‘John Carter of Mars’ Update From Director Andrew Stanton

Things have been quiet on the news front for John Carter of Mars since filming began over a year ago. Disney played release date chicken with FOX before scheduling its sci-fi flick for a different date than Ridley Scott’s Alien-inspired flick, Prometheus, but otherwise no one has heard anything recently about Pixar director Andrew Stanton’s fantastical project.

Now Stanton has opened up a bit about his progress on John Carter of Mars, which is based primarily off the first novel in Tarzan author Edgar Rice Burrough’s other-wordly, 11-volume Barsoom series.

MTV caught up with the Oscar-winning WALL-E and Finding Nemo filmmaker, who offered the following in regards to the status of his John Carter adaptation:

“I’m not in post-production — I’m in digital principal photography now, which goes on for the rest of 2011, so I’m only halfway through the movie… I didn’t try to make it look like anything else. I really tried to make it its own thing. I tried to make a very historically accurate Martian film if that makes sense, so I’ll let you decipher that.”

John Carter of Mars was scripted by Stanton in collaboration with storyboard supervisor Mark Andrews (The Incredibles) and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay). It’s expected to be a PG-13, F/X-heavy adventure flick that will have its own unique visual style that differs significantly from that of illustrator Frank Frazetta’s work in Burrough’s original novel(s).

Wolverine‘s Gambit and future Battleship star Taylor Kitsch is playing the titular role of John Carter, a Civil War veteran who is inexplicably transported to Mars after taking refuge from a group of Apache Indians by hiding in a cave. Fellow Wolverine alumni Lynn Collins also appears in the film as the humanoid Martian princess (and love interest) Dejah Thoris, while Oscar-nominee William Dafoe (a.k.a. Green Goblin from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man) plays the compassionate but fierce alien warrior and eventual king, Tars Tarkas.

Stanton joins fellow Pixar creative head and Mission: Impossible 4 director Brad Bird as yet another acclaimed computer-animation auteur whose next release will be a high-profile, expensive live-action affair. Both of these gents are renowned for being excellent storytellers capable of crafting empathetic characters and creatively-realized settings (be it the ocean, outer space, or an exquisite French cuisine establishment), so there’s good reason to be excited about both of their new films. John Carter of Mars should be all the more interesting in particular, since its source material is that of an old-fashioned sci-fi/fantasy serial. That all but assures it’ll feel and look quite different than every other upcoming title that involves extraterrestrials, most of them visiting (or more likely destroying) Earth.

John Carter of Mars is scheduled to hit 2D and 3D screens around the U.S. on March 9th, 2012.

For more movie and TV news, follow us on Twitter @screenrant and @feynmanguy.

Source: MTV

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Andrew Garfield Talks ‘Spider-Man’, Web-Swinging & Character

MTV recently caught up with Social Network star Andrew Garfield, who will of course be playing the new Peter Parker in director Marc Webb’s upcoming Spider-Man reboot.

In the interview, Garfield talked (more) about what it’s like being tapped to play one of the most iconic and recognizable superheroes in the world, how his web-swinging skills are fairing and how Marc Webb’s vision of Peter Parker / Spider-Man will be all about character.

Former Mary Jane Watson Kirsten Dunst recently gave a piece of advice to new cast franchise stars Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone (who will play love interest Gwen Stacy): Get your web-swinging skills in order. (OK, so I’m paraphrasing.) MTV asked Garfield if he was truly ready to heed Dunst’s advice and ride the web, and we’re not sure the actor understood the question correctly:

Andrew Garfield: I’m OK with swinging. I’ve been swinging since I was four. Wait, no, that can be misinterpreted!

Hey, if you can’t make a few jokes about “swinging” what good is it playing Spider-Man, am I right?

As for the challenge (and immense pressure) of playing iconic fanboy favorite, Spider-Man, Garfield had this to say:

AG: I was told by someone who should be listened to — I’m not going to say who it was — he said, “Don’t try and live up to it. Don’t think you have to live up to what that image and that symbol means to people.” And first I thought that was really reassuring. But then you go, “No, I really want to live up to that symbol.”

When I was 12-years-old I saw the struggle Peter Parker was going through to be of use to society, I wanted to live up to that. And I realized that even Peter Parker is trying to live up to that symbol of Spider-Man he’s created. That’s what makes him so special: he’s undeniably human and going through the same struggles as everyone else. So you try to live up to that symbol and then you have to be OK not living up to it, because not even Peter Parker can do it.

Finally, while answering a different question, Garfield addressed how Marc Webb is approaching this Spider-man reboot from the all-important angle of character matters first and foremost – an attitude that Garfield wholeheartedly supports:

AG: …I’m really excited for Marc Webb, because he’s a real stickler for that sort of stuff. He wants everything to come from Peter Parker’s dilemma, Gwen Stacy’s dilemma, Uncle Ben’s dilemma — everyone’s struggles, so that in those bigger sequences, it’s actually not just a cool fight, but there’s heart and specificity.

Garfield also talked about what it’s like acting in front of a green screen; the advice about Peter Parker given by Stan Lee; and finally, what Garfield learned about creating an effective comic book character onscreen while working with the late Heath Ledger on The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. To read those portions of the interview, head of over to MTV.

When Andrew Garfield was first announced as the new Peter Parker I (like many Spidey fans) was scratching my head. But after seeing the kid act in The Social Network and his moving turn in Never Let me Go, I dare say we have one really talented rising star portraying the new Peter Parker. The fact that Marc Webb (who proved with 500 Days of Summer that he can be stylish, innovative and yet intimate and focused) is seemingly attacking this film from the right angle – character first – is also a very positive sign.

As former Screen Ranter Jamie Williams recently told me over on Twitter: based on the way this film is shaping up, and based on what the stars and filmmakers are saying, we shouldn’t be surprised if they end up titling this reboot Peter Parker: Spider-Man.

The Spider-Man reboot is slated to start filming in December and the film will be released in 3D on July 3, 2012.

Source: MTV

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