Peter Sarsgaard explains 'Green Lantern' role

Peter Sarsgaard has revealed that he took on the role of supervillain Hector Hammond in Green Lantern because it challenged him as an actor.

Hammond serves as one of the film's main villains after he is possessed by the evil Parallax entity and develops an overly enlarged cranium, and Sarsgaard said that it
was the ridiculous nature of the character that drew him to the role.

"I think because it seemed imposible," Sarsgaard told Comic Book Resources. "I was aware there was a big chance people would just be repulsed the entire time I was on screen or laugh at me instead of with me, so I knew it would require very strong acting choices.

"I would have to be powerful in it," the actor said, regarding the extensive prosthetics his character wears. "The only way to silence a room that's laughing at you is to sort of take over."

The An Education star claimed that producers originally intended for him to wear an even larger head prosthetic, more in line with the character's comic book appearance, but that it would have made his acting suffer as a result.

"It was weighing me down, it was like a sight gag. Like I said, I needed to take command in these scenes and have them be about something other than the fact that I have a large head."

Green Lantern was released in cinemas this weekend.

Watch Peter Sarsgaard in the trailer for Green Lantern below: