If you're going to grow up to be a Green Lantern, there's no better training than being raised by a Mountie.
This from Vancouver's Ryan Reynolds, whose father is a retired RCMP officer.
"At an early age, my father instilled a real work ethic in me -- and a fear of men," says the 34-year-old star of Hollywood's latest comic-book adaptation.
"I felt like I didn't have a natural knack for something I could out-discipline the competition."
Which he did for the coveted role of the DC Comics character.
"Each time I take a role "¦ I'm somewhat terrified at the beginning, but get into it and start working, that's a big win for me."
Not that there weren't moments throughout filming Green Lantern that weren't equally terrifying, particularly the flying sequences which required him to be whipped into the air on a wire at 60 feet per second.
"I hope they release the DVD outtakes of that because right at the top -- when you arc at the top of this ride -- you're weightless for a couple seconds. (From) somewhere in the back of my subconscious, I would scream out 1980s sitcom (actors). I don't know why. But I'd get to the top and call out, 'Alan Thicke!' 'Judith Light!' I don't know why. It just accessed some weird brain cell affected by my early high school drug use."
SUPER-EFFECTS: In 1978, the tagline for the grandfather of all superhero films, Superman: The Movie, declared "You'll believe a man can fly."
Which you probably didn't -- even if, for the time, the pre-digital special effects were astounding.
Now more than three decades later, technology has finally caught up with that promise.
"We have the tools at our disposal to render these superhero movies to a very high degree," says Green Lantern director Martin Campbell, addressing what he believes is one of the simple reasons behind the popularity of comic-book movies. "We have the technology to create these fantasies and make them look fantastic."
PIE AU NATURAL: Our favourite casting call this season was for American Reunion, the American Pie sequel featuring the original characters 10 years later. Filming on Reunion is in full gear in sweltering Atlanta heat.
The casting call was for someone to play a high school girl named Kara, "a full blown hottie"¦ Please note upper frontal nudity is required."
Fair enough. What with drunken wardrobe malfunctions, we've seen enough of Tara Reid's body over the years. But we wonder if the casting call for the original American Pie warned that "some pie humping is required."
GAME, SET, ACTION! Add Risk to the list of Hasbro games/toys to hit the screen, following Transformers and the upcoming Battleship. Columbia Pictures announced last week plans to film a feature based on the "world domination" boardgame everybody's played at the cottage.
I believe there already was a production about a player trying to take over the world and the other players ganging up to defeat him -- it was called the Second World War. And unless Risk is a period piece, they're going to have to include a nuclear option to make it relevant.
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