Blake Lively talks Green Lantern at Wondercon 2011

Flushed from the excitement of an overwhelmingly successful WonderCon movie footage debut, "Green Lantern" star Blake Lively sat down to chat about her character Carol Ferris and the important role she plays in Hal Jordan's (Ryan Reynolds) life. We only see Ferris for a brief flash in the four minutes of footage screened for gathered con attendees, but there's a lot of character to develop -- not just for this story, but for the larger mythology of the DC Comics ring-weilding superhero, as Lively is well aware.

"[Carol] has this relationship with Hal. They're each other's first love, they've known each other since childhood, she witnessed his father's death with him," she said. "So there is that history."

It's more than just history, though. In the comics, Carol eventually clashed with Green Lantern as the super powered Star Sapphire, a fact that echoes through the character written for Lively.  "Keeping in mind the fact that she becomes a villain, you have to have those kinds of teeth apparent in the beginning so that it makes sense that her arc goes there. There were a lot of different levels to play with her, and I really appreciated not just being the damsel-in-distress."

Lively's chemistry with Reynolds is what nailed her the role, but it was her performance as the "pain-riddled, drug-addicted, drug mule mother from Boston" in "The Town" that opened the door. "I think that they saw from my role in 'The Town' that I was able to be dark and angry, and be a villain."

After that, it was simply a matter of putting the two actors in a room together and seeing if they clicked. They worked so well together, Lively only tested once with Reynolds, "to see if we could spar against each other and have that rivalry and tension, but also that kindness and caring."

Unfortunately for those hoping to see Star Sapphire crowned, it seems that Carol's darker underpinnings are only foreshadowed in "Green Lantern."

"If this movie is successful and we do a few more films, I'm pretty confident that Star Sapphire would show up," Lively said. "All the conversations are very guarded and protected, even with [the actors] because nobody wants to commit to anything, but I can't see Star Sapphire not showing up if we made more films."
Purple alter-ego or no, Lively was completely on board with honoring the source material for her character in every way possible. "There was a question [of whether] my hair was going to be blonde or brown. To me, it was never a question."

"Carol Ferris was a brunette and she had to be a brunette," she said firmly.

"When a story has been developing for so long -- this is one of the longest [running] comic books of all time -- there's such history there and there's a lot of responsibility to do it right and to do justice to these characters that people love so much."

Even if Lively wasn't familiar with the comic when she came to the production, she understands something about the importance of delivering a translation that appeals to an established group of fans. "I'm such a fan of 'Harry Potter,'" she said, laughing. "It's not healthy."

"When the books were over, I thought I may as well end my life. And now that the movies are ending, I don't know how I'm going to continue on. I sometimes fantasize about another J.K. Rowling [who] could create another character like Harry Potter."

Understanding fandom is important if you're going to be in a movie like "Green Lantern," a fact Lively seems to fully understand and appreciate. "To do something that brings people happiness and excitement, you only feed off of that energy."