Actor Peter Sarsgaard is in negotiations with Warner Bros. to play a key role in the new Green Lantern film starring Ryan Reynolds that Martin Campbell is directing.  Sarsgaard will portray the chief villain in the new movie, Hector Hammond, the son of senator who acquires great psychic powers from a meteorite.  Created by John Broome and Gil Kane, Hammond first appeared in 1961 and is that relatively rare supervillain who does not use an alias.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. hopes to get the big-budget Green Lantern movie in production in New Orleans in March.  Sarsgaard, who starred as a charming seducer opposite Carey Mulligan in An Education, one of the best films of 2009, is increasingly typical of the high quality actors willing to take key roles in comic book-based films.