'Bollywood doesn’t need superheroes'

The Green Lantern may be Ryan Reynolds’s third superhero film, but it is definitely his favourite. The actor, who played Wade Wilson in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), will reprise the part in Deadpool, a film scheduled for 2014.

The Green Lantern may be Ryan Reynolds’s third superhero film, but it is definitely his favourite. The actor, who played Wade Wilson in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), will reprise the part in Deadpool, a film scheduled for 2014. He has also signed R.I.P.D. or Rest In Peace Department, a supernatural film, expected to hit theatres in 2012. Admitting that he’s OD’ing on the genre, he cracks up, “I feel great playing a superhero.”

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Many Hollywood actors have been elevated to instant recognition after playing popular superheroes like Superman, Spiderman and Batman. But Reynolds doesn’t share the ideology. “I’m not sure if playing that part catapults an actor’s level of popularity, but kids definitely love you,” he says.

Confessing to not knowing much about Green Lantern, based on the DC Comics character that he is portraying in this Martin Campbell film, he says, “I knew he was an ordinary guy, who was bequeathed a ring by a dying alien. But I was most startled to find out how vast the universe is. Geoff Johns (DC Comics writer) likened it to the Star Wars of the DC Universe. Its scope blew my mind.”

What added to his growing interest were his powers, which unlike many others, don’t just provide it, but requires the one wearing the ring to harness it. “It sources will on imagination. The ring is just a conduit. It is from within and that is what I think is most interesting. It’s not like he can fire stuff out of this ring. He becomes a bio-weapon in a sense,” says Reynolds, whose superhero film will release on June 17.

Apparently, Superman was supposed to make a cameo in the film, but the makers decided against it since they didn’t want to depend on another superhero for success. However, Reynolds laughs the news off: “Seriously! I had no clue about this. I think this news was flying outside the studio and not inside.”

India ahead!

Though Shah Rukh Khan’s forthcoming project might have popularised the ‘superhero’ in his film, RA.One, most would agree that India is yet to utilise its hidden comic book potential, and bring to the big screen the real ‘superheroes’. But Reynolds feels this market doesn’t need them altogether.

Having watched a few Bollywood movies, he adds, “They (Bollywood films) are much larger than life, like any superhero film. That’s why you don’t have the concept in India.”

Praising the country for its ‘rich cultural heritage’, he too makes the promise most do. “I would love to act in an Indian period film.”