When Kyle Chandler was revealed to be co-leading the upcoming DCU series Lanterns, I was truly shocked, given how relatively few comic book-esque spectacle projects he's aligned himself with in the past. (King Kong and the Godzilla movies are clear exceptions.) But that only made me more excited, since the actor brings down-to-earth gravitas and authority with each and every role. And true to form, he's been quicker to focus on the show's character study in interviews than to talk about magical green constructs and meeting space aliens.
So it's perhaps not an astounding revelation to learn that the Friday Night Lights actor did not spend his childhood pretending to be any Jack Kirby creations or other more fantastical characters. When asked by Jimmy Kimmel Live! guest host Anthony Anderson what superhero he would have wanted to grow up to be, Chandler first let out an amusing "Good God!" as his first reaction before shedding some (dark knight) light on his earlier years. In his words (via YouTube):
I played Batman quite a bit as a kid, because all you had to have is a utility belt and a towel on your back. If I was a superhero... I remember reading a lot of Sgt. Rock. I remember Sgt. Rock when I was a kid. I used to play Army in the woods quite a bit, and Sgt. Rock was big in my world.
So of all the superheroes and other powered-up characters that Kyle Chandler's imagination could have latched onto, he picks two DC characters that very notably do NOT have superpowers, and are instead just natural human dudes that are vastly skilled at literally everything they do. Of course that's who he picked. Even in a world of childhood fantasy, the actor couldn't quite cross the threshold, and I'm just too amused by it.
Because you just know Chandler's interest in being Batman and Sgt. Rock had to have been all about doing genuinely heroic things and saving people from harm. And not like...being a brooding billionaire with a cave-attached mansion and limitless gadgets. Or being whatever the most petty version of Sgt. Rock would be.
That does make me wonder whether or not James Gunn, Peter Safran and/or other DC and WB execs talked to the Buffalo native about possibly portraying Sgt. Rock for the big screen, in regards to Luca Guadagnino's previously greenlit feature that Colin Farrell was set to star in (following Daniel Craig dropping out). That project seems to have gone nowhere since Farrell's name entered the conversation, so it's unclear if it's still happening. But how cool would it be if Chandler got to take on that role as well?
Also, pretty interesting that Chandler talked about the easy costuming being part of why he pretended to be Batman as a kid, considering he recently took potshots at the Caped Crusader after claiming Green Lantern's costume is the coolest one he's ever seen. At which point he said, "Batman's got nothing on on. He isn't here, is he?" This guy is the driest form of the Joker imaginable.
For what it's worth, co-star Aaron Pierre has said John Stewart is the only DC hero he’d want to play. That isn't necessarily true to what he wanted to be as a kid, though. The ring will let us know if he was lying or not.
HBO unveiled the first five minutes from Lanterns' series premiere, giving audiences a quick look at the tense kinship between Hal Jordan and John Stewart. Check it out!
Lanterns will construct its first episode on HBO and streaming via HBO Max subscription on Sunday, August 16, at 9:00 p.m. ET.
