James Purefoy and Mark Strong Join Disney’s John Carter of Mars
We have been keeping our eye on Disney’s production of John Carter of Mars, their adaptation of the classic novel from Edgar Rice Burroughs. Now there has been 2 more gentlemen cast in the film and that is Sherlock Holmes‘ villain, Mark Strong and Solomon Kane’s, James Purefoy. They have both joined the cast of the Andrew Stanton directed feature.
Created by Burroughs, John Carter first appeared in 1911’s A Princess of Mars, the first Burroughs novel set on the fictionalized version of Mars. Carter encounters both formidable alien creatures resembling the beasts of ancient myth and various humanoids and finds his true calling in life as a warrior-savior of the planet’s inhabitants. He wins the hand of Martian princess Dejah Thoris of Helium.
Thomas Hayden Church is now official - he was rumored to be in the film back in June when it was announced that Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins would be in the movie as the two leads. Others cast in the film are Polly Walker, Dominic West, Samantha Morton and Willem Dafoe.
Kitsch will portray the title character, John Carter, a Civil War veteran who somehow gets transported to Mars and finds himself between a war on the dying planet and Collins will portray Dejah Thoris, the heir to the throne of Mars’ Hellium Kingdom. Dafoe will portray Tars Tarkas, the leader of the Thark race, who believes they must avoid war to survive. Morton will play the role of Sola. She is the daughter of Dafoe’s Tarkas. West will play Sab Than the Prince of the Zodangans and he believes he is entitled to rule Mars. Walker plays the role of Sarkoja. She is domineering Thark. Church plays Tal Hajus, an ambitious and vicious Thark warrior who is biding his time to be a ruler. Purefoy plays Kantos Kan, the captain of the Xavarian, the kingdom of Helium’s grand warship. Strong is Matai Shang, the ruler of the Thems with godlike status.
Now I have no idea any of those character with the exception of the John Carter character. The movie sounds cool. I mentioned that I have read bits and pieces of Burrough’s books before but do not remember enough to make sense of the characters but that is okay because Disney rarely disappoints and this is sure to be an epic film with a great cast. The film is scheduled to be released sometime in 2012.
