So, this would seem to be the day for Jon Favreau projects gathering pace – not only has Gwyneth Paltrow signed onto Iron Man, but John Carter Of Mars, the movie Favs put on hold in order to make the Marvel film, is about to up sticks and move to Disney.
A spin-off from ER, where Noah Wyle’s character discovers a portal in time and space tucked away just behind the ICU and finds himself stranded on Mars, with only his wits, a rusty scalpel and that big hulk, Jerry, for company, John Carter Of Mars is… what’s that? Oh, it would seem that it’s actually based on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ series of books about a Civil War veteran who escapes some Apaches by heading into a cave… whereupon he is transported to Mars (or Barsoom, to be precise), and taken captive by big green men. Thankfully, the alien atmosphere imbues him with incredible powers and he goes on a crash course in Arse Kicking (Advanced) and Becoming Really Cool (Intermediate).
A project with enormous geek credentials, John Carter Of Mars has nevertheless had a troubled development that stretches back many, many years, with talk of animated versions (with Burroughs himself on board), an epic called A Princess Of Mars with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, and a Robert Rodriguez version all coming to naught. Rodriguez got the closest, but had to leave the project after that set-to with the Directors’ Guild of America over Frank Miller’s credit on Sin City.
After Rodriguez, Sky Captain’s Kerry Conran boarded the project, but just as quickly left again, paving the way for self-confessed Carter fan, Favreau. All looked set fair until, once again, budgetary issues reared their ugly head and he moved onto the much more secure Iron Man. Now, though, Paramount’s option has expired, and Disney are in talks with Burroughs’ estate to pick up the rights to the books, with a view to turning it into a franchise. Well, they have to replace the outgoing Pirates Of The Caribbean with something, don’t they?
At the moment, there’s no mention of involvement from the movie’s producers Jim Jacks and Sean Daniel, while Favs’ name is also inconspicuous by its absence. Presumably his Iron Man duties forbid him from being able to handle Carter as well… so it would seem our opening sentence may be slightly erroneous. Don’t you hate it when that happens?