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Tomorrow marks the first official day of filming for director Martin Campell’s long-awaited 3D Green Lantern, starring Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan and Mark Strong as Sinestro.

The film has been in pre-production in New Orleans for several weeks and the first scene will be filmed tomorrow and through the 17th on location at the Old Point Bar, according to OnLocationVacations.

DC’s CCO Geoff Johns recently visited the set and praised both actors, saying “Ryan IS Hal, and Mark Strong is going to be a brilliant Sinestro.” It’s hard not to be excited for the movie with such awesome casting, including Peter Sarsgaard as Jordan’s rival Hector Hammond, Blake Lively as Carol Ferris/Star Sapphire, and Tim Robbins as Senator Hammond. Ryan Reynolds will also play Deadpool in the upcoming X-Men spinoff of the same name, and Mark Strong most recently starred as Lord Blackwood opposite Robert Downey Jr. in Sherlock Holmes.

Green Lantern is slated for release on June 17th, 2011.

Martin Campbell reached out to New Zealand for two new casting choices – Temuera Morrison and Taika Waititi.

Waititi – who wrote, directed and acted in Eagle Vs Shark – is playing the best mate of Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds), the test pilot who ends up inheriting the super-powered ring worn by members of the Green Lantern Corps.

Morrison, still probably best known as Jango Fett from the Star Wars prequels, has an even more instrumental role – he’s Abin Sur, the Lantern who crashes on Earth and who passes that same ring to Jordan so that he might protect the planet.

It’s still not known whether Lantern will be shot in 3D or undergo the conversion process ala Clash Of The Titans.

In case you aren’t familiar with Green Lantern, there’s a ton of backstory to the character. The first thing to know is that Green Lanterns are like intergalactic police, and they get their abilities from power rings that have to be charged every 24 hours. The first Green Lantern was Alan Scott, an engineer who created the first of the magic rings. Hal Jordan is the second Green Lantern. Jordan was a second-generation test pilot who was given the ring by Abin Sur, an alien who chose him because of his strength and honesty. Hal Jordan was a founder of the Justice League of America and was one of two Green Lanterns that patrolled the area surrounding Earth.