Cinema Blend got on the phone today with actor Mark Strong (upcoming Sherlock Holmes and Robin Hood) and was able to learn more about his character in Andrew Stanton's John Carter of Mars.

It was previously announced that Strong would play Matai Shang, the ruler of the Thems with godlike status.

"There's some filming in Utah, but most of it is in a studio outside of London," Strong said. "My character doesn't actually get involved in any of the motion-capture stuff. All the stuff is live action. Although I can shift my shape, so I have to be photographed by a 360-degree camera. I can adapt into anything. That's going to be my particular talent."

The site asked what he can transform into, and Strong said that it's mostly other human beings.

Scheduled for a summer 2012 release, the adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' "A Princess of Mars" stars Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Willem Dafoe, Samantha Morton, Dominic West, Polly Walker, Thomas Haden Church, James Purefoy and Strong.