Greg Berlanti lets out his inner fanboy

LOS ANGELES - Greg Berlanti rushes into his office on the Disney lot, insisting that he's never, ever late. He's so emphatic it's easy to believe him, but it's also easy to understand why he might be running behind these days.

The writer-producer-director - whose TV resume includes acclaimed programs such as "Everwood" and "Brothers & Sisters" - is juggling a dizzying number of projects. He has just launched the ABC series "No Ordinary Family," and he directed "Life as We Know It," a romantic comedy opening tomorrow.

The Green Lantern action figure lying face up on Berlanti's desk hints at his next challenge.

Berlanti, 38, is one of four writers credited for scripting next year's "Green Lantern," Warner Bros. and DC Comics' big-screen superhero movie starring Ryan Reynolds as pilot-turned-guardian-of the universe-Hal Jordan. Berlanti also is writing the treatment for that film's sequel and is serving as a producer on both "Lantern" movies.

From the looks of it, the man who built his reputation on character-driven drama is crafting a new identity for himself as the go-to screenwriter for Hollywood fanboy blockbusters.

"It's probably the most anxious time I've been through," Berlanti said.

Anxiety is in abundance in "Life As We Know It," a film that recalls Berlanti's earlier creative life. The story centers on a perfectionist bakery owner (Katherine Heigl) and a womanizing sports television producer (Josh Duhamel) as an unlikely couple who must learn to care for their best friends' infant daughter after her parents are killed.

Though it's only his second feature - his first, 2000's "The Broken Hearts Club: A Romantic Comedy" featured Zach Braff and Timothy Olyphant - Berlanti said his television training prepared him well. It helped him work quickly on the film, which had to be shot in less than 50 days to accommodate Heigl's schedule, and it taught him how to keep emotional material from becoming overly sentimental.

Given that sincerity and heart aren't qualities typically associated with big-budget Hollywood comic book movies, it seems puzzling that those are precisely the projects Berlanti is pursuing. But he says he's returned to the fantastic tales he read as an adolescent because he sees the genre as "rife with metaphor," an avenue to tell more dynamic stories.

With "No Ordinary Family" - about a couple (played by Michael Chiklis and Julie Benz) and their two children who acquire special abilities after surviving a plane crash - Berlanti said he's found a natural way to amplify the drama inherent in, say, keeping a marriage together or enduring the trials of high school. He's optimistic that introducing big action set pieces into a character-centric series will help capture the attention of today's distracted TV viewers.

In the case of "Green Lantern," producer Donald DeLine said Berlanti's background helped him differentiate the script from others in the comic book camp.

"I loved the fact that he . . . would be unfettered by any preconceived notions of how a movie like this might or should go," DeLine said.

"Hal Jordan has to be flesh and blood and a relatable, compelling character, and that's what Greg does so well."