John Carter Of Mars Casting

Next Stop: Mars

By TK | Posted Under Trade News | Comments (19)

This one of those odd Hollywood situations where a project has been languishing in development Purgatory for years. Now, all of a sudden, there’s news coming out of the woodwork.

I’m just not sure it’s actually good news.

Edgar Rice Burrough’s Princess of Mars, and perhaps the subsequent pulp novels that followed it, are being adapted into a major motion pictures called John Carter Of Mars. which will focus on the adventures of Earth dweller John Carter and Princess of Mars Dejah Thoris. The project has stuttered several times, but now has a release year (2012), a director (Andrew Stanton of Wall-E fame) and the leads have been cast.

“Friday Night Lights” dreamboat Taylor Kitsch has been cast as John Carter, and Lynn Collins will portray Dejah Thoris. I have to say, I’m a little annoyed, since Carter is supposed to be a grizzled Civil War soldier, which I have difficulty seeing Kitsch pulling off. Then again, I’ve never actually seen “FNL” and my experience with Kitsch is limited to his role as Gambit in that horrid Wolverine debacle — same with Collins, actually. That and my fear that they won’t know how to tackle the glorious pulpiness of the original novels (which I highly recommend) have me very apprehensive. But then again, Stanton did Wall-E, which I love so very, very much.

We shall see.

Follow @pajiba

← The Time Traveler's Wife Trailer | The Crypt Trailer →

Comments

I love the Art Nouveau cover art. I'm guessing the movie won't have an Art Nouveau vibe, which is a shame. That could be wonderfully refreshing and retro all at the same time.

Posted by: BWeaves at June 15, 2009 11:43 AM

I want to read that book just from the cover art.

Posted by: Anna von Beaverplatz at June 15, 2009 11:50 AM

Since Kitsch, whatever his acting talents, is way too young to play a grizzled Civil War soldier, I'm guessing they've changed the story a bit?

Oh well. At worst, the eye-candy quotient ought to be high. And you never know, it's Stanton after all.

(That guy on the cover isn't a grizzled Civil War soldier, either. He's Prince Valiant in purple knickerbockers!)

Posted by: Tarn at June 15, 2009 12:28 PM

You can't write for Pajiba without having seen Friday Night Lights. TK, consider your license suspended until you've at least seen the first episode.

Posted by: Lucas at June 15, 2009 12:43 PM

Lucas, you ain't the first to give me shit for that, nor will you be the last, I suspect. Truth be told, I'm a bit of a freak around these parts because, well, I don't watch any television, period.

I know, I know. But with the exception of a few random shows that I ended up watching mostly on DVD (The Wire, for example), I just never seem to be able to find the time.

Posted by: TK at June 15, 2009 12:50 PM

the subsequent pulp novels that followed it,
---
And the ones that came after, too.
***
Carter is supposed to be a grizzled Civil War soldier, which I have difficulty seeing Kitsch pulling off.
---
You realize, don't you, that by Appomattox many a 13-year-old boy from Georgia was a "grizzled Civil War soldier."

Posted by: , (the commenter formerly known as bucdaddy) at June 15, 2009 12:58 PM

Be that as it may, but the character in the books was an older, "Virginia gentleman."

I'll give you the first point, however.

Posted by: TK at June 15, 2009 1:01 PM

Ah, OK. Never read the book, sorry.

Posted by: , (the commenter formerly known as bucdaddy) at June 15, 2009 1:15 PM

I've said it before, and I'll say it again...

If you every want to enjoy another movie, never read another book.

If you must read books, then be resigned to make allowances when Hollywood gets ahold of them and dropkicks them through the marketing hoop of blandness.

How's that for a mixed metaphor? Maybe I shold get into marketing.

-Ralphie

Posted by: Ralphie at June 15, 2009 1:30 PM

Just cause I had to, cause I'm an a-bomb-hole about stuff like this, I looked this up:

"Declining fertility and mortality rates also have led to a sharp rise in the median age of our Nation's population -- from 20 years old in 1860 to 34 in 1994."

So basically, in 1860 you were middle aged at 20. Think about that.

I bring this up because I think it's one of those things we tend to forget -- much like the one thing that stuck out to me from reading the Alexander Hamilton bio a couple years ago is that most of the people in the 1770s were sick, ALL. THE. TIME. Everything you have in your medicine cabinet, everything you can go down to Walgreens and buy for a couple bucks off the shelf, even the very simplest pain reliever (I mean aspirin, they of course had whiskey) didn't exist in 1770. Hell, it didn't exist in 1865 either. And let's not even get started on dental care.

So we read "grizzled" and think in terms of our time. Clint Eastwood looks grizzled. But in Civil War times if Carter was "grizzled" he well could have been under 30.

That boy in the picture, however, ain't "grizzled" in any era.

Posted by: , (the commenter formerly known as bucdaddy) at June 15, 2009 1:36 PM

I just never seem to be able to find the time.

Well, TK, if you'd stop with all the exercise, and having friends, and doing stuff, maybe you'd *find* the time, now wouldn't you?

Posted by: Anna von Beaverplatz at June 15, 2009 1:38 PM

FNL. Get on that real quick.

Posted by: Mick J at June 15, 2009 2:43 PM

I don't watch FNL, and I watch a lot of TV. I've tried, but I just can't seem to get into it, though that might be because I haven't watched it from the start. Doesn't seem like the kind of show you can get into halfway through. But...I also hate football, and football stories, and to see people playing football and...I just don't know if I'll ever bother watching the thing from the start.

Posted by: figgy at June 15, 2009 3:18 PM

To be honest, like 10-15% of the whole show is them actually playing football. I'd give it another try.

Posted by: Mick J at June 15, 2009 4:31 PM

Of course the Taylor Kitsch news happens on the day I'm working 11 hours and can't haunt the thread like some kind of sexually frustrated poltergeist. Damnit.

Seriously, they put Taylor Kitsch in it and I will watch it. It's bad news for me that I ever found out he was in The Covenant because I'm going to end up watching it and hating myself just a tiny bit for it.

Posted by: Genny (actually Rusty now) at June 15, 2009 5:04 PM

I also hate football, and football stories, and to see people playing football and...

Posted by: figgy at June 15, 2009 3:18 PM
---
Now see, that's just wrong. There's nothing wrong with football. Football's a fine game.

You can hate football fans (I do) and football players (I do) and football coaches (I do) and football broadcasters (I do) and the NFL (I do) and the NCAA (I do) and the football polls (I do) and the football bowls (I do) and the Stupid Bowl (I do) and the draft (I do) and the minicamps (I do) and tailgating (I do) and all the quasi-religious bulls-bomb surrounding football (I do), but there's nothing wrong with football.

There's one thing I love about football. I love that figgy hates football too.

xoxoxoxoxoxox, chiquita!

Posted by: , (the commenter formerly known as bucdaddy) at June 15, 2009 5:53 PM

Hahahaha...I don't know...I've never played it myself, so I'll take your word for it. It always seemed pretty ridiculous to me. But then again, so do most sports.

Posted by: figgy at June 15, 2009 8:24 PM

1- TK you can borrow my dvds, just ask.

2- You hate tailgating, bucdaddy??? I love football, and have had deep internal debates on whether I like football or baseball better. I respect those who don't like it because I understand it's not everyone's cup of tea, but tailgating? What did tailgating ever do to you? What's not to like? The beer or the food? Please explain.

Posted by: Austin asking for trouble at June 15, 2009 11:29 PM

You've never seen Friday Night Lights? That's just sad. I can't believe the rest of the Pajiba writers haven't sat you down and forced it on you. Please, just take a couple of days and watch the 1st season. Until you do, I don't trust you or anything you write.

Posted by: MDW at June 16, 2009 2:00 PM

Pajiba

Pajiba: Reviews, Commentary, Angst

Next Stop: Mars

Comments