Stanton Reimagines ‘John Carter of Mars’
Pixar’s Andrew Stanton said that he and Mark Andrews are spending the rest of this year on the script adaptation to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ John Carter of Mars. The director told Sci FI Wire that their approach is more about taking what they recalled best from the epic science fiction tale rather than a literal translation.
"I’m going to do what I remember more than what they exactly do," Stanton told a group interview yesterday.
Pixar’s General Manager, Jim Morris, commented, "Everything that’s been out there has been an attempt to kind of capture this Deco-esque [Frank] Frazetta vision of John Carter, which I think feels old and stale. And where Stanton is going — from what we’ve seen so far — is very different than that. And I think that the people who really love the essence of the books will really dig it, but so will audiences in general."
As for the new look, Morris said, "John Carter is in its very early stages and there is much to figure out about that so we’d be premature. We are looking at a variety of different approaches and techniques for that … We’re kind of a bit early in the development of that.
"I’m sure I speak for all of the science fiction geeks, fans and aficionados when I say it’s finally time to see that movie. And I, for one, am delighted that Andrew Stanton is the guy that’s making the movie, because he’s a story-driven guy."
Despite an abandoned attempt by Disney to animate the story of a Civil War soldier somehow transported to Mars, the film has been repeatedly option for film but never getting in front of the cameras. The stories have been adapted for comic books throughout the years with interpretations from both DC Comics and Marvel Comics.
Actually, i think the usual images of the John Carter universe as much or more from the art of Roy G. Krenkel than by that of Frazetta – in fact, it appears to have been Krenkel who brought Frazetta into the ERB-illustrating field (scroll about halfway down the page to the paragraph next to the cover illo for At the World's Core). Also look here (bottom of page) for ink drawings he did for Canaveral Press's 1960's Burroughs editions.He was also, apparently "instrumental in the design of and was a contributor to the early issues of Jim Warren's Creepy and Eerie magazines (1964 and 1965). Some of those ground-breaking covers by Frazetta had their genesis in Krenkel sketches." (From the page linked above.)Krenkel's work is distinctive, if you know what to look for; while many of his stylistic quirks are similar to those of Frazetta, his characters' faces tend to a sort of cat-like quality – check out this cover for the 1967 Lancer paperback of George O Smith's Highways in Hiding.