Jack Black on How Close He Was to Playing Green Lantern and Other 'Things We've Always Wondered'

Kevin Polowy
·Senior Correspondent, Yahoo Entertainment
Updated

We’ve missed you, Jack Black. The actor hasn’t starred in a movie in three years since 2012’s sleeper hit Bernie. But that changes this week with his edgy new dramatic comedy, The D Train. It’s got a twisty plot you should avoid reading too much about, but we’ll tell you this: Black plays an oddball Pittsburgh salesman determined to lure his “famous” classmate, a TV commercial actor played by James Marsden, back to town for their high-school reunion.

In our new episode of 'Things We’ve Always Wondered’ above, Black tells us about attending his own 20th high school reunion (“It was a little nerve-wracking”) and what he was like as a teenager (“I was a theatre nerd…. I was pretty popular with those kids, but not so much with the rest of the school”).

Black also answers some fan questions on when we’ll be hearing another Tenacious D album (soon) and how much cash he carries in his wallet (“just shy of a hundo”).

Related: Nick Kroll on Getting Kissed by Bill Murray and Other 'Things We’ve Always Wondered’

He also delves into his close brush with playing superhero Hal Jordan, a.k.a. Green Lantern, before the role ultimately went to Ryan Reynolds in a more “serious” take on the story. “There was a really funny script, an awesome script that I wanted to do, by the genius Robert Smigel [Triumph the Insult Comic Dog]… but they didn’t want to pull the trigger. They were making zillions of dollars with all their other superhero movies — they didn’t want to mess with that formula. ”

Warner Bros. and DC Comics does have a Justice League movie in the works, with Green Lantern yet to be added or cast. But Black isn’t optimistic about getting a second chance: “Yeah, they’re not going to call me.”

The D Train is now in theaters. Watch the trailer below:

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