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Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins to Star in John Carter of Mars

by Alex Billington
June 12, 2009

Two stars from X-Men Origins: Wolverine will team up again to head to Mars. Taylor Kitsch, who played Gambit, and Lynn Collins, who played Wolvie's love interest Silverfox, will star in Disney's John Carter of Mars together. Wall-E director Andrew Stanton will be directing a script that he co-wrote with Mark Andrews and Michael Chabon. Kitsch will play the title character, John Carter, while Collins will play Dejah Thoris, the heir to the throne of Mars' Helium kingdom whom he falls in love with. As we announced earlier today, Disney is planning to shoot part of John Carter of Mars in Utah starting in November this year.

Based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' series of novels, the story in John Carter of Mars centers on a civil war who veteran finds himself mysteriously transported to Mars, where his involvement with warring races of the dying planet force him to rediscover his humanity. No word on how much Pixar will be involved in the production, as THR is reporting that it's a Disney project, however Pixar's General Manager Jim Morris is producing. It's very exciting to see this project moving along so quickly, as I thought we wouldn't be seeing this come together for a long time. As for Kitsch and Collins, I think they'll do a great job. Do you agree?

Filed under Casting, Movie News

From around the web:

deja vu

They must not have seen Wolverine then, where Kitsch couldn't hold a single accent for more than 2 seconds. John Carter is a southern gentleman too. This movie is going to be laugh out loud funny.
- Eiacob
  
  Fuck off deja vu.
nelson

well seeing as john carter is'nt Cajun then it is fine you try to do the best Cajun accent for a full movie he did the best he could do and it was fine.
qweqwu

who cares, she's freakin hot
Alfredo

Even with Stanton involved, I still think this movie should be R-rated... and not related to Disney in any way. It's almost like Disney distributing the upcoming Heavy Metal.
http://www.bleepinggeek.com Pete the Geek

Wow... it's almost like my comment in the last John Carter post is coming true! Hahaha! Way to go Disney - another watered down adaptation of a classic pandering to tweens and people without taste.
http://www.bleepinggeek.com Pete the Geek

Addendum: All they need now is to cast Hugh Jackman as a singing dancing Martian and this movie will have a good start on that whole "circling the drain" thing.
Chad

Look, Wall-E sucked--paper-thin, boring, and pedantic. Stanton's a shit director, his two leads are fucking awful, and there's no way Disney is going to release an R-rated interpretation of this text, which is exactly what it should be. My prediction? Between these three rubes and Disney, JCoM is going to be the most expensive direct-to-DVD release in history.
elessar

All the Pixar doubters out there are going to be eating their feet when the release rolls along. Chad: Stanton 1000x the director you will ever be, and believe it or not, I actually think Kitsch can act. I've heard very good things about his work in that indie film about the South African journalists. Your trashing of Stanton and WALL-E reveals just how little you know about anything. Pete: Uh, no. With Stanton at the helm, this film will have more taste than you ever will. Aside from nudity, I don't recall much from the series to warrant an R-rating.
Major Kusanagi

Lynn Collins... i don't think her cup is big enough for this movie...
xerxex

Dang Chad give it a chance. Stanton will most defiently deliever on his part. As for Kitsch and Collins I say perfect cast, it all really hinges on the screenwriter, and people are willing to bash a director, when in reality 50% is on the writer and 50% on the director! So when a movie does fail its a joint effort and I see this as being a hit!
xerxex

But here it is the writer is the director so if it does fail 100% his fault, and vice versa.
elessar

Xerxex: True, but only partially. Stanton did the first draft, but Andrews and Chabon did the subsequent ones. Then again, unless a final draft is available to be read by the viewer, it's hard to tell who to blame if something falls flat. Let us also remember previous examples of film casting that got fanboys in an uproar, namely Ledger and Downey. Some might insist that this is different b/c Downey and Ledger were proven actors. I would argue the same is true of Kitsch. His work on Friday Night Lights has been praised very highly, and as I said earlier, he's gotten praise for his work in the upcoming South African journalist film, The Bang Bang Club. As for Wolverine...honestly, I don't think that should be the yardstick for measuring anyone's acting ability as the whole enterprise was a cluster**** from the get-go. Most of the blame for that should go to Fox for its constant meddling.
Chad

Elessar: The very fact you think Kitsch can act renders your opinion entirely moot. Xerxex: You're right. I should give it a chance. But tits like #9 make it hard not to shoot out the lights before curtain.
elessar

No, it does not. More than a few people have praised Taylor's work on FNL. His film choices have, admittedly been poor, that could very well change--particularly with the Bang Bang Club. Your unwillingness to accept another viewpoint renders you moot. I like visiting this site, but from now on, I will refrain from viewing the comments as there is far too much brainlessness.
http://www.bleepinggeek.com Pete the Geek

My problem doesn't lie with Kitsch or with Stanton, I believe both of them are capable of good things. My problem is that John Carter of Mars is being made by DISNEY. Let me say that again... DISNEY. Their goal isn't to make a faithful adaptation of the source material (like it should be), their goal is just to make the film as kid-friendly as possible so they can squeeze as much money out of John and Jane Q. Public as humanly possible. I'm so tired of people taking good stories and watering them down for mass consumption.
Chad

Zing!
Dafne

is it goint to be an animation or a live action movie?
Fisherr

Disney is what's making me worry.
xerxex

Chad haha. Thats mean. Well elessar that reason I bring up a joint venture with a director and screenwriter is that many times I just want the blame for a failure of a film to go both ways, granted that sometimes a director really screws it up, adn sometimes the writing is just crap. as for Andrews and Chabon I hope thay both got some control over the writing which I think they did, and hopefully Stanton will work with them and creat the movie we all wanna see in the end.
SlashBeast

@ #7 Stanton has directed ONE movie and you're already raggin on him. Not to mention it was almost universally acclaimed by movie goers and critics alike.
Marie

Let's give it a chance to start filming guys ok. I really don't agree with the comment that it "has to be rated R to be an accurate interpretation of the text". Puleeze, I read A Princess of Mars (the first book) with my mom (who got me to read the books in the first place) when I was 11. There is a lot of action, fighting and yes, killing in these books but it involves in almost all accounts aliens that in no way resemble humans. This was to me in the same vein as Star Wars/ Star Trek (and I don't recall any of those movies being rated R). Yes there is sci fi violence but it is easily pg-13. The women in the book are described as only wearing their jewels and weapons so there is nudity but give the girls some pasties and a thong and I'm sure they can still get in under the pg-13 wire. I reread APoM and The Chessmen of Mars fairly recently and I do not recall any language and there is nothing even remotely explicit as far a sex goes. An article I read on IMDB said "Although Disney will be producing the film, Stanton confirmed producers are aiming for an adult audience, assuring that "this story of John Carter is not going to be an all-ages film..."" That said I don't see why this movie would be to harsh for anyone old enough to watch say... The Dark Knight. The books are a fun escape, which is highly impressive since they are now almost a century old. As a book worm I have seen many stories that I treasure tweaked to tarnished by Hollywood. But, I have thought about how cool it would be for John Carter to be on the big screen since I was a kid so I am going to keep my fingers crossed. If nothing else maybe this will get some people to read the books. Other than my mom, a few aunts and my grandpa I don't know anyone personally who has read the books. It would be nice for them to gain some renewed popularity.
http://www.goldenrule.com/health/health-savings.shtml Hsa

I have always enjoyed movies like this. I really hope that it doesn't flop at the box office.
Apaquette

taylor kitsch without a shirt, yummy ☺