Jackie Earle Haley seems to typically gain the fantastic roles of his now-successful comeback to acting after lots and lots of rumors of his involvement. With both Watchmen and A Nightmare on Elm Street, it seemed like Haley was the fan-favorite for the roles, and all of that attention contributed to him netting him the parts. Another big role that Haley has been rumored to be up for a long while now, is the villain role of Sinestro in the Green Lantern live-action feature, but it appears that this time, the rumors will remain just that, and we won’t see Haley involved.

While speaking to MTV at the premier of his new movie Edge of Darkness, Lantern director Martin Campbell tackled the rumor with gusto, denying it in-full and even revealing that another popular actor was actually in talks for the role — an actor who may just be a better choice for the role than Haley was. You decide!

If you’re not familiar with Mark Strong, then you should know that this is good news. Strong has been making a name for himself as one of the best villain actors working today. He appeared in Stardust and the recent Sherlock Holmes, and will be showing up in Matthew Vaughn’s Kick-Ass and Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood in the future — all in baddie roles. It’s even said that he was the second choice to play the role of Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men, which landed Javier Bardem an Academy Award and inside the nightmares of many.

Sinestro is considered to be on the best villains ever to appear in comic books. He was a former Green Lantern and mentor to Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds), who eventually went bad and became one of the biggest enemies of the Green Lantern Corps. If you aren’t aware, the Green Lantern isn’t one man, but a large group of many intergalactic police known as Green Lanterns.