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Variety said:
Campbell backs out of ‘Green Lantern’

February 6, 2009

“Casino Royale” helmer Martin Campbell has pulled out of negotiations with Warner Bros. to direct their planned “Green Lantern” adaptation.

Based on the adventures of the long-running DC comics character of the same name, the project has been in a cycle of off-and-on development for well over a decade now. Armed with a script developed by “Everwood” creator Greg Berlanti and veteran comic book scribes Michael Green and Marc Guggenheim, Warner Bros. came as close as they had ever been to getting the movie off the ground when negotiations began with Campbell earlier this week…”

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February 9th, 2009, Warner Bros. HQ, Burbank

Warner Bros. Exec #1: “Shit, I just got off the phone with Goldbenberg. [1] He’s out. We’re stuck with the first three and their script.” [2]

(He slumps to his chair in frustration, burying his face in his hands.)

Warner Bros. Exec #1: “Fuuuuuck. What’re we going to do?”

Warner Bros. Exec #2: “I’m telling ya, this whole thing has bad mojo. We’ll probably have to deep-six the whole thing, or at least wait until 2012 or something.”

Warner Bros. Exec #1: “Can’t we at least go back to Berlanti? I mean, he – “

Warner Bros. Exec #2: “Fuck no. You know how dumb that is? Getting a TV writer to make a superhero movie?”

Warner Bros. Exec #1: “I mean, I dunno. Let’s maybe just see who else is interested, but if not…”

Warner Bros. Exec #3: “Hang on, guys. I actually think I have an idea. What about the guy making this District 9 movie?”

Warner Bros. Exec #1: “District what? ...” [3]
_


February 14th, 2009, Warner Bros. HQ again – but this time after District 9 director Neill Blomkamp just screened some footage of his upcoming film to several Warner Bros. executives

Warner Bros. Exec #1: “Hmm…”

Warner Bros. Exec #2: “Nice. Very nice. And you’re saying you made this movie for, what, 50 mill?”

Blomkamp: “Actually, well, the budget was $30 million dollars.”

Warner Bros. Exec #1: “Now obviously you’d be working with a much, much bigger budget here. You’ve read the most recent draft Berlanti and the others had, right? The one we sent you?”

Blomkamp: “Yes I have.”

Warner Bros. Exec #1: “This is going to be a big movie. We want this to be a big movie, and we don’t want to waste a bunch of money.”

Blomkamp: “I totally understand that. And in fact, I’ve looked at some of the projections you gave me, the ones where you think this could come out to be $200 million dollars. Honestly, I think I can make something of this size for quite a bit less than that. Quite a bit. I’d like to think I have an eye for doing special effects, well, not on the cheap, but certainly – “

Warner Bros. Exec #3: “Now, that’s all good, and we love your enthusiasm, but can we have a movie by summer 2011?”

Blomkamp: “Definitely.”

Warner Bros. Exec #2: “Well, you’re certainly saying the right things…”

(later, after Blomkamp has left the room)

Warner Bros. Exec #1: “Hey, if nothing else, I’m betting TriStar will market District 9 as ‘a Peter Jackson movie’, you know? [3] Well, hey, if it becomes a hit, we could market Green Lantern as ‘from the man who brought you District 9, if you know what I mean…”

_

Hollywood Reporter said:
'District 9' director in negotiations for ‘Green Lantern’

March 2nd, 2009

With the release of his directorial debut District 9 still several months away, up-and-coming South African director Neill Blomkamp may already have found his next project...
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[1] Michael Goldenberg, the screenwriter brought in by the studio to "clean up" the Berlanti/Green/Guggenheim script IOTL.

[2] By this, he's obviously referring to Berlanti, Green, and Guggenheim.

[3] This would've been before the first District 9 trailer dropped, so I doubt the project was especially well-known at this stage.

[4] The final budget for the movie IOTL.
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