I love reading classic science fiction like A Princess of Mars or 1984. Its always fun to see what the author thought the world of the future, or in the case of 1984 the world of the future past, would be like. In most cases they are great stories that transcend time, which is exactly what Disney is hoping is the case with Edgar Rice Burrough’s A Princess of Mars, now retitled John Carter because apparently Disney doesn’t think men will go to a movie with the word “Princess” in the title.
Friday Night LIghts’ Taylor Kitsch is in the title role and between takes he took some time to talk with Total Film about playing Carter:
“It’s the most physical role I’ve ever done. It’s beyond gruelling for me. I’m basically in every scene. You can see the action on it. The main thing I’ve learned is energy conservation.
“The script says things like: ‘He jumps from here to there and he fights these guys. You write it off when your reading it, but when you do it, it’s a whole day’s shoot. When John gets to Mars, everything is life and death.
“It’s a character-driven epic adventure rather than just crazy effects.”
Pixar alum Andrew Stanton is making his live action debut with John Carter. Up until now he’s only directed animated films such as Wall-E and Finding Nemo. It’ll be interesting to see if Stanton can follow in the footsteps of fellow Pixar director Brad Bird (The Incredibles, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol) and make as seamless a transition.
What do you think of John Carter? I try to reserve judgement until I see the entire film, but I have to admit, so far the trailers haven’t exactly wowed me. To be completely honest, I think it’s going to bomb spectacularly. I hope it doesn’t, but the outlook isn’t good.
John Carter drops into theatres March 9. The cast includes Kitsch, Lynn Collins (she and Kitsch both appeared in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, although I don’t believe they shared any screen time), Willem Dafoe, Bryan Cranston, Mark Strong, Ciaran Hines, Thomas Hayden Church, Smantha Morton and James Purefoy.
SOURCE: Total Film
