Sep 30 2009 Ned (Of '& Stacy'), The Philanthropist, and Strong Join 'John Carter' (of 'Mars')

Get out your John Carter of Mars notebook and a #2 pencil, because I've got some new names for you to add to the cast list of the film:

Thomas Haden Church, James Purefoy and Mark Strong have joined the cast of joined “John Carter of Mars,” Disney’s adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs book series that Andrew Stanton is directing.

Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins topline the production, which centers on a Civil War veteran (Kitsch) who finds himself mysteriously transported to Mars, where he becomes embroiled with the planet’s warring people.

Church plays Tal Hajus, an ambitious and vicious Thark warrior who is biding his time to be a ruler.

Purefoy plays Kantos Kan, the captain of the Xavarian, the kingdom of Helium’s grand warship. Strong is Matai Shang, the ruler of the Thems with godlike status.

Right. Tal Hajus the Thark; Kantos Kan, captain of Helium's famous Xavarian warship; and Matai Shang, the godlike ruler of the Thems. You get all that? OK, good. Because I'm delirious with fever and need to lie down for the rest of the day after trying to process those words. (Seriously.)

'John Carter of Mars' nets three more actors [Heat Vision]

Jun 15 2009 Gambit is John Carter (of Mars)

Taylor Kitsch, the man with the playing cards, staff, and magenta dress shirt in Wolverine, has been given the lead in Pixar's live-action adaptation of John Carter of Mars, while Lynn Collins, also unfortunate enough to have explained the X-man's origins, is set to co-star. Says The Hollywood Reporter:

Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins will star in "John Carter of Mars," the adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs book series that Andrew Stanton is directing for Disney.

"Carter" centers on a civil war veteran who finds himself mysteriously transported to Mars, where his involvement with warring races of the dying planet force him to rediscover his humanity.

Kitsch will play the title character, while Collins is playing Dejah Thoris, heir to the throne of Mars' Helium kingdom.

Collecting actors from Wolverine seems an odd choice, given that the most commonly-gathered thing from that movie is contempt, but I guess these two are as good as anyone else to sell the unlikely story of A Civil War Veteran in Mars' Helium Court. With Disney pulling the strings, I'm just happy it isn't Family Favorite Adventurer Brendan Fraser and his Hammy, Wide-Eyed Stares of Mars.

Apr 16 2009 Chabon Toolin' Around on 'John Carter of Mars'

I have only a dim impression that John Carter of Mars is some kind of space Conan (note: this vague perception is formed almost entirely from the above image), but I am beginning to care more and more about this upcoming film adaptation as I learn more about it. Look who's just joined the crew: someone respectable! From The Amazing Website of Kavalier and Clay:

In yesterday’s item by Deadline Hollywood Daily about Michael Chabon switching agents, it mentioned that he was attached to write a script for Disney’s John Carter of Mars. Having never heard that before, I checked in with Chabon to see if it was accurate. The answer is yes.

“I’ve been hired to do some revisions to an already strong script by Andrew Stanton and Mark Andrews,” Chabon said. “I wrote my original screenplay The Martian Agent back in 1995 because I wished I could do [Edgar Rice] Burroughs’s Barsoom. So this is pretty much a dream come true for me.”

Disney got the option rights to Burrough’s 11-volume series in 2007 after the rights lapsed at Paramount Pictures. Andrew Stanton, the writer and director of Finding Nemo and WALL-E, is set to direct. It’s expected to hit theaters in 2012.

Michael Chabon and WALL-E director Andrew Stanton: the most promising popular author/director collaboration since it was announced Dave Eggers was working with Spike Jonze on Where the Wild Things Are? Yes, clearly. I don't even know what the other choices would be.

(via AICN)

Jan 13 2009 Pixar's 'John Carter of Mars' is Second Most Perfect Definition of Hybrid Movie

WALL-E writer/director Andrew Stanton's next project is set to be John Carter of Mars, a CGI/live-action adaptation of the story of a Civil War veteran's adventures on Earth's most enemy planet: Mars. He recently spoke to MTV about the film, divulging some scoopz (they aren't huge scoopz):

“It’s real,” Stanton assured us. “We’re full bore on it right now. We’re over the hump of the writing phase, and we’re certainly far from rewrites.”

“The key was putting a story into it and creating characters that had to grow and real basic stuff that we all know a movie needs,” he explained.

Messing with a classic of the fantasy genre is always risky, but Stanton believes the passage of time is on his side. “Fortunately it’s an old enough story,” he said. “There isn’t such huge allegiance to it that people won’t mind that we muck with it a bit to hopefully amplify the essence of what made me interested in it as a young kid and hopefully will keep me interested in it as an adult.”

Andrew, you are so wrong that there isn't a big enough allegiance for people to get angry at divergences from the original text. I care about everything. Even if it was written in 1912 and had practically no story to speak of, and even if I've never read any of it and never will, the movie had better be exactly like my confused, entirely fantasy art-based impressions or someone will be making an anti-Pixar's John Carter of Mars Facebook group so fast it will knock several prestigious awards off your mantel.

I also take issue with this statement:

“There’s so much in it that can’t be real,” he said. “It’s the perfect definition of a hybrid movie,” utilizing both live actors and computer-based animation.

Perfect definition of a hybrid movie? That was called Alvin and the Chipmunks, buddy.

You can read the full interview here.

Oct 9 2007 Some Other Crap That Happened...

- A biopic on Sugar Ray Leonard, a man who has been world champion in five different weight classes, will be made by Kevin Pollack, a man who has five celebrity impressions, three of which are William Shatner. How appropriate. [Variety]

- Lisa Kudrow joins Emma Roberts and Don Cheadle in the wacky dogs-in-a-hotel movie Hotel for Dogs. (Again, why is Cuba Gooding, Jr. not in this?) Ten-to-one odds say her character will be vacuous but strangely endearing. [Hollywood Reporter]

- Pixar plans to release a trilogy of John Carter of Mars films, the first of which should reach audiences before 2012. I've never read the Edgar Rice Burroughs novels, but image searching leads me to believe it's a plainly-named Conan the Barbarian killing some space freaks, something I never realized I wanted to see until now. [Empire]

- Will a Writer's Guild strike happen as soon as November 1? Possibly! What will this mean in regards to the Tarantino-esque-with-a-hint-of-early-Kevin-Smith script you've been working on since college? Don't worry, it's still really awesome. [Variety]