Mark Strong appears set to take on the role of Sinestro, a pivotal player in the 'Green Lantern' universe.

Credit: Warner/DC

Well, if I have to be wrong, at least it's over an actor as great as Mark Strong.

When I ran our report the other day on "Green Lantern," it seems that I had one major detail wrong.  Everything I wrote about the script and the story and which characters you can expect to see in Martin Campbell's "Green Lantern" was right, but my source had told me that Mark Strong, an early candidate for the role, was going to be booked for "John Carter Of Mars" and that had knocked him out of consideration.

Well, turns out, that's exactly wrong.

Martin Campbell confirmed today for Rick Marshall of MTV that Mark Strong is currently negotiating to take the role of Sinestro, which will turn out to be one of the most important parts of the "Green Lantern" franchise if this first film works. For those not familiar, Sinestro is a member of the Green Lantern corps on Oa, the Green Lantern homeworld, and when Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) is first recruited from Earth, Sinestro is a mentor to him, helping him learn to handle the awesome power of the Green Lantern ring.

Fans of the comic know that Sinestro's love of that power slowly but surely corrupted him, and eventually, Sinestro became the main villain of the series, a tremendous ongoing foil for not just Jordan but every Green Lantern on every world.  If you want a taste of what's in store for Sinestro if the franchise moves forward, you could check out the excellent "Gren Lantern" animated film that was released by Warner/DC last year, which parallels some of the main story beats you'll see in the live-action treatment of the material.

Martin Campbell is set to start production on "Green Lantern" in New Orleans later this year, with a 2011 release date already set.

Mark Strong has a major role in Matthew Vaughn's "Kick-Ass," which is set for release in April, and he played Lord Blackwood in "Sherlock Holmes" this past Christmas.  I've been impressed by the way he's been slowly but surely racking up one great performance after another in the last few years, and even in a film like "Body Of Lies," his work is so good that it makes you wish the film was just about him.  Campbell's making a strong choice here, and if they take their time over a few movies and let Sinestro's fall play out as something real, it could turn into one of the great superhero movie arcs.

Like I said... my fault.  I can cross my confirming source on this one off my list, and I look forward to seeing what Campbell does with the film when it finally hits theaters next year.

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