The Global Film Village

Disney Begins Principal Photography of John Carter of Mars

// January 21st, 2010 // Industry Event

Cover art from A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, McClurg, 1917.

by Marc Halperin

Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Andrew Stanton began principal photography in London for Walt Disney Pictures’ JOHN CARTER OF MARS. Stanton brings  A Princess of Mars the first book of Edgar Rice Burroughs‘ “Barsoom Series,” to the big screen.

The film is an epic adventure set on the Red planet of Mars, a world inhabited by warrior tribes and exotic desert beings. Formerly an Earthlike world, its oceans now evaporated, and the atmosphere thinned, the planet has fallen into barbarism with the inhabitants fighting one another to survive. The film traces the journey of an American Civil-War soldier John Carter, who finds himself transported from one civil war to another battling a host of strange Martian inhabitants to save a princess.

These eleven Burroughs’ books have been in development for years. Looney Tunes director Bob Clampett planned an animated version in 1931. But MGM decided not to go forward with the project after Clampett had created test footage in 1936. MGM didn’t believe that audiences were ready for an animated feature or space adventures.  Universal Studios Flash Gordon series released soon after was highly successful, and Walt Disney’s Sleeping Beauty established the animated film as a franchise. The next major attempt was in the 1980′s under Mario Kassar and Andrew G. Vajna who bought the rights for Walt Disney Pictures. The project collapsed because visual effects were not advanced enough yet to recreate Burroughs’ vision. Producer James Jacks convinced Paramount Pictures to acquire the film rights in 2003 and Robert Rodriguez signed on to direct. The project collapsed as a result of Rodriguez quitting the DGA over a dispute on credits. Jon Favreau signed on in October 2005 but left in 2006 and Paramount let the rights lapse.

The new  film is being produced for Walt Disney Pictures by Jim Morris (“WALL•E,” “Ratatouille”) and Colin Wilson (“Avatar,” “War of the Worlds”), the live action/animation film marks Academy Award®-winning director/writer Andrew Stanton’s (“Finding Nemo,” “WALL•E”) first foray into live action. Stanton directed and co-wrote the screenplay for Disney•Pixar’s “WALL•E,” which earned the Academy Award and Golden Globe® for Best Animated Feature (2008); Stanton was nominated for an Oscar® for the screenplay.  He made his directorial debut with Disney•Pixar’s “Finding Nemo,” garnering an Academy Award-nomination for Best Original Screenplay and winning the Oscar for Best Animated Feature (2003). He has worked as a screenwriter and/or executive producer on Disney•Pixar’s “Toy Story,” “A Bug’s Life” (which he also co-directed), “Toy Story 2,” “Monsters, Inc.,” “Ratatouille” and “Up.”

“I have been waiting my whole life to see the characters and worlds of ‘John Carter of Mars’ realized on the big screen,” says Stanton.  “It is just a wonderful bonus that I have anything to do with it.”

The stellar ensemble cast is led by Taylor Kitsch (NBC’S “Friday Night Lights”, “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”) in the title role, Lynn Collins (“50 First Dates,” “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”) as the warrior princess Dejah Thoris and Oscar® nominee Willem Dafoe (“Spider-Man 3,” “Shadow of a Vampire”) as Martian inhabitant Tars Tarkas.  The cast also includes Thomas Haden Church (“Sideways,” Spider-Man 3), Polly Walker (upcoming “Clash of the Titans,” “Patriot Games”), Samantha Morton (“Elizabeth: The Golden Age,” “In America”), Mark Strong (“Sherlock Holmes,” “Body of Lies”), Ciaran Hinds (“Munich,” “There Will Be Blood”), British actor Dominic West (“300,” “Chicago”), James Purefoy (“Vanity Fair,” “Resident Evil”) and Bryan Cranston (“Breaking Bad”). Daryl Sabara (“Disney’s A Christmas Carol,” “Spy Kids”) takes the role of John Carter’s teenaged nephew, Edgar Rice Burroughs.

The creative team includes Oscar®-nominated production designer Nathan Crowley (“Public Enemies,” “The Dark Knight,” “Batman Begins”), costume designer Mayes Rubeo (“Avatar,” “Apocalypto”), cinematographer Daniel Mindel (“Star Trek,” “Mission Impossible III,” “Spygame”) and video effects supervisor Peter Chiang (“The Reader,” “The Bourne Ultimatum”).