In the past, Mission: Impossible – Fallout director Christopher McQuarrie hinted that he wouldn’t turn down directing a DC movie such as Man of Steel 2 or Green Lantern Corps. Both of those opportunities seemed to have passed, though, as McQuarrie recently broke down why he turned down the latter.
“I had a conversation with the previous regime about Green Lantern. I’m not a comic book guy. I’m a story guy. So I don’t care if it’s Superman, or Green Lantern, or some superhero you’ve never heard of, to me it always comes down to, is there a good story?” he told Collider. “I watched as other franchise movies try really hard to keep stuff that’s canon, and strangles the movie to death, and I’ve been in meetings where I’m like, ‘Can we just move this?’ ‘No, no, no, don’t move that! Don’t! Seven people saw that in a comic book ten years ago! It’s established! It’s canon!’ And I was like, ‘But the movie sucks. Can we just do it?’ ‘No you can’t!’”
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“When I came in on Green Lantern I was like, ‘Here’s how I would do Green Lantern,’” he continued. “They were like, ‘Ah, but you know,’ and I said, ‘Well, that’s what I would do,’ and they said, ‘Well, will you direct it?’ And I said, ‘No, ’cause there’s no script.’” He was then approached to write the script, but he shot back that he may not be the one to direct in that case. “We don’t know what that is tonally. We don’t know what any of that stuff is until we get under the hood, and I may be the worst guy in the world.”
“You may end up with Tim Burton’s Green Lantern, and I don’t have that pride of authorship,” he added. “I’m not the guy who comes in and goes, ‘It’s mine, from the visionary director.’ Bullshit fuckin’ words. You’re a director! You’re a visionary, that’s your job.”
The Green Lantern Corps movie is said to feature Hal Jordan and John Stewart, with rumors that Tom Cruise has been approached to take on Hal’s role. Beyond that, there’s been no real news about the film, which was first announced back in 2014.
Green Lantern Corps is expected to release in 2020.