Ryan Gosling wanted for Green Lantern

After seeing how much money Batman and The Dark Knight made, Warners is pushing ahead with fan-favourite (though lesser known outside of comic circles) Green Lantern. And their current top choice for the role? Ryan Gosling.

Latino Review reports that there are serious whispers within the studio pointing to Gosling, last seen in Fracture and quirky indie Lars And The Real Girl, as the favourite casting option.

Of course, wishing only works to a point – he’d have to sign on first. But there’s precedent, at least: no-one thought of Tobey Maguire as an actor who’d make superhero films before Spider-Man. It’s just that Gosling has always been a little less likely to jump into mainstream projects.

Intergalactic Lawmen

For those who have never cracked a Lantern comic, the character has appeared in DC comics since the 1940s, but the Lantern identity has been held by several men over that time, the most famous being Hal Jordan, who the film would focus on. His power comes from his incredible ring, which grants a willing – and morally strong - wearer amazing abilities.

The Lanterns were intended to be a group of intergalactic lawmen, each assigned to a particular part of the galaxy. They face challenges both human and alien.

It’s not surprising that Warners would want to kick-start the Lantern project - the recent reorganisation of its strategy means that its focus is now on not only getting as many of the DC-sourced superheroes off the page and on to the screen, but choosing the right people to bring them to life. After all, it’s either develop and move ahead or watch the Marvel movie empire continue to grow.

Now, if only they can find a way to convince Gosling that he can make a Lantern movie that’ll be as artistically satisfying as The Dark Knight. Either that, or find out if a dump truck of money will do the trick.