JOHN CARTER OF MARS (2012) - PREVIEW

John Carter Of Mars (2012)

Starring: Willem Dafoe, Mark Strong, Lynn Collins, Taylor Kitsch
Directed by: Andrew Stanton
U.S. Opening Date: 2012

THEY SAY

Wolverine stars Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins will meet again in John Carter of Mars, the first full-length live action motion picture by Pixar’s Andrew Stanton (Wall-E).

Taylor Kitsch, who portrayed Gambit in Wolverine, will play the title character, a veteran of the American Civil War. Noticeably traumatized by his war experiences, John Carter finds himself mysteriously transported to Mars where his role with regards to the planet’s dying population obliges him to rediscover his humanity. (The movie will be based on a 1912 novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, better known as the creator of Tarzan.)

Lynn Collins will portray the Princess of Mars, Dejah Thoris. Produced by Disney, with a screenplay Andrew Stanton and Mark Andrews, the film is slated to begin shooting next January. — Source: FantastiqueZINE

WE SAY

This project has been bouncing around a while now in Hollywood before landing up at Pixar. It began life as A Princess of Mars (named after the first book in the series), a $100 million Robert Rodriguez project at Paramount. (Interestingly Rodriguez hired famous fantasy painter Frank Frazetta to do some designs for the flick.) Then it moved on to Kerry Conran, who had just finished Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004). In 2005, Conran left and was replaced by Jon Favreau, the Zathura and Iron Man director. Paramount however got cold feet and sold the rights to Pixar.

If all goes according to plan it will be Pixar’s second live-action movie. Yup, Pixar is venturing into the scary waters of live action film-making. We will see how it all turns out. Their first such film will be Brad (The Incredibles, Ratatouille) Bird’s 1906, a crime drama set in that year on the eve of the huge fire that practically destroyed San Francisco.

Andrew Stanton, fresh from his WALL-E triumph, will direct John Carter of Mars. In January 2009 Stanton told Sci-Fi Wire that live-action is the the "only way" to go: "I mean, there are so many creatures and characters that half of it's going to be CG whether you want it to be [or not], just to realize some of these images that are in the book. But it will feel real. The whole thing will feel very, very believable."

PRODUCTION UPDATE (30 Sept 2009): James Purefoy (Rome, Solomon Kane), Thomas Haden Church (Spider-man 3) and Mark Strong (Babylon A.D.) have signed on for the upcoming John Carter of Mars movie.

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