Source:ComingSoon.net

June 12, 2009

We're not big fans of the idea of using Twitter as a journalistic tool, but it's hard to ignore when an actress like Lynn Collins, last seen as Silverfox in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, "tweets" something like:

"celebrating john carter of mars!!!!!!!"

Sure, she could be celebrating having finally gotten around to reading Edgar Rice Burroughs' classic series of fantasy/sci-fi novels about a Civil War vet from Virginia who ends up transplanted on Mars, where he has all sorts of adventures. We think she's talking about being cast in John Carter of Mars, the live-action movie based on those novels that's long been in development at Disney that will be helmed by Andrew Stanton, the Oscar-winning director of Pixar Animation's WALL•E and Finding Nemo from an adapted script by Michael Chabon (Spider-Man 2, "The Amazing Adventures of Cavalier and Klay"). It will be the first live-action movie directed by the Pixar vet, as well as the first live-action movie produced in conjunction with Pixar Animation.

Right now, it's just speculation, but if Collins' excited "tweet" proves this casting to be true then she could be playing Martian princess Dejah Thoris, the titular "A Princess of Mars" from Burroughs' first novel, which came out in 1911.

In related news, The Salt Lake Tribune reports that Disney•Pixar is scheduled to start shooting the film in November and will shoot in Utah for 45 days. Here's an excerpt from the article:

Disney and Pixar, makers of classic animated movies such as "Toy Story" and the recent hit "Up," are expected to partly film the pulp science-fiction adventure "John Carter of Mars" in Utah from November to July 2010.

Portions of the Beehive State will double as Mars, including Lake Powell (where the original "Planet of the Apes" was partially filmed), Moab, and Kane and Wayne counties.

In exchange for filming here, the production will receive a tax credit through the state's film incentive program. On Thursday, the Governor's Office of Economic Development board approved an application for the credit submitted by the movie's production company.

"It's the biggest movie we've ever used incentives on," said Utah Film Commission executive director Marshall Moore. "We haven't seen these kinds of numbers since doing a TV series for a year."

The San Rafael Swell already doubled as the planet Vulcan in this year's summer blockbuster "Star Trek," but second-unit crews only shot for four days in Utah.

A release date has not yet been set for the sci-fi action-adventure.