How They Created Ryan Reynolds Green Lantern Costume

While DC is announcing new projects at a record pace lately, one, in particular, has been slower in coming along for the ride. That would be the fan favorite Green Lantern series, which will get a new film titled Green Lantern Corps in 2020. The reason why it has taken so long is of course due to the lukewarm reception the original Green Lantern received, partially due to its reliance on a CG suit.

Granted there are other flaws, but one of the biggest ones was the readily apparent CG-ness of the suit. Green Lantern currently has a 46.07 on ComicBook.com’s composite rankings, but a behind the scenes featurette has surfaced recounting why that method for the costume was chosen, and their overall goals for the suit. Costume designer Ngila Dickson talks about the suit from a strictly design perspective, saying “One of the characteristics of Hal Jordan, well I went for Aerodynamic because this guy is a pilot, and I wanted to create a suit that like a plane or anything that moves fast through space has extraordinary design lines, detail, and perfect design resolution in motion. And then I combined that with the anatomy of the human body.”

The lines and overall design were actually quite good, but the decision to not make a practical suit and go CG was the next piece to fall, though their heart was in the right place. Dickson says “From my experience, I was expecting to build a costume, and then add the visual effects element. As we began to explore it and the nature of what we were attempting to do with this character, it became more and more obvious that we had to go one way or the other, and the one thing we were determined to do was not make a rubber suit. We wanted something so fresh for the fans that it really did start to become obvious that we needed to go all the way with the visual effects.”

That included putting Reynolds in a motion capture suit and literally building a 3D model of his body so they could tweak every possible muscle and its resulting animation. Doing any less would as they put it “make him look like a head on a stick”. It’s a remarkably complicated process, and an impressive undertaking.

You can view the rest of the featurette in the video above, and the other features can be found on the Green Lantern Blu-ray. While it isn’t confirmed, there is a heavy rumor that a Green Lantern will show up in DC’s Justice League, and you can view the official synopsis below.

In Justice League, fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman’s selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroes—Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash—it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions.

Justice League is directed by Zack Snyder, from a screenplay by Chris Terrio, and features an ensemble cast that includes Ben Affleck (Batman), Henry Cavill (Superman), Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman), Ezra Miller (The Flash), Jason Momoa (Aquaman), Ray Fisher (Cyborg), Ciarán Hinds (Steppenwolf), Amy Adams (Lois Lane), Diane Lane (Martha Kent), Jeremy Irons (Alfred Pennyworth), J.K. Simmons (Commissioner Gordon), Amber Heard (Mera), Kiersey Clemons (Iris West) and Jesse Eisenberg (Lex Luthor).

Justice League hits on November 17, 2017, while Green Lantern Corps is scheduled for 2020.

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