Speaking of Pixar, you may recall my enthusiasm a while back at the news that Pixar — the one movie studio these days that’s consistently turning out genuine movies, as opposed to unsatisfying exercises in spectacle and marketing — is developing a trilogy based on the pulp-tastic “Martian tales” of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Well, I’ve been accumulating little tidbits of news about the project for the past several months, and it’s time to perform an infodump for any of my readers who may be interested. The last item should be particularly exciting for my fellow Utahns, if that’s any incentive to click through…

• First, it appears that at least the opening film in the series, John Carter of Mars, will be directed by Andrew Stanton, who was at the helm for two of Pixar’s strongest efforts, Finding Nemo and WALL-E. Although it might’ve been interesting to see what Brad Bird (The Incredibles) would’ve made of this material, I think Stanton is a strong choice. The Girlfriend pointed out that he’s directed only animated films in the past, so working in a live-action situation may present a challenge for him. However, I think a strong creative vision is important for a project like this, and WALL-E and certain scenes in Nemo demonstrated that Stanton knows how to evoke the all-important sense of wonder that so many recent sci-fi flicks have been lacking. You need a director who can do that in order to make Burroughs’ sprawling, imaginative world of Barsoom — the native name for Mars — really work. I’m confident Stanton is a good man for this job.
• In another development that sets my nerd-sense a-tingle, it was reported in April that Michael Chabon was doing “some revisions to an already strong script by Andrew Stanton and Mark Andrews.” Chabon, if you’re not familiar with him, won the Pulitizer Prize for his glorious love-letter to superhero comics, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. He’s a rare hybrid, a smart, literary novelist who writes well-respected fiction but who also gets comic books and pulp and so-called “low culture.” He loves the same crap all of us aging fanboys do, and he’s not afraid to express his affection for it, while also reinterpreting and being intelligently critical (in the academic sense) of it. With him on board, I’m hopeful the dialogue of Pixar’s John Carter may actually resemble the admittedly stilted and old-fashioned language of Burroughs while still being contemporary enough not to sound ridiculous. A happy balance, in other words, between the original source material and something actors can actually say, with no painful anachronisms or self-conscious camp. At least that’s what I’d like to see.
• More recently — just last week, in fact — the news went out that the movie’s leads have been cast. Taylor Kitsch, last seen in a brief appearance as Gambit in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, will portray John Carter, and Lynn Collins, also a veteran of Wolverine, is his true love, Dejah Thoris, Princess of the great Barsoomian city-state of Helium.
  I liked Kitsch’s take on Gambit and while he strikes me as being a little young — Carter is effectively immortal but has the appearance of being about 30, while Kitsch definitely looks to be in his early twenties to me — I think he’ll work out just fine. He’s certainly got the physique to play a “clean-limbed fighting man of Virginia” who (in the original source anyway) spends much of the story naked.
  I’m a little more uncertain about Lynn Collins. She’s an attractive woman, but frankly doesn’t do much for me. She certainly doesn’t live up to my definition of “incomparable,” the descriptor often associated with Dejah Thoris. Maybe my personal vision of Dejah has been too heavily influenced by Frazetta’s take on the character, but Collins is neither exotic nor, ahem, rounded enough, in my opinion. But then I really can’t think of any actress currently working who would fit the bill. Dejah Thoris is one of those ideals that’s very hard for a real flesh-and-blood woman to measure up to. Maybe Collins will surprise me…

• Moving on, here’s the item that I promised would be of interest to my local readers: about half of John Carter is going to be shot right here in our home state. The article I linked is probably about to vanish behind the Tribune‘s lame archive wall, so here’s the salient info:
  

  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. … “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.
  [Disney/Pixar] is scheduled to shoot in Utah for 45 days.

  This is extremely good news for Utah’s film industry, and the state economy in general. A lot of movies and TV series are filmed here, in part because of our proximity to LA, and also because the state’s diverse and often bizarre landscape can double for just about any place, but it’s a feast-or-famine thing, and my understanding is that belts have been pretty tight the last couple of years. Well, Utah film-folk, get ready for some turkey and stuffing:

  According to a GOED executive summary, the filmmakers are committed to spend $27.7 million in the state and employ 398 Utahns during the seven months of pre-production and shooting. In turn, the production would receive a $5.5 million tax credit under the state’s incentive program.

  Wow. Just… wow. That’s major, by Utah standards. I can’t express how excited I am that my home state has been chosen to bring Barsoom to life. For all bitching about cultural issues here, I’m proud of this place, and I always get a little rush when I recognize familiar locations up there on the silver screen, especially when it’s some spot that we locals tend to take for granted. (For example, the white desolation of the Bonneville Salt Flats — which for many Salt Lakers is simply a landmark on the way to the casinos in Wendover, Nevada — was used to depict Captain Jack Sparrow’s personal hell in Pirates of the Caribbean 3.)
  The Utah-based work on Carter is scheduled fro run from November through July.

And that’s that for now. Have a good Saturday, everyone…