Green Lantern: Taika Waititi and Ryan Reynolds Joke They Never Heard of Their DC Movie

Green Lantern stars Ryan Reynolds and Taika Waititi joked that they have “never heard of” the disastrous DC Comics movie that Reynolds has parodied on more than one occasion in the Deadpool movies. The film was directed by Martin Campbell and debuted in 2011. Reynolds starred as hotshot test pilot Hal Jordan, who has the gift of a cosmic ring controlled by his willpower bestowed upon him, granting him superpowers including the ability to create energy constructs. It also conducts him into the intergalactic Green Lantern Corps, Waititi played Jordan’s best friend, engineer Thomas Kalmaku. The cast also included Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, Angela Bassett, and Mark Strong.

“What’s the project you’re talking about? I’ve never heard of it,” Waititi, who went on to direct Thor: Ragnarok for Marvel Studios, joked when interviewed by Total Film magazine for Free Guy, where he reunites with Reynolds. “Green… what?”

More seriously, Waititi added, “No, that type of thing is great, because Ryan and I have both got a similar sense of humor in regards to things like that. I find it really funny that I did that film. The thing is, it’s like when people shy away from things, and they don’t want to admit they’ve done something, or they don’t ever reference it, I find it worse.”

“If an actor is brave enough or comfortable enough in themselves to acknowledge it, and to be self-deprecating, and to own that they have been a part of something that’s been lambasted a bit, then I think that’s great,” he continued. “Because when you can make fun of yourself, then everybody else understands: ‘Oh, we’re all in on the joke.’ Because if you pretend it never happened, then it makes it kind of weird and uncomfortable for everyone.”

After a pause, Waititi quipped, “I still don’t have any idea what that project is. I’m not entirely sure which one you’re talking about.” Waititi continued to feign forgetfulness on Twitter, joking he was Photoshopped into the movie.

Reynolds is just as forgetful. “I’ve never met him,” the jokester said of Waititi. “I still can’t quite figure out how we got him for [Free Guy]. He just sort of said ‘yes’ right away.”

The new movie, directed by Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum, Stranger Things), is led by Reynolds as Guy — a NPC, or non-playable character — who comes to realize he’s living inside a video game, spurring him to take control of his destiny and his life.

“When we first got this script, I remember Shawn and I had been wanting to work together for years, and we found this script. And to us, it felt like we really wanted to bring sort of an updated version of Back to the Future for this generation, and it really felt like Back to the Future,” Reynolds said during Brazil’s CCXP convention in December. “It was imbued with all of that same sort of wish fulfillment, action-adventure, little elements of sci-fi and supernatural, so for us, it felt really timely.”

Unlike Green Lantern, Reynolds says Free Guy is his “favorite” movie he’s ever done. Free Guy, also starring Jodie Comer, Lil Rel Howery, and Joe Keery, opens December 11.