Accoring to The Hollywood Reporter, Angela Bassett has joined Martin Campbell’s “Green Lantern” movie as Dr. Amanda Waller, alongside Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard and Tim Robbins. Filming has already begun in New Orleans, because, really, when you think of “far reaching intergalactic space epic” you think of New Orleans.
Waller, as comic book fans know, is a fairly substantial character in the DC Universe. She’s a government agent tasked with running the Suicide Squad, a group of captured super villains forced by the government to do spy missions, after which their freedom would be granted.
In recent years, the Waller character has been a morally nebulous thorn in the side of the Justice League and other DC characters. She has been portrayed on television on the ungodly “Smallville” television series by none other than Pam Motherfuckin’ Grier and on the wonderfully sophisticated “Justice League” animated television series by CHH Pounder.
While Warner Bros. is keeping mum on Waller’s involvement in the “Green Lantern” movie and the Suicide Squad’s role in the movie’s plot, we will happily speculate that Waller could be used as a potential “bridge” character, not unlike Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury in the Marvel films, able to link different DC superhero storylines and universes together.
Literally, she could be and has been wedged into every nook and cranny of the DC Universe (she was even in the last episode of the futuristic Batman saga “Batman Beyond” for crying out loud, and as part of a “very special” episode of “Justice League” although, really, that episode was a bit shit). Furthermore, a Suicide Squad movie – which is already in the works via… uhh, “Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun-Li” screenwriter Justin Marks — could be a compelling “B” DC Universe that people might actually want to watch unlike, say, “Jonah Hex” (ok, maybe not so much by that writer, but we can always dream, no? The Suicide Squad was always a very adult, very fascinating concept).
It’s also been reported on Coastal Talent’s Facebook page (via Coventry Telegraph) that young actor Gattlin Griffith has a part in the film as the character Robert. We have no clue who that character is supposed to be. The boy played Angelina Jolie’s missing son in “Changeling.”