Just saw this and thought, hey, some news for the fine folks of the T-Forums:
"John Carter of Mars: Variety reports that Paramount Pictures has acquired the rights to the sci-fi adventure novels by the late Edgar Rice Burroughs ("Tarzan of the Apes"). Producers Jim Jacks and Sean Daniels ("The Mummy") plan to turn three of the best known books (starting with "A Princess of Mars") into what they hope will be a trilogy along LOTR and SW lines "but were impossible to make before, because CGI (technology) wasn't there". This comes after the property had bee sitting over at Disney for ten years without moving. The story of the first novel follows an American Civil War veteran who finds himself transported to a Mars populated by various creatures including giant green men."
Now, lets hope they use Frank Frazetta's art for the paperback as the poster!
As a kid I enjoyed John Carter. My main concern is can they make the four armed men realistic enough? The troll in Lord of the rings was great, but it still lacked realism and almost broke the scene.
Discuss? Are you veclempt(I have no clue how to spell that one!)? just kiddin. I liked the Carter of Mars ones, and Burroughs was a bloody genious. I like the Carson of Venus series even better. But i agree w/ Fred, the cgi looks just as corny to me as the old blue screen cut&paste or the stop-start jumpy motion of years passed. but, everybody else seems to think it is the greatest thing since sliced bread, so who am i to judge?
There are a some FX wizards out there who will be, more than likely, the ones to be considered for this “project”. Stan Winston - who has shown us his mastery in Terminator 1&2 and Aliens. And showed he’s still got “it” in Galaxy Quest. The “baddie” alien guys in that movie were wonderful, expert and very believable creations of makeup FX art. I believe Stan’s team to be the best in creating the four arm green alien men for John Carter.
Rick Baker, who won the First Ever Best Makeup Oscar for the brilliant An American Werewolf in London. While the "reimagining" version of Planet of the Apes sucked - his makeup FX was a visual wonder. Wow.
WETA Studios. The masters behind Lord of the Rings: Fellowship. The Orcs makeup alone was a splendor to see. They have made Industrial Light and Magic kinda shakey in the boots now. WETA combines makeup, models and CGI to create the visuals. Amazing stuff. Don't you think they'd be perfect to bring to life a Martian landscape?
Possibility: James Cameron's team, Digital Domain. They're pretty responsible for creating the CGI boom in cinema (with The Abyss and T2). Be interesting to see what else they have up their sleeves.
Okay, yes, alot of the CGI we've seen have been utter dreck. But there has been glimpses of CGI brilliance. Gollum's gleaming eyes in the dark in Fellowship of the Rings. Or his twisting, moving body. That's amazing CGI, folks. Some of the fight scenes in Blade2 combined live action w/CGI. Not bad. Yes, we KNOW CGI when we see it. Because we KNOW that it is not possible for a man, dressed in a red/blue spidey suit, to be swinging above the streets of a city by a web. We know there's no such thing as a Balrog - we know it's CGI.
CGI is definitely, a evolving technology. And has been greatly abused - but now, I believe the film makers are going to be a little more "smart" in how they incoporate CGI in their movies. Interesting times ahead for all of us movie geeks, fer sure.
Paramount is totally intending for this to be their next big franchise. They would like filming to begin next year.
Names that have been thrown about to portray John Carter? The Rock - except Dwayne (his real name) needs to be able to portray a Southern Civil War soldier transported to Mars. Hmmm. So, that was dropped. Next: Mathew Macaugnahy (sp?). My opinion, good choice. Good actor, has a certain Southern charm about him and can be studly looking. Next: Hugh Jackman. Question,is, does Wolverine want to be in another comic book-like movie? Next: Marc Dacascos. I'm skeptical on this one. But, if you're familiar with Frank Frazetta's John Carter, Marc may be a good choice. Next: Thomas Jane. Remember him from Deep Blue Sea and currently in that Cameron Diaz comedy? Good actor, just dye his hair dark brown/black. He'd smolder in the role. Now, Kurt Russell's name was brought up - but the "he's too old" kept popping up.
Possible directors: Sam Raimi (yeah!), Alex Proyas (The Crow, Dark City -another, yeah!), Frank Durabont(Shawnshank Redemption...hmmmm). With this list, this means Paramont does indeed want a faithful adaptation of the novel. My personal choice would be Alex Proyas. He's phenomenal, in my book.
T-Peoples, I'm done. Gotta do some art now. Patricia ;-)