On June 20th, I flew to San Francisco to visit Barsoom Studios, in an office building minutes sown the road from Pixar Animation Studios, to see the first footage from John Carter, a big screen adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ classic sci-fi novel A Princess of Mars.
In a screening room, Finding Nemo/Wall-E director Andrew Stanton gave us a powerpoint presentation explaining why and how he became involved in the project, and the unique methods they used to “shoot” the film (you can read a transcript of Andrew’s complete presentation and Q&A elsewhere on /Film). We screened a couple scenes from the movie, and the teaser trailer which will be attached to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II (expect to see it online on Thursday, July 14th).
After the jump you can read my brief thoughts, followed by a video blog I recorded with Frosty from Collider (who admits he knows nothing about the source material) and Eric Vespe (better known as Quint from Ain’t It Cool, who knows way way way more than I will ever know about the source material). So we have a good spread of opinions based on a wide range of expectations and knowledge of the source material.
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Michael Chabon has now officially been tasked with bringing Disneyland to life in the upcoming Jon Favreau-directed film Magic Kingdom. A few months ago, it was rumored that Chabon, the author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay and screenwriter of Spider-Man 2 and the upcoming John Carter, would be writing the film, described as Night at the Museum set at Disneyland. Now those rumors have proven to be true. Chabon will write, Favreau will direct and work is already well underway. After the jump, read more about Magic Kingdom including Favreau’s thoughts on the responsibility of dramatizing the Disney characters, the film’s tone and some late night trips he’s been taking in preparation. Read More »
If you were bummed out when Darren Aronofsky left the directorial chair for The Wolverine, you weren’t alone. One of the reasons that I was sad to see him skip out of the job, beyond the fact that I thought he would actually make a very good Wolverine film, was that I’ve really wanted to see what he would do with some pulpy or seriously genre-iffic material. His movies have always suggested that, if let loose with some material rich with fantasy/sci-fi or supernatural overtones, he might produce something genre fans could really chew on.
Enter Hobgoblin. That is the HBO series being developed by Michael Chabon and his wife Ayelet Waldman, which features Nazi-busting con men and magicians during WWII. Hopefully Darren Aronofsky can really let his genre nerd flag fly with this one, as he’s now lined up to direct the pilot. Read More »
Last year, Jon Favreau walked away from the Iron Man franchise, allowing Marvel to pass that torch to Shane Black, and took up instead with Disney. At the Mouse House, Mr. Favreau will direct the big-budget film Magic Kingdom, which has been described in basic terms as essentially Night at the Museum in Disneyland.
The original script for the film was written by Ron Moore (Battlestar Galactica), but now rewrite chores may pass to Pulitzer-winning author/screenwriter Michael Chabon (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, Spider-Man 2). Read More »
Michael Chabon is a literary star (The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, The Yiddish Policeman’s Union) whose novels have mostly managed to escape adaptation to film. Both those novels I cited have been in development, but have yet to yield a film. Wonder Boys is the only prominent adaptation, though Mr. Chabon’s first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, got a little-seen adaptation a few years back. (Which, frankly, I’d forgotten even existed. Time to queue that one.)
He’s been more visible as a screenwriter than as an author whose novels are adapted, with credits on Spider-Man 2 and forthcoming films John Carter of Mars; 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea; and Snow and the Seven. Now Michael Chabon and his wife Ayelet Waldman have set up a project called Hobgoblin at HBO. It is an original series that will feature magicians, con men and Hitler. Wait, run that by me again? Read More »
The actors who play the characters in John Carter of Mars have long since left the Red Planet but Oscar-winning director Andrew Stanton is still hard at work. The Disney/Pixar sci-fi action film based on the books by Edgar Rice Burroughs is scheduled for release March 12, 2012 and Stanton recently gave a few updates as to what we can expect the film to look like, how much more work has to be done and more. Watch a video and read the quotes after the jump. Read More »
After many years in development, it appears that John Carter of Mars is gearing up to begin production. As you know by now, Finding Nemo and WALL-E director Andrew Stanton will be making his live action feature debut with an adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ 1917 sci-fi fantasy novel A Princess of Mars. KLS is reporting that Disney has signed a deal to shoot part of the film in Utah. After the jump I also have exclusive info that Tom Cruise was circling the project for a short period of time.
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For those who thought my asinine TWBB rant was insanely lowbrow, here’s a bit of high brow genre fare to level out the horror. Toasted author Michael Chabon‘s unused screenplay for Spider-Man 2 is now online over at McSweeney’s as a PDF. Grab it here, and do so quick because the site says it will only be up for a short duration. You may recall that Chabon received a writing credit on the second and top Spider-Man film, but his screenplay has never been made public until now. Good deal.
Discuss: Peter and I haven’t had a chance to read it, but if you’re playing hookie, don’t feel like working or simply don’t “get” the job thing, write a mini-review of the script in the comments! Appreciated.
