Man of Steel, he is the architect, if you will. He is writing and producing Green Lantern Corps, so it’s just very well, what I have heard, one of those situations where he could be like ‘Listen, I think I may be the best guy for the job, nobody knows this like I do.'”
Sneider also says that Goyer is in the mix for Suicide Squad 2 along with The Shallows helmer Jaume Collet-Serra.
While I’m not really high on Goyer as a choice (I also think calling him the “architect” is giving him too much credit; Batman Begins and The Dark Knight benefit from Christopher Nolan’s vision and the rebooted DCEU has been a bit of a disaster thus far), he at least has an edge on other writers making the leap to blockbusters in that he’s actually directed a bit. Granted, his movies—Blade: Trinity, The Invisible, and The Unborn—weren’t particularly well received, but experience counts for something.
That being said, for a studio that likes to tout itself as caring about filmmakers’ vision, I’m not sure what Goyer brings to the table. It seems like he gets kept around because he knows DC comics and the studio is comfortable with him, but those aren’t great reasons to hand over a blockbuster franchise to someone.
As we reported earlier today, the studio is interested in getting another DC movie into production this year, so if they want to fast track a project and they feel like Goyer can get the job done, I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up getting hired.
