‘Green Lantern’ Director Reveals Why the Movie Flopped: “Our Bad Guy Was Just a Cloud With a Face on It”

Director Martin Campbell has never shied away from discussing the struggles behind his 2011 film “Green Lantern.” Now, 14 years after its release, he’s reflecting on why it didn’t work and taking responsibility for the film’s shortcomings.

While promoting his new thriller “Cleaner,” Campbell made it clear that his experience with “Green Lantern” left him with no interest in directing another superhero movie. “None whatsoever,” he admitted. Despite the film grossing $237 million worldwide, it fell short considering its $200 million budget. Campbell attributes a big part of the problem to his own lack of enthusiasm for the genre.

“It didn’t do business, I think, for a number of reasons, but the reason I did it was simply I’d never done one before,” he explained. “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. You have to have a background where you are part of that world and you’ve been involved in that thing. And I wasn’t.”

Campbell had previously stated that he wasn’t the right choice for the project, but that realization only came after the fact. He did his homework, reading the comics to stay true to the characters, but still felt disconnected. The script also didn’t help, he admitted. “I’m not blaming it on that. I’m simply saying I don’t think that the script was great. I also felt that Parallax, our bad guy, was just a cloud with a face on it — literally, that’s all it was.”

Despite the film’s flaws, Campbell had nothing but praise for his leading actors. “And also you had Ryan [Reynolds] and you had Blake [Lively] who were, by the way, wonderful to work with — I have to say, both terrific.” However, he still believes the story was lacking. “I think while all the characters were part of the story … part of the comics basically, I think the story was left wanting.”

Another major issue was the film’s ending, which had to be changed due to budget constraints. “I had a totally different ending to the movie, or the last third of it, all of which was scrapped in the interest of budget,” he recalled.

Campbell doesn’t dodge responsibility for the film’s failure. “Listen, I’m not making any excuses,” he said. “When you direct and people don’t like it, you suck it up and you say, ‘Well, I’m the director, so that’s my fault.’” He reiterated that he took on “Green Lantern” simply because he had never done a superhero film before, but ultimately, it didn’t work out.

At the time of its release, there was a lot of excitement around “Green Lantern.” With Campbell, known for directing “Casino Royale” and “GoldenEye,” at the helm and Ryan Reynolds starring as Hal Jordan, expectations were high. But the final product was met with disappointment. Today, it holds a low 25% critic score and a 45% audience score.

One of the biggest complaints from fans was how the movie handled Parallax. In the comics, Parallax is a much more complex villain, but the film reduced him to what Campbell described as “just a cloud with a face.” This wasn’t the only time a major comic book villain suffered this fate.

“Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” made the same mistake with Galactus, turning him into another vague cloud-like entity instead of the towering cosmic force from the comics. Fortunately, the upcoming “Fantastic Four: First Steps” looks set to do Galactus justice.

As for the Green Lantern franchise, DC is moving forward with a fresh approach. James Gunn’s upcoming “Superman” will feature Guy Gardner, played by Nathan Fillion. Meanwhile, the “Lanterns” TV series is in the works, starring Kyle Chandler as Hal Jordan and Aaron Pierre as John Stewart. Fans are hopeful that this new direction will finally give the Green Lantern characters the adaptation they deserve.

What do you think about Campbell’s comments on “Green Lantern”? Let us know in the comments below!