http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2012/02/22/john-carter-director-andrew-stanton-credits-fandom-for-films-release/
It had to take something really special to get Andrew Stanton to make the jump from animated films to live action. The man best known for his work on “Wall-E,” “Finding Nemo” and “A Bug’s Life” makes his debut as a (mostly) live-action director with “John Carter,” out March 9. It’s a pretty big change from what fans are used to seeing from him, and that’s because “John Carter” has been something of a passion project for him.
Stanton recently sat down with MTV News to talk about the upcoming release of the movie. It’s been a project that has been floating around Hollywood for a while now, as Edgar Rice Burroughs’s “Barsoom” series has been the inspiration for many other science fiction projects — like “Star Wars” and “Flash Gordon” — and deserved to get the big screen treatment as well. Stanton said that he felt that we are finally at a point when Hollywood is capable of doing John Carter’s story justice, and that is why he pushed to get the movie made now.
“The only reason that I’m attached to this thing and it got on to the screen is because of the fandom,” Stanton explained. “It was not a career move, it was not a filmmaker choice. If it takes my influence with Disney from other things to convince them this is a property that needs to get on to the screen, then fine, I’ll use it.”
Earlier I wrote that the movie was “mostly” live-action because it’s actually very CGI-heavy. From the Mars setting with its alien inhabitants to the giant beasts seen in some of the promotion for the film, Stanton said he had to use every dollar of his reported $ 250 million budget. And, if he’s to be believed, it’s well worth it.
“I think once you see the film, you’ll realize how big of a budget it is, it’s all on that screen. It’s a fully realized world with tons of history, tons of cities and characters and cultural things, and fantastical ideas. And all of them are part of what makes it attractive in the books, in the 11 books, and there’s just nothing cheap about it,” Stanton said.
He added, “I just don’t think technology could even do what you want to have put on the screen for most of the time Hollywood’s been around, and it’s only recently that you could possibly fit the economics of it into a box.”
Are you looking forward to seeing “John Carter”? Are you a fan of the books like Stanton? Tell us in the comments section below or on Twitter!
MTV Movies Blog
Read More
