Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad) is coming aboard John Carter of Mars, according to Heat Vision. The film marks Andrew Stanton’s (Finding Nemo, WALL-E) live-action debut, although it will feature a lot of Avatar-type performance capture. It’s an adaptation of A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, about a Civil War officer who finds himself mysteriously transported to Mars where he becomes entangled in the planet’s warring factions. Bryan Cranston is playing a Civil War colonel who clashes with lead character John Carter. As far as I can recall, there was nothing in the book where Carter clashed with another veteran, but maybe there’s going to be more pre-Mars stuff in this film, or the escapade that precedes his teleportation will be switched from involving Apaches to a fellow veteran. Or perhaps this is an element from another book, as it appears elements beyond A Princess of Mars are being used.
The novel, A Princess of Mars, began its serialization in 1912 and spawned eight other novels and several shorter tales over the following thirty years. A Civil War veteran of the Confederate side, John Carter finds himself taking refuge in a cave after an Indian attack when he is mysteriously transported to Mars. Due to the lower gravity, Carter has superhuman strength on the planet, which helps win him favor among the Tharks, a tribe of Green Martians made up of four-armed warriors twice the height of humans. When these people capture Dejah Thoris, princess of the humanlike Red Martians, Carter plots to save her and her people from their oppressors while winning her love along the way.
T
he rest of the known cast is as follows:
- Taylor Kitsch (John Carter) – Confederate veteran of the Civil War.
- Lynn Collins (Dejah Thoris) – A Red Martian princess.
- Willem Dafoe (Tars Tarkas) – High ranking warrior member of the Tharks, one of the Green Martian tribes, who ultimately allies with Carter.
- Samantha Morton (Sola) – The daughter of Tars Takas, who has an unusually soft side for her species and must hide it.
- Dominic West (Sab Than) – The prince of the Zodangans, which is a tribe of the Red Martians.
- Polly Walker (Sarkoja) – A tyrannical Green Martian who delights in having Dejah as a prisoner.
- Thomas Haden Church (Tal Hajus) – An ambitious Thark, one of the tall four-armed Martians, waiting for his chance to be ruler.
- James Purefoy (Kantos Kan) – A Red Martian captain of a floating warship.
- Mark Strong (Matai Shang) – Ruler of the Therns (descendants of the White Martians) with godlike status.
Andrew Stanton co-wrote the script with Mark Andrews while Michael Chabon wrote a revisionary draft.
Production started this week in London. John Carter of Mars is scheduled for release during summer 2012.
