First News spoke to Ryan Reynolds to find out what it was like to play Hal Jordan in Green Lantern, a man destined for super-heroic adventures…

What was your relationship with superheroes when you were growing up?

I grew up watching Superman and was fascinated with that – they made a man fly! I was really into Star Wars and that whole universe, too. They were some of the first movies I saw that left a huge impression on me, but I wasn’t a massive devotee with posters all over the wall. It was always more about sports in our house – rugby, baseball and football players.

So had you come across the Green Lantern when you were younger?

Not specifically, although I know a lot now. He’s one of the oldest superheroes in terms of longevity – he’s been around for almost seven decades – but I didn’t know that much about him before I was pursuing the role. It was only when I dived into some of that history that I discovered that this is one of the most complex superheroes around.

There are some funny moments in the movie. Was that your input or was the humour already in the script?

It was a bit of both. When I read the first couple of drafts of the script there wasn’t a lot of humour in there and I thought: “We’re living in this impossible universe and Hal is a surrogate for the audience in some way, so you need to have some of the reactions that the audience might in those moments.” I looked back through the comic books and they’re funny and the guy is kind of witty.

The movie deals with fear. What are you afraid of?

Heights have always been an issue for me, as has plane travel. It never made sense to me to be in a gasoline-fuelled steel tube hurtling through the air. It’s not great for the job, and I needed to experience both of these in the movie. The great thing about fears is getting over them – heights certainly. On the movie I was on harnesses really high in the air, turning and spinning and diving and, inevitably, falling – so that was definitely an education in getting over fears. About halfway through I was having fun up there. In fact, towards the end I was a little bored!

Do you enjoy getting in shape for this kind of role?

I like to have a life! That kind of living is really very clean and not a little boring. I had to do six months training before shooting and then six months training while shooting the movie. It was intense and a lot more than I thought it’d be, going in.

What’s the toughest part of the training?

Getting your body in shape isn’t the hardest part – it’s the gymnastics and spinning, tumbling, turning and flipping, although it’s always fun learning new stuff like that. What other job do you get where you goof off in a gymnastics gym for a few months? I’ve never played a superhero.

Were you very outdoorsy when growing up in Vancouver?

Absolutely. It’s a big natural playground with lots to do and see and I grew up in the outdoors. I get a little stir crazy when I get into a big cosmopolitan city sometimes, like London or New York. Sometimes I bolt for the country, or here I dive into Hyde Park and get a little dose of green.

Tell me about how you got into acting…

My way in was kind of unusual in that I didn’t dive into acting in a serious way until I “made it” as it were, until I was already working in TV and movies. That’s when I fell in love with it as an art and craft. I’ve always loved movies so why not explore all the other sides of it? That’s when I started exploring other genres and fell in love with that.

Is there any other profession that you’d have liked to follow?

My dad was a cop and my brother was a cop. I may have gone down the same road as them, I guess. Probably not a space cop, maybe just a local cop!

So how would you describe your upbringing?

It was a middle class upbringing. Both my parents worked 9-5 jobs and worked very hard for not a great deal of pay, and I had three older brothers. Growing up the youngest, I was definitely the moving target of the bunch and it was tough having three huge, strapping older brothers. Maybe that’s what made me a good rugby player – at home I lived in a scrum!

Green Lantern is out on DVD on 17 October.