Frank Frazetta Sr.: My son's 'gone haywire'
Pocono Record ~ March 26, 2010
World-renowned artist Frank Frazetta Sr. spoke publicly for the first time since his family feud went public in December 2009. He's mad at his son, Alfonso Frank Frazetta, known as Frank Jr., who was arrested in December after police discovered he'd allegedly broken into the family museum using a backhoe and removed about 90 works of art painted by his father. 

Frank Sr. said he didn't understand why his son thought he had permission to take his paintings. But he doesn't think Frank Jr. was acting in his best interests, as the son has claimed. More>>>

John Carter of Mars is coming to Kane County
Southern Utah News ~ March 17, 2010
Utah Film Commissioners Marshall Moore and Mimi Davis Taylor [reported]: John Carter of Mars, a Disney production, is being filmed in Utah, with several locations in Kane County. A set is currently under construction in Mt. Carmel. Other sites include Big Water, Lake Powell, Moab, Hanksville and Delta. $27.7 million out of a total budget of $250 million will be spent in Utah. Disney plans a trilogy from the 12 books on the Chronicles of John Carter. The same people who did Avatar are behind this production. Big Water and Kanab will be production hubs. Moore said,“This will be a great experience to bring movies back to Kanab.”

 
Bryan Cranston on Andrew Stanton's JOHN CARTER OF MARS
Collider.com ~ March 9, 2010
Collider: You’re going to be in Andrew Stanton's John Carter of Mars.

Bryan Cranston: Yeah, I am. We already started shooting that. I shot for a week in London a couple weeks ago.

Collider: Can you talk about who you play in the film and are you excited to be in this huge movie?

Cranston: Very excited. I liked the script first and foremost. That’s why I went in to meet with Andrew. And then his infectious enthusiasm for the movie and for characters and it just….I caught his bug. And I said, yes, so I’ll be a part of it. I’ll do whatever you want me to do. And so I play, during the Civil War America time….this story takes place part-time Civil War America and Mars, which has no time. So my character is a Northern Colonel who is dogging John Carter to be a part of the government. We need his help. He’s an excellent tracker and marksman and that sort of thing. And in the Arizona Territories, the Apaches are running wild, so I need his help and he won't do it. He doesn't want to have anything to do with anything. His family was obliterated during the War. It was horrible and he wants to be a part of no man's government. So I keep after him and keep after him and track him down and have a conversation with him and have to use some physical force on him and he keeps breaking out and I keep tracking him down. And finally we end up in a cave and in this cave are some magical things that happen.  And that transports him and it's really quite fascinating and I look forward to it.

Collider: I'm so excited for this movie. Andrew's first live-action. You're on hiatus now and you're filming… now you just did the one week on John Carter, does that mean you're wrapped?

Cranston: No, I have 2 more weeks to go.  We'll pick that up in Utah in April.

Another Disney Mars Adventure  Disney will be spending quite a bit of time on Mars in the coming years. They've announced a release for the animated  Mars Needs Moms about a boy who travels to Mars to rescue his kidnapped mother. The first of its Martian riddled films, Mom, is slated for release on March 11, 2011, which will be about a year before John Carter. The film will be put together much in the same vein as The Polar Express which required polarized glasses for viewing.

Phil Collins to receive Songwriters Hall of Fame's Johnny Mercer Award  Examiner.com ~ March 10, 2010
Phil Collins will receive the prestigious Johnny Mercer Award at the annual Songwriters Hall of Fame induction dinner on June 17 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York. "Phil has churned out a massive stream of classic songs that have resonated with audiences around the globe in a career that has won him admiration beyond cultural and linguistic boundaries," said the Hall’s chairman/CEO Hal David. "In our professional community, he is among the most respected musical creators of our generation."

The Johnny Mercer Award is the highest honor bestowed by the Songwriters Hall of Fame. It is exclusively reserved for a songwriter who has already been inducted in a prior year, and whose body of work is of such high quality and impact, that it upholds the gold standard set by the legendary Johnny Mercer. 

Collins was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2003, on the strength of such big hits as "In the Air Tonight," "Against All Odds," "Another Day In Paradise," "Sussudio" and "Two Hearts." "You'll Be In My Heart" from the movie Tarzan won a Golden Globe, Oscar and Grammy. On March 15, Collins will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with his band Genesis. He is currently working on an album of Motown cover songs.

 

Ciaran Hinds (Tardos Mors) talks John Carter

Steve "Frosty" Weintraub interviewed Ciaran Hinds for The Collider ~ February 25, 2010
Ciaran Hinds recently discussed his invovement with the upcoming Harry Potter and John Carter of Mars films. He plays Tardos Mors. Stanton was impressed by the imperial power that Hinds displayed in the film Rome. Hinds was impressed with Stanton and by the imagination and action in the John Carter script --  he describes it as bizarre and being full of wit, energy and drive. He has done his scenes in London but is scheduled for a day of shooting when the production moves to Utah. He suspects that Stanton will take the film in a whole new direction from Avatar. 

Have you shot John Carter of Mars yet?

Ciarán Hinds: They are shooting it at the moment. I have a small role in that. I have already shot on it for a couple of days. Then I go back to the set in March to shot for another six or eight days. I'm playing Tardos Mors, one of the leaders of Mars. I am the father of the female protagonist. She is played by Lynn Collins. Andrew Stanton is directing it. He shot Finding Nemo and Wall-E. Those wonderful films. He came to see a play that I was in at the National Theater in London. He had thought of me to play one kind of leader on Mars. It was a thrill to meet him knowing he'd made these classic films. Then he cast me in his next movie. Which has been great. He knows all about animation and computer generated effects. Now he is making a live-action film. I think it is a huge adventure for him. Goodness knows, the conundrums of actually making the film? I don't know about that stuff. It's just a great honor to be in it. To have him want me there.

Is it an all-green screen set? With everything being added in later?

Ciarán Hinds: Apparently so. It is very, very green. They have me off on another adventure in the film that I don't quite understand. And I hope I am of some use to Mr. Stanton.

More at Movie Web

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James Purefoy (Kantos Kan) discusses John Carter of Mars An excerpt from a Total Film interview with James Purefoy, star of the upcoming Solomon Kane. In it he discusses Kane as well as John Carter Of Mars
. . .
T: How is John Carter Of Mars going? 
P: It’s a great project. Huge. There aren’t many bona fide geniuses working in our industry but Andrew Stanton is one of them… Wall-E and Finding Nemo are extraordinary. If you only look at him in terms of his storytelling skills, that’s enough – and on top of that, look at the beauty, the soul, the heart he puts into those films. It’s staggering what he achieves. Funnily enough, I don’t have much to do in the first film. I’ve taken this basically because they’ve said, “Your part gets bigger and bigger as the films go on.” 

T: You’re playing a Red Martian named Kantos Kan, right? 
P: Yes, he’s a fighter pilot. He’s the captain of a massive naval airship so in the first film, I do a little bit of steering, a little bit of rescuing, shit like that. He’s quite flash, he has a few jokes – he’s like a naughty, sexy uncle. That’s the way I’ve been told to play it. 

T: Are you wearing a costume or a mocap suit? 
P: It’s not mocap with us [the Red Martians]. We’re humanoid, we’re in costumes, but there are other actors who are playing pure mocap characters. It's hard to talk about it because I don't really know what it's going to look like. So much of it is in Andrew's head and with his designers. We're on a real set but it’s surrounded by green screen so there’s going to be stuff out there that I have no idea what it is but I know it will be extraordinary. 

T: How would you describe your costume? 
P: Armour. [Laughs] It looks cool. It’s very Dan Dare. 

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Another Purefoy Interview ~ with Film News film news: John Carter of Mars is another pulp movie based on a novel. How far along is that in development?

James Purefoy: We're shooting. I shot two days last week. It's going to be gigantic. 

film news: How has the success of Avatar affected it so far? 

James Purefoy: Well, it's a weird world they're creating in John Carter. It's not nearly as hi-tech. In the books, the ships that they use are powered by solar tails. So, that's a very different kind of thing, as opposed to rocket power. We don't have that level of technology; we have Martian technology on John Carter. 

I don't know what it's going to look like. It's all on a green screen.I'm reacting to stuff that Andrew is telling me. There's also some motion capture. But I don't really know, to be honest. I'm there at the studio, there's a set and beyond that it's green screen. So, it's a mixture. You have real people and then there's mo-cap, and then there's models and puppets. I loved District 9 and the mixture of what they managed to do with mo-cap and puppets and models and any available technology they could get to create that world... it was fantastic. Why Sharlto Copley wasn't nominated for an Oscar this year I'll never know. It was a genius performance. You could not see where it began and ended. I loved how my sympathy went towards him without knowing why it happened. 

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Utah draws production of a major film
The Denver Post ~ February 9, 2009
The strange geology of Arches National Park helped Walt Disney Studios decide on Moab as a site for filming "A Princess of Mars," based on a science- fiction story written in 1912. Thanks to a century-old sci-fi novel and a modern-day rebate, Utah is looking forward to an out-of-this-world economic boost of $60 million and about 400 temporary jobs this spring.

Walt Disney Studios scouted locations in southwest Colorado last summer for the upcoming film production of "A Princess of Mars," but ultimately chose the red rocks and white sands around Moab and the strange geology southwest of Lake Powell to make what will be the largest-budget movie ever filmed in Utah. Hopeful actors, extras and crew members are swamping the Moab to Monument Valley Film Commission with resumes. Hotels are looking forward to full houses. Restaurants, caterers, rental agencies, animal wranglers and other businesses are anticipating a film windfall. About $10 million of the $60 million that will be spent in Utah will go into coffers in Grand County. Filming of the movie has begun in London and will move to Utah in the spring. More>>>

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Disney plans to film new movie in Lake Powell area
Lake Powell Chronicle ~ February 2, 2010

BIG WATER – Barsoom Pictures is setting up camp in the Lake Powell area as it prepares to film the movie “John Carter of Mars” for Disney/Pixar this spring. According to the “John Carter of Mars” official casting call from spoilertv.com, the movie will be directed by Andrew Stanton and will star Taylor Kitsch as John Carter and Willem Dafoe as Tars Tarkas.

When looking for possible places to film, location scouts for Barsoom Pictures discovered the gray shale lining of the canyons near the Grand Escalante Staircase and envisioned the area as the perfect backdrop for depicting scenes from Mars.
 

Michael Giacchino to write the score
Recent Oscar winner Michael Giacchino -- the composer who nabbed a gold statue for his Up score -- will return to the Disney fold when he handles the music for the currently shooting John Carter of Mars. His work includes Lost, Star Trek, Alias, Mission Impossible III and Up just to name a few. He is noted for mixing romance and excitement flawlessly, much like his mentor John Williams.

 
Disney Movie Jobs in Moab
MoabLife.com ~ January 15, 2010
Beginning in April, Disney Studios will film the science-fiction fantasy movie “John Carter of Mars” (also known as "A princess of Mars") in the Moab area. Preliminary work already is under way in London. Disney crew members scouted the world for a location resembling the reddish planet Mars. Film crews have been in Moab for more than a year, said Tara Penner, director of the Moab to Monument Valley Movie Commission.

The Disney cast and crew could pump nearly $60 million into the Moab-area economy during filming, which likely will take several months. In addition to filming the movie in eastern Utah, Disney plans to hire nearly 400 people to help with the movie in areas such as construction, security, and production and location assistance. Preference in hiring will be given to Utah residents, but residents from Western Colorado could be considered for jobs. People interested should immediately send a resume detailing previous movie experience to tara@moabcity.org.

For more details about the kind of jobs needed for the movie production, go to www.moabcity.org/filmcommission/production_directory.html.

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Also. . . from Uni-versal Extras
"I am or I look Mediterranean: For the all action feature film John Carter of Mars we are starting to cast men and women of all ages who look Mediterranean for a variety or roles!"

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Rock Doc lends helping hand on Disney blockbuster 
YourThanetNews.com ~ January 25, 2010
http://www.yourthanet.co.uk/kent-news/Rock-Doc-lends-helping-hand-on-Disney-blockbuster--newsinkent32136.aspx?news=local
Hollywood giant Pixar has called on a Cliftonville couple to help it shoot its next blockbuster. Alasdair Bruce and his wife Kim, aka the Rock Doc team, have been advising the film crew working on John Carter of Mars, which is based on the books of Edgar Rice Burroughs. They helped out at one of the sets, a quarry in Dorset.

Director Andrew Stanton, who made some of Pixar’s best-received films such as Toy Story, Wall-E and Finding Nemo, is behind the movie. The film’s producers were keen to have the pair on set so Mr Stanton could call on their rocky knowledge and expertise in geology. They helped make sure that no damage was done to the site or to those working on location.

Dr Bruce said: “We were asked back while they did the filming to make sure all was well because it’s quite a dangerous place. 
There are a lot of loose pieces of rock and our job was to make sure no one went where they shouldn’t have been. It was health and safety meets geology, really, but good fun.”

The couple were asked to put together a report for the film but later asked along on location because of the nature of the site, which is a visually stunning spot that has been used for such TV shows such as Doctor Who, Torchwood and Blake’s Seven. “It was a very interesting experience,” said Dr Bruce. “The film has aliens called the Tharks and features Willem Defoe, among others, so perhaps we will meet some of the stars at some stage.  “It was tricky this time, though, as much of it is being done in CGI. The crew were eager to re-create the rocky landscape of Mars, called Barsoom in the Rice Borroughs (sic) books, as best they could. The film will mix live action and animation and is set to hit cinema screens in 2012.

This filming location is in the Winspit Quarry caves in Dorset, England. Quite likely this is for some of the earlier scenes where John Carter is being chased by Apache Indians and ends up in a mysterious cave. That is the starting point for him being transported to Mars. 

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Edgar Rice Burroughs Gets a 'John Carter' Cameo
January 18, 2010
Disney released an official statement today that announced some intriguing additions to the cast and crew. Ciaran Hinds has been added in an unknown part, and Disney proto-talent Daryl Sabara has been cast as a teenage Edgar Rice Burroughs. 

John Carter travels back to Earth, where he narrates his adventures to Burroughs, who's his nephew. Young Burroughs grows up to become the famous pulp author. The use of a narrator makes sense since the Mars books are all in first person and are quite detail oriented. 

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WALT DISNEY PICTURES' "JOHN CARTER OF MARS" 
BEGINS PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY IN LONDON
BURBANK, Calif. (January 15, 2010) - Principal photography is underway in London for Walt Disney Pictures' "JOHN CARTER OF MARS." Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Andrew Stanton brings this captivating hero to the big screen in a stunning adventure epic set on the wounded planet of Mars, a world inhabited by warrior tribes and exotic desert beings. Based on the first of Edgar Rice Burroughs' "Barsoom Series," the film chronicles the journey of Civil-War veteran John Carter, who finds himself battling a new and mysterious war amidst a host of strange Martian inhabitants. 

Produced for Walt Disney Pictures by Jim Morris ("WALL•E," "Ratatouille") and Colin Wilson ("Avatar," "War of the Worlds"), the live action/animation film marks Academy Award®-winning director/writer Andrew Stanton's ("Finding Nemo," "WALL•E") first foray into live action. Stanton directed and co-wrote the screenplay for Disney•Pixar's "WALL•E," which earned the Academy Award and Golden Globe® for Best Animated Feature (2008); Stanton was nominated for an Oscar® for the screenplay. 

"I have been waiting my whole life to see the characters and worlds of 'John Carter of Mars' realized on the big screen," says Stanton. "It is just a wonderful bonus that I have anything to do with it."

The stellar ensemble cast is led by Taylor Kitsch (NBC'S "Friday Night Lights", "X-Men Origins: Wolverine") in the title role, Lynn Collins ("50 First Dates," "X-Men Origins: Wolverine") as the warrior princess Dejah Thoris and Oscar® nominee Willem Dafoe ("Spider-Man 3," "Shadow of a Vampire") as Martian inhabitant Tars Tarkas. The cast also includes Thomas Haden Church ("Sideways," Spider-Man 3), Polly Walker (upcoming "Clash of the Titans," "Patriot Games"), Samantha Morton ("Elizabeth: The Golden Age," "In America"), Mark Strong ("Sherlock Holmes," "Body of Lies"), Ciaran Hinds ("Munich," "There Will Be Blood"), British actor Dominic West ("300," "Chicago"), James Purefoy ("Vanity Fair," "Resident Evil") and Bryan Cranston ("Breaking Bad"). Daryl Sabara ("Disney's A Christmas Carol," "Spy Kids") takes the role of John Carter's teenaged nephew, Edgar Rice Burroughs.

The creative team includes Oscar®-nominated production designer Nathan Crowley ("Public Enemies," "The Dark Knight," "Batman Begins"), costume designer Mayes Rubeo ("Avatar," "Apocalypto"), cinematographer Daniel Mindel ("Star Trek," "Mission Impossible III," "Spygame") and video effects supervisor Peter Chiang ("The Reader," "The Bourne Ultimatum").

 
 

Bryan Cranston heading to 'Mars'
January 13, 2010

 "Breaking Bad" star Bryan Cranston has joined the cast of Walt Disney's "John Carter of Mars" which goes before cameras next week. 

Cranston plays a Civil War colonel who comes into conflict with Carter. 

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Avatar Screenplay Available for Free Download from Fox
Fox Studios has made James Cameron’s original Avatar Screenplay available for free download online.  There are some pretty substantial differences, at least at the beginning, from the version that is playing in theaters.   The screenplay, for example, features a number of scenes building up Jake Sully’s backstory a bit more.  DOWNLOAD HERE: 

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Becoming a giant green alien in John Carter of Mars
SciFi Wire
Polly Walker, who will soon co-star in Syfy's upcoming Caprica, will also appear in the live-action film adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars series, and she let us in on her preparations for the role of a four-armed, 900-year-old. giant green Martian "Thark."

"I'm going to Thark camp, so I'm going to find out," Walker said in an exclusive interview in Pasadena, Calif., on Sunday, where she was promoting Caprica. "I only start next week. I can't wait. I've got to learn the whole physicality of it. I suppose they're creating that kind of world, so I'm going to find out, but it should be cool."
"It's going to be amazing," Walker said. "I'm like a 9-and-a-half-foot green alien. She's sort of the queen bee of the tribe, and she's incredibly tough." Walker expects that part of Thark boot camp will involve learning the technical process that will transform her into Sarkoja. "I think, apart from Thark camp, I have to go be stilt-walking and things like that," Walker said. "So it's a physical process."

So far, Walker has not read any of the John Carter books yet, but she plans to before filming. "To be honest, I've not had an opportunity, just because I've been so entrenched in [Caprica], but I'm going to do my homework when I go over there, because it's iconic, isn't it?" The British actor may also have to modify her voice to play a Thark. "I don't know what my Thark accent is yet. I'm going to work on that. I think there is going to be an accent there."

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Willem Dafoe Gears Up To Start Making John Carter
SciFi Soundtrack ~ January 6, 2010 What was the appeal in doing John Carter of Mars?
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.

Have you read the book?
I haven't but I'd read Princess of Mars, and I'll probably read some of the others.

Has Andrew talked to you about how they are going to film [your character's] four arms?
I saw him recently because we start in London, for studio stuff. I start next week... He showed me some samples, just so I can understand what I'm in for. Mostly about ideas about how they are going to film these creatures next to human beings. Because we do play the scenes, it's not like some people's fantasies where they put you in a room and they sample you and they go off and they do this computer magic, and no one ever plays a scene — it's not like that. We're going to play these scenes. He showed me the different variations of how they will shoot it, the kind of equipment I'll have to wear, the different times I won't have to wear certain kinds of equipment and all that.

Are you going to have to wear two extra prosthetic arms?
I'm not telling. And you know what, I can't talk that much about it, because I don't know yet. We don't even start shooting next week it's part of prep, I go to London and we do the things that we need to do to know how to start this project... I think officially production starts the 18th.

Will you be working on a special voice for the character?
We're always working on a special voice.

 

AVATAR: THE EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS CONNECTION

Director James Cameron credit ERB as a major influence and most of the rave reviews for this landmark cinema event also mention the Burroughs legacy and the debt owed to ERB's Mars, Tarzan, Venus and Earth's Core adventures. A few excerpted samples are featured below:

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Great Expectations
The director reveals how he got Fox to greenlight his $195 million technology-driven motion picture
EW.com | Jan 15, 2007
How did you come up with this story?
Well, my inspiration is every single science fiction book I read as a kid. And a few that weren't science fiction. The Edgar Rice Burroughs books, H. Rider Haggard — the manly, jungle adventure writers. I wanted to do an old fashioned jungle adventure, just set it on another planet, and play by those rules.

Your premise reminded me a lot of the Edgar Rice Burroughs John Carter, Warlord of Mars series.
It's definitely got that feeling, and I wanted to capture that feeling, but updated. To be certain, I wanted a film that could encompass all my interests, from biology, technology, the environment — a whole host of passions. But I've always had a fondness for those kind of science fiction/adventure stories, the male warrior in an exotic, alien land, overcoming physical challenges and confronting the fears of difference. Do we conquer? Exploit? Integrate? Avatar explores those issues.

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Avatar Entry in Wikipedia
"In 1994, director James Cameron wrote a 114-page scriptment for Avatar. Cameron said his inspiration was 'every single science fiction book I read as a kid', and that he was particularly striving to update the style of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter series."

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Hollywood North Report ~ June 25, 2009
Inspired by author Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter Of Mars fantasy book series, Avatar is set during the 22nd century on a small moon called 'Pandora', inhabited by the tribal 'Na'vi', ten foot blue humanoids that are peaceful unless attacked.

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New Yorker ~ October 26, 2009
“With ‘Avatar,’ I thought, Forget all these chick flicks and do a classic guys’ adventure movie, something in the Edgar Rice Burroughs mold, like John Carter of Mars—a soldier goes to Mars,"

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TAM: The American Muslim ~ December 26, 2009
Film Review:  Avatar, A Film for Your Inner Child 
Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Mars series is clearly a central inspiration, as is his Tarzan series. James Cameron’s decision to draw from classic, universally appealing source material is not a weakness, it’s a strength, and the familiarity of the story is because it is the classic hero’s journey, which has been told in nearly every conceivable form already in all cultures worldwide. Cameron created this story in his youth, when such ideas were new to him, and that youthful innocence shines forth throughout.. . .

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A monitoring of ongoing traditional media and Internet report will unearth a multitude of such references.

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See more at our ERB / Avatar Connection Feature:
http://www.erbzine.com/mag30/3038.html

Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. vigorously enforces and defends its rights in the Tarzan character and stories.  In 2003, for example, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the trial court's decision in ERB's favor that two Tarzan books published in 1972 and 1976 illustrated by artist Burne Hogarth are works for hire owned by ERB, notwithstanding erroneous registrations stating that Hogarth was the author of the works. 

The district court initially sanctioned ERB's adversaries and their counsel, though the court later vacated the sanctions on the condition that ERB be reimbursed for certain of its attorneys' fees that had been the subject of the sanctions motion.