Okay, Mr. Haden Church, but can you play a bad guy…in space?!
ComingSoon had news this weekend about the “John Carter of Mars” cast. Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins are confirmed, and Thomas Church has hinted that he’s on board.
“Carter,” as you no doubt remember, is based on a series of early twentieth century novels by sci-fi pioneer Edgar Rice Burrows. ComingSoon says: “Kitsch will play the title character, a damaged Civil War veteran who finds himself mysteriously transported to Mars where his involvements with warring raced of the dying planet force him to rediscover his humanity. Collins will play Dejah Thoris, the heir to the throne of Mars’ Helium kingdom.”
Haden Church seems to be more in the “considering” stage. He told Jeffrey Lyons of syndicated show “Reel Talk” that he is “…probably going to do a huge science fiction drama at Disney called ‘John Carter of Mars’ and that’s a very dramatic role.” His description of the part as a “very dramatic role” led CS to speculate that he’d be playing the villain. That’s fine with me–his turn as Sandman in “Spider-Man 3″ was probably the best part of the movie. Awww…who am I kidding? I always think Haden Church is the best part of anything he’s in.
Andrew (“Wall*E”) Stanton is directing and wrote a draft of the screenplay with Mark Andrews. Michael Chabon has also done some rewrites on the script, so that’s bringing in the big prestige writer guns. Disney/Pixar obviously is hoping to knock the first film out of the park and establish a franchise.
