John Carter : A Princess of Mars

[green]

As far as casting John Carter goes...Hugh Jackman seems like a likely choice and here's why: 6'2", black hair and between Wolverine and Van Helsing he really seems to enjoy playing ageless heroes who can't remember their pasts

Seriously though, do any of you guys think they'll alter that part in some way? It's one thing to have an ageless amnesiac but sending him to Mars without tying that into his past doesn't seem like a likely thing to happen. And the Martian people have thousand year life sPans (Martian years, mind you) so unless they lost that altogether they've got some creative rewriting to do. And what about Martian women laying eggs? The biggest question though is this; How are modern audiences supposed to accept a Mars that's populated with monsters, swashbucklers and scantily clad princesses? We know more about the surface of Mars than we do the ocean floor.

The way I see it, (with revisionist license) Mars can take place in the distance past or distant future. If the past, it can be around or just before life was beginning to develop on Earth. Maybe at the end John has some religious epiphany "If God created man in his own image then he did so on Mars too. That kind of lightening doesn't strike twice". or someming. Or it can take place in the future a la Planet of the Apes when Mars was long ago terraformed and populated. Everything mutated extra limbs after a while, but people learned how to stop these changes in themselves and that's why everything else on Mars has 6-8-10 limbs. The people who couldn't stop these changes from happening became a 14 ft green tall race of multilimbed warriors.

Anyone else got their 2 cents about this?

Well at the time the books were written, and the time frame that is in the books, we didnt know anything about Mars back then. Hopefully they will place John Carter in the year 1866 around the end of the Civil War. I think sticking to this format and forgetting what we know now of the planet is important and shouldnt be updated. Make it pure SciFi/Fantasy, give it the aged look like they did on Sky Captain and concentrate on story and effects. Yes the martian women should lay eggs, and the green martains should as well(cause I want to see those incubators). I also think its important to bring up the fact that the green martains no longer love, Tars Tarkas and Solas relationship for example, and how John Carter changed that.

 

[Ratcrawler]

I wish I could agree about the time frame. Those days were a magical time where it was plausible to believe that Earth's celestial neighbor might have been a dying world of such sPectacle. But frankly, I'm worried that audiences won't really bite the idea of an immortal confederate soldier "dying" in a cave and teleporting to such a Mars. Now I think it would be a rather convoluted mix of Sci/fi and fantasy.

Again, I really don't think the (human) Martian women should lay eggs unless they're like, I dunno, weird human eggs. Like gelatinous placentas. Ech. After all, John and Dejah are supposed to have two kids and I always thought it was weird that a human male can mate with an egg-layer and have any kind of offsPring, much less healthy ones. But I guess that's me. Green Martians laying eggs, I've got no problem with. I wanna see those incubators too.

And I absolutely LOVE Tars Tarkas and Sola's backstory and the secrets they keep. He's the mightiest most savage warrior the red planet has ever seen, but in his heart he knows he has broken one of the great laws that his people abide by; he has loved. And the woman he loved was destroyed for it. That's why he's so driven. So that he can rise to ultimate power among his people and overturn such absurdity. And dear Sola. She knows herself to be his daughter but for the sake of both their lives, cannot reveal it.

 

[Hunter Rider]

http://comingsoon.net/news/topnews.php?id=11467

Favreau to Helm John Carter of Mars

Source: Variety
October 6, 2005

Paramount has hired Elf and Zathura helmer Jon Favreau to direct John Carter of Mars, the epic adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs sci-fi series.

Variety says the film begins with a Civil War veteran whose retreat into a cave to avoid capture by Apache Indians takes an otherworldly turn as he's transported via time portal to the planet of Barsoom and taken prisoner by 12-foot-tall green men.

Burroughs wrote 11 volumes of Carter's adventures and the studio is hoping the film will launch a franchise. Ehren Kruger rewrote a script by Mark Protosevich, and Ain't It Cool News creator Harry Knowles is co-producing.

Robert Rodriguez (Sin City) and Kerry Conran (Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow) were each attached to direct at one point.

 

[BT18]

KICK ASS!

I love Favreau. Well, I shouldn't say love. I'm just really into him and his show and interested in what he does.

Obviously he's never done anything this big. But I honestly think he's up to the challenge.

He is fantastic at getting actors to work to their best potential. He knows how to pace things well. And best of all he seems to get along pretty well with everyone in show biz so he can probably get himself a great cast.

 

[green]

Damb, I really wanted Conran to do this in the same style as Sky Captain. I'll hold out hope cause I love the books and have been waiting forever for them to make a movie, I just dont know how this going to work in live action.

 

[The Lizard]

Variety says the film begins with a Civil War veteran whose retreat into a cave to avoid capture by Apache Indians takes an otherworldly turn as he's transported via time portal to the planet of Barsoom and taken prisoner by 12-foot-tall green men.

Ah...a "time portal", eh? Well that explains how the writers can get around the tricky suspension of disbelief issues that would be present if the story was just like Burroughs's. I suppose the idea is to suggest that Carter time travels back thousands (or millions) of years to when Mars was a living planet.

 

[green]

Here's a little more...

http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=21482
UPDATED!! JOHN CARTER OF MARS has a new director and he's so money...
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with an update on that little sci-fi fantasy project at Paramount called JOHN CARTER OF MARS. It's official. There's a new director. I unabashedly love SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW, warts and all, and am saddened by Kerry Conran leaving JOHN CARTER, but I'm also a fan of the new director the studio has brought on board. Paramount has nabbed JON FAVREAU, fresh off of ZATHURA and still riding high on the huge success of ELF. Man, all this talent swapping... you'd think the producers would make up their minds. Sheesh...
This'll be a big project for Favreau, but I really dig the choice. I like that Favreau switches up his films. MADE and ELF are radically different. ZATHURA is a sci-fi flick, but it's one aimed at families. JOHN CARTER OF MARS will not only break Favreau from the trend of directing films with one-word titles, but will also be his shot at making an all audience tentpole movie. If he sticks close to Edgar Rice Burroughs' brilliant novel, he has a chance at making a true classic. I dig this choice. I'm interviewing Favreau in about 36 hours, so I'll make sure to grill him on JOHN CARTER... plus I gotta warn him about those nasty, money grubbing redheaded producer types... What do you folks think of this development?


*********************************
Hey, gang. "Moriarty" here with a few questions and answers. Seems that the executive producer of this film, one "Harold J. Knowles," happened to be online tonight when this announcement went live. I decided to grill him a bit. The first question, and the most obvious, is what the heck happened to Kerry Conran?!

"I love Kerry, we all did. Ultimately though, Kerry found a couple of pulp properties that he was even more passionate about. Whenever he's ready to announce, I think everyone everywhere will be happy. You see... We're still going to deliver a Great JOHN CARTER movie, but Kerry will deliver another great science fiction pulp character film too. We film lovers will have twice as much to be excited about!"

Hmmmmm... I see. So how do you feel about Jon Favreau coming onboard as the new director?

"Jon Favreau is just an incredibly exciting choice. For one, I've known and had a great relationship with Favs, hell he even took part in the doomed AICN TV Pilot for Comedy Central. Plus - Jon has an absolute passion for not just the material - but all the great toys that must be employed in making this epic a reality."

Oh, yeah, that's right. He was in our pilot, wasn't he? Y'know, Paramount's gone through a lot of changes since you first got involved in this project. Is this hiring of Favreau a sign of confidence in the project?

"Actually - ya know, it hasn't mattered which execs we've had... there's always been a great deal of excitement at the studio side regarding this project. Signing Jon on has been further proof of just how much they value the John Carter property."

Okay, then. One last question. Ehren Kruger's script was reportedly turned in, and I've heard it wasn't universally loved by any means. What's the plan now that you've got Favs onboard?

"Jon's first order of business is to bring on a screenwriter to bring the script back closer to Burroughs. He loves that novel. At this stage Jon is securing the effects and design team that we've had through Kerry's tenure on the project and just continue to chip away at the awesome mountain of pre-production that will make this film amongst the finest science fiction-fantasy films of all time."

If you do say so yourself. Sounds good. Thanks, Mr. Knowles. Maybe someday we'll have a chance to chat some more. For now...
"Moriarty" out.

 

[terry78]

Cannot wait.

 

[Ratcrawler]

Ah...a "time portal", eh? Well that explains how the writers can get around the tricky suspension of disbelief issues that would be present if the story was just like Burroughs's. I suppose the idea is to suggest that Carter time travels back thousands (or millions) of years to when Mars was a living planet.

OR... it's the future! Well, probably not but it's something to consider.

 

[green]

http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=21509

Theres quite along interview with Favreau about the production...

 

[terry78]

I see he's being honest about the f/x. That just having guys in a suit won't work, and neither will all CG. A mixture of the both is neccessary, and I agree with him to the fullest.

 

[green]

QUINT: So, then I take it that John Carter will still be a Civil War soldier?
JON FAVREAU: Yeah, and I've already mentioned this to them. I looked at that aspect of it. I think it is a story that would apply very well to today's soldiers, but I think it could do so more symbolically. If you really did change him to someone coming back from the Middle East it doesn't tell the complete story. First of all, he couldn't be a horseman and he couldn't be a swordsman.
QUINT: Him being a swordsman is such a huge part of the books is so essential for the image of John Carter.
JON FAVREAU: Well, it adds to the plausibility of the character. You're already cheating on the gravity, making him do super, you know, STARSHIP TROOPER leaps. It's already gonna be stylized. You're already taking a lot of artist license with the nature of life on Mars. You're already asking people to make a tremendous leap with the way he gets transported there, without asking a million questions. I don't want to undermine the plausibility anymore.
And I also think that being an officer in an army that no longer exists really speaks to his character and what makes him who he is. I think to sacrifice that you would lose aspects of the character that you don't even notice in a development meeting, but ultimately when you see the movie and write the script it would undermine the film.
My way around it is, "Don't spend too much time in the back story! Get to Mars pretty fast!" The manuscripts begin with him in the desert with his buddy, they're attacked by Indians and he's on Mars. I want to get to Mars!
In PLANET OF THE APES, the more that was explained in the later films really undermined the plausibility for me. When he (Chuck Heston) just showed up and got out of the capsule I didn't ask any questions. For some reason it all made sense. And the payoff with the Statue of Liberty really worked. It's not like I didn't understand enough. I understood just based on the little bit of exposition that snuck through. Same thing with ALIEN. I understood everything I needed to understand from that. And STAR WARS as well. I don't think more exposition is necessarily better. If that were the case, people would love Episodes 1, 2 and 3 more than 4, 5 and 6, but I don't think that's the case. I think people get their left brain fed and their right brain isn't entertained enough.
I think you have to stay true to the myth, be conscious of the emotional truth to the characters and the romance and all the rest of the stuff will fall into place behind it.




I love what he has to say here.

 

[terry78]

If he keeps this up, he really is going to become this generation's Spielberg.

 

[The Lizard]

So Harry Knowles is the actual producer on this film? I guess when you've made the contacts he has, you get some kind of reward eventually.

And I too, agree with Favreau's take on the storyline. Sounds like he's going to give us something really good.

 

[Timstuff]

Dang, if there was only one time for me to be jealous of a horse...

Anyway, yeah, 95% of models can't act, and Giselle is not an exception from what we've seen so far. They're probably gonna tone down the skin-content for the movie simply because it's easier to stay PG-13 that way. Just look at Aeon Flux.

 

[BT18]

I gotta see "Made"

 

[Armand Z Trip]

I think Monica Belucci should be the princess.

 

[BT18]

Dang, if there was only one time for me to be jealous of a horse...

Anyway, yeah, 95% of models can't act, and Giselle is not an exception from what we've seen so far. They're probably gonna tone down the skin-content for the movie simply because it's easier to stay PG-13 that way. Just look at Aeon Flux.

Not that I suport Gisele for any role including this one in John Carter', but that's a really baseless statement. It's rare you don't find a modeling background in any beautiful actress who meets the height requirements.

 

[green]

Dang, if there was only one time for me to be jealous of a horse...

Anyway, yeah, 95% of models can't act, and Giselle is not an exception from what we've seen so far. They're probably gonna tone down the skin-content for the movie simply because it's easier to stay PG-13 that way. Just look at Aeon Flux.

LOL!
There is that 5%
Maybe spending all that time with Leo she learned (I highly doubt it but I wish it).
Casting Dejah is gonna be tough.
Im still liking the idea of Mcconaughey as Carter.

 

[BT18]

I think Monica Belucci should be the princess.

she hit the wall. Cherish all the beauty of her that has been already captured on screen when she still was in her prime.

 

[BT18]

Mcconaughey already has that "Sahara" franchise to continue being mediocre and bland in.

 

[green]

Mcconaughey already has that "Sahara" franchise to continue being mediocre and bland in.

And who are you thinking for the roles?

 

[BT18]

And who are you thinking for the roles?

Even though I'm not even close to being a fan of his and think he gets suggested for a ridiculous ammount of Geek roles, I gotta say this is the role for Jim Cavezial considering the type/level of fame he's got, his acting range, and his looks/height/and age being perfect, in addition to the mostly inimportant quirk of it being another role in which he shares the initials of the title character.

He's who strikes me as being the most prudent of the actors I've thought through. But I'm by no means gonna be one of the "CAVEZIAL IS CARTER DAMMITT" *****ebags.

 

[terry78]

People are saying they want it rated R, but you know something like this is just begging for video game, t-shirts, board games, action figure, and kids storybook tie-ins.

 

[Son_of_Kalibak]

From the latest on AICN it sounds like it's in good hands. I just hope the novels are re-printed in the near future so I can enjoy them all again. It's been over 16 years since I've read any of them.