Looks like Warner Bros. and DC are serious about this Green Lantern Corps movie, as the film now has a shortlist of potential Hal Jordan contenders. The movie is being billed as a kind of sci-fi buddy cop flick, with Jordan and his fellow human Lantern John Stewart (no, not that one) palling around the cosmos and fighting crime. Now that the movie has found is writers, the next task is to cast it, and today we know who might be playing one of the main characters.

Here is the Hal Jordan shortlist, courtesy of The Wrap:

  • Tom Cruise
  • Ryan Reynolds
  • Bradley Cooper
  • Armie Hammer
  • Jake Gyllenhaal
  • Joel McHale

Some of these are no-brainers, but more than a few raise an eyebrow or two. First of all, while he was doubtless the best part of the 2011 Green Lantern (not that that was a high bar), I can imagine Ryan Reynolds would laugh the WB execs out of his house if they ever so much as thought of asking him back, slamming his door and triple locking it after them. Bradley Cooper was actually considered for the role originally before Reynolds got it, so it makes sense they’d want to try him again.

Tom Cruise, though, would just be kinda weird, wouldn’t he? He’s such a huge name in Hollywood, and has been so for years, not to mention he’s never been in a superhero movie before. His fame might distract from the role, while someone like Armie Hammer, who people know but don’t know (to a lot of folks, he’s still the Winklevoss twins from The Social Network) might be a better choice. He was hilarious in Guy Ritchie’s The Man From U.N.C.L.E., a buddy spy movie in its own right.

This is probably the last we’ll hear about this for some time, unless a deal is reached with one of these stars within the next few days. It might make sense to cast Jordan and Stewart around the same time so that all the actors considered have a chance to test their guys-being-dudes buddy chemistry with each other.

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