It looks like the Green Lantern is glowing again. It’s been 15 years since Ryan Reynolds tried on that Power Ring, but now HBO Max is streaming “Lanterns,” a new take on the superhero who dates back to the comics of the 1940s.

Kyle Chandler, who was so memorable as the resourceful coach in “Friday Night Lights,” plays Hal Jordan, the grizzled veteran of the Green Lantern Corps. A former test pilot, he’s charged with policing Earth (no small task) along with a raw recruit, portrayed by British actor Aaron Pierre.

“The first thing that we did was to get to know each other on the set and to get to know all the other people on set,” recalls Chandler. “And because it all takes a certain tone eventually ... there’s certain things outside of what the actor wants to do that guide performance and everything. But once Aaron and I got to work together, it was very quick.”

The 60-year-old Chandler says working with the executive producers on the show, who are veterans themselves, proved more than gratifying. “They shared with us what they wanted, not what they were thinking. It became obvious really quickly that there was going to be a very cool collaborative process which freed us up,” he says.

“And they were more than willing to let us make mistakes and to find our way ... And because of that, it didn’t take long for Aaron and I. I believe we both agreed to find a spot where, ‘Oh, OK. That’s you. That’s me. That’s my character, that’s your character.’ And then we started playing back and forth. And all the rest of it fell into place."

Falling into place depends on the writing, insists Chandler. “I mean, it’s not too hard to figure out that Hal has a competitor here and he doesn’t want to admit it, but he’s getting a little older and things are happening — all those things that go on.

"And then you start thinking deeper into the character and he’s (in a) pretty dark pathology, this dude. This guy can speak for himself but had a weird childhood. All those things start falling in place, but they fell in place because of a lot of the help and a lot of the work we all did together and that freedom of just doing what we’re doing and enjoying what we’re doing.”

Pierre, who will also play the Green Lantern in the upcoming movie, “Man of Tomorrow,” agrees. “We wanted to establish a safety within our partnership and dynamic and that extended way beyond us, as well. We wanted to establish that with the entire team, the entire family who were pouring themselves into this to make it the best version of itself,” he says.

“Once safety is established, then you feel an ease, and you feel at liberty to explore, try things, and eventually you’re going to get to the greatest place it can be because you feel free enough to get it wrong and fall forward.

“Kyle and I did a lot of falling forward,” he says.

“The magic was already on the page. It was already there, but they knew we were always going to get from point A to point B, but how we got there, nobody knew. Nobody knew. Even when we’re five months into a six-month shoot, it’s just the nature of Kyle and me. We like to improvise. We like to try things. We like to never derail the story, but we like to surprise each other. And they permitted us freedom and liberty to do that. And that’s where some of the most beautiful moments are derived from — that feeling of safety and freedom.”

Chandler, a veteran of such luminary projects as “Early Edition,” “The Wolf of Wall Street,” “Manchester by the Sea,” “Catch-22” and “Bloodline,” stumbled into acting. He grew up in a small town in Georgia with no thought of the performing world. “When I was in college, I didn’t know I was going to go into acting,” he says.

“I’d met some people at 3 o’clock in the morning at the University of Georgia and one fella became a very good friend of mine. He’s passed away since, but as they were leaving that morning the one guy pulled me aside and said, ‘There’s an audition in the Cellar Theatre at the University for “A Comedy of Errors.’” And to this day I have no idea why I went there, got the script, I think because the people we met there were absolutely lunatics, they were insane. And I liked that.

“I went and got the script and studied it, auditioned and got the part and played the one brother. When we did the dress rehearsal and the teachers were sitting around and when that applause happened and I was center stage, I cried inside.

“It was like ‘This is it.’ And on top of it, just the insanity of the people that were there and the different kinds of folks, all pushed into one thing, wanting to do one thing. It was a gypsy’s world and I’m, ‘Let me in your caravan, I'm here.’ That’s how it happened.”

‘Deadpoint’ a literal cliffhanger

If you're afraid of heights, you might want to forego “Fall 2: Deadpoint” opening in theaters this week. Two friends decide to challenge a treacherous mountain in Thailand, only to be stranded thousands of feet above sea level. The film stars Harriet Slater, Arsema Thomas and Tom Britteny. Britteny has given up the backward collar of “Grantchester” for this nail-biting thriller.

“I never wanted to do a normal job,” he says. “Acting, you have to work in a different way, it’s a different job. I just always had a love and talent maybe for telling people stories and making people laugh sometimes, playing the class clown and realizing — my mom helping me realize — that you could make a career out of it.”

His mother taught elementary school and served as a drama teacher. “I’d grown up watching her do amateur dramatics at the village hall in our little village in Kent. And I saw her act, and I loved it. So I was always around that creative thing. The thing is she supported me. Even though she was in that industry in a way — she always supported me. She never wanted me to do a ‘normal’ job. Same with my dad. They’ve always been supportive — same with my sister who wanted to be a ballet dancer.”

‘Nutty Professor’ lectures again

“The Nutty Professor,” starring Eddie Murphy, is celebrating its 30th birthday with a special reopening on Sept. 4. Murphy plays an uncanny seven roles in the film, and part of the trickery is due to famous makeup artist Rick Baker.

Baker won the Academy Award seven times for his fabulous creatures and designs. He executed the transformation from man to werewolf in “An American Werewolf in London,” created the massive bigfoot for “Harry and the Hendersons,” converted Martin Landau into Bela Lugosi for “Ed Wood,” fashioned the aliens for “Men in Black” and turned Jim Carrey into the Christmas-hating Grinch.

Baker himself did the work on Eddie Murphy’s multiple characters. “I played with Eddie’s makeup,” he recalls. “I know when I'm doing it, I'm usually happier than when somebody else does it. (I think) There’s no way I'm going to be able to do this. I’ve done films where I’ve had five people doing elaborate makeup at the same time. It’s tough to get the staff. There’s not 90 people who can do this; they don’t exist. There’s more people who can do appliance makeup than ever before because of all the ‘Star Trek’ TV shows and all that stuff. What’s disappointing is when you do a really elaborate makeup and put it on an actor who’s afraid to overact and doesn’t SELL it. Eddie Murphy’s great at selling it.

“I always do makeup tests on myself before I put somebody else in it for many reasons,” says Baker. “For one, when they complain about it I can sympathize with them because I know. It’s also just to see how it works and how I can make it work better. Many times, I'm disappointed when I put a real actor in it because he’s too subtle.” (This did NOT happen with Carrey, says Baker.)

Hallmark collaborated with Disney

The Hallmark Channel is celebrating its 25th anniversary and while some remember the wonderful “Hallmark Hall of Fame” TV shows, it’s the Hallmark Channel and Hallmark+ that carry the network's banner today.

Few know that Hallmark and Disney were once entwined. According to head of programming, Michelle Vicary, “Hallmark's founder, J.C. Hall, and Walt Disney grew their personal friendship into a professional partnership that allowed Hallmark to be one of the first licensors of Mickey Mouse,” she says.

“That partnership comes to life on our air this season with ‘Holiday Ever After: A Disney World Wish Come True,’ which was filmed at the Walt Disney World Resort. Today, we're proud to announce that that film will air on Nov. 28 on Hallmark Channel, and of course the next day on Hallmark+.”

———

©2026 Tribune Content Agency, LLC