Director Andrew Stanton's production of John Carter of Mars got a big boost when two-time Academy Award-nominated actor Willem Dafoe was signed on to play Tars Tarkas, a four-armed, ten-foot-tall Martian, or "Barsoomian," as they are referred to in the classic 11-volume novel series by Edgar Rice Burroughs. In an October interview with AICN, Dafoe said that, although his character will be rendered digitally, his performance should shine through, thanks to the incredible skills of the Pixar artists.
In a recent interview with
io9, Dafoe said that he begins pre-production prep work next week, with principal photography beginning January 18th (he thinks). As for what attracted the celebrated actor to
John Carter of Mars, Dafoe said:
"Andrew Stanton, the material, the idea that I'm going to play a 10-foot Martian Warrior. I live very much in the independent cinema world, which is great and that's where we find a lot of great filmmakers and sometimes more freedom to make personal films. But the flip side of that is, sometimes there isn't a lot of protection or care. There may be an emotional rigor, but sometimes you don't have the the technical stuff to work with. You can have lousy lighting [and] no time to prepare properly. You are very vulnerable.
"When someone asks you to make a movie directed by Andrew Stanton, with Disney behind, a big tent-pole movie... I know from making Finding Nemo how these Pixar guys work. They're very thorough, they're very rigorous, they really get it. It's a real pleasure because you get so protected because they are so well researched. And you get so much help trying to make something. I think I got excited about that. I like to go back and forth, but it was time to do a big movie again."
John Carter of Mars stars
Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Samantha Morton, Dominic West, and
Polly Walker.
John Carter of Mars will be released in 2012