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John Carpenter's GHOSTS OF MARS is go!!!
Hey folks... Harry here. A few months back I had lunch with Sandy King (Carpenter's Producer and Wife... the King in STORMKING Productions) and Moriarty and we talked ever so briefly about GHOSTS OF MARS which I'm sure you have noticed hitting the trades today. At that point in time she was in the midst of securing some foreign money to make the package even more attractive to Columbia, plus set up a long term line of finance for John Carpenter to continue to make films to kick our asses.
Also at that time, John was still wrapping up the script... it wasn't quite finished... but the title... GHOSTS OF MARS was there. For me, it instantly conjured memories of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter series, though this has nothing to do with that. Also, she told me this was John's first original (non-sequel) script sense THEY LIVE (one of them uber-fucking-cool movies of yore). She was having trouble describing the film in the vaguest terms possible, but she kept coming back to the fact that it would be a 100% balls to the wall Carpenter film.
All I know is the plotline is sci-fi/thriller... it's set 200 years from now on Mars and has Martian ghosts. So that would mix in horror... as I instantly classify all ghost as being a sure fire 100% horror genre button. So it's a Sci-Fi/Thriller/Horror type a thing... and it's supposed to be wild.
Hopefully, I'll have more for you folks soon on this project. It looks like John is gonna start lensing around the same time Spielberg shoots MINORITY REPORT and Rodriguez starts on SPY KIDS.... so March is just one of them cool months I suppose...
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Yes, the title "Ghosts of Mars" does sound like it could be an adaptation of "The Martian Chronicles".
The SciFi channel showed the 1979 four-hour MC TV movie last summer. I remember seeing the first half of it when I was in high school and not liking it very much. Oddly enough, 20 years later it wasn't half bad. The visuals looked a little dated, but were done well given the technology available at the time. All in all, it seemed to be consistent with Bradbury's sensibilities. -
I'm not sure the above poster was trying to equate the two in terms of output, but should anyone be misguided enough to try it, consider this one small fact: Hooper has *one* good movie to his credit, and, yes, it's the one w/ the chainsaw (can't count POLTERGEIST, 'cause we all know who pulled his ass out of the fire on that one. Hint: his career was supposed to be in the hopper after HOOK and ALWAYS.) I'll admit that Carpenter hasn't been firing on all cylinders in quite some time, but you should never count a director of his caliber out. After all, people had Altman pegged as washed up (primarily because they were too shallow to appreciate films like VINCENT AND THEO,) and then he blew their asses out of the water w/ THE PLAYER. BTW, I noticed someone above mentioned the "puff" piece on Carpenter in Film Comment. While the article did feel a little overly laudatory, since it was coming on the heels of VAMPIRES, its basic thrust, that Carpenter is one of the few masters of the 2.35:1 aspect ratio left, was accurate.
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I fail to see the problem. After hundreds of timid, "hip" SCREAM rip-offs, finally a horror movie that was relentless, gory, and politically incorrect at every turn. A fast-moving, atmospheric horror adventure yarn, this was just the kick in the pants the genre needed. James Woods delivers yet another masterful performance, the Southwestern locations are used extremely well, and it has a cynical, macabre approach that's reminiscient of Sergio Leone. And the perpetually abused "padre" was one of the best running gags I've seen in a while.
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'Keep on kicking our asses??!!',Goddamn it Harry but you are one sorry ass-kisser.Village of the Damned doesn't even qualify as a bad movie of the week (or weak for that matter),Escape from LA was shit and looks like it was shot in a LA aquaduct w/ burning garbage and crappy matte work that ranks up there w/ the effects work on Herbie the Love bug.His casting at first glance resembles more of a table reading of people who woudn't make the cut on "Tales from the Darkside" episode let alone a "real" Hollywood film.My point...hack or maverick must be a very BROAD line in some people's books,because I gave up on JC years ago...as did the majority of posters. And YES, The Thing is a masterpiece, no doubt about that and Big Trouble in Lil China is a fav of mine as well...but dear god that was over 10 years ago!!Move on Harry!!I don't think this man has a good film left in him.And finally, if Carpenter ever does do a remake, he should redo Christine, and get the motherfucker right this time.The ghost of Roland LeBay was the bad guy...not Arnie.
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Encelladus here... "Near Dark," directed by Katheryn Bigelow, was the vampire film I believe you were refering to, and the only bad thing about it was that the heores cured vampirism like it was no big deal (the downfall of many one-shot vampire flicks.) Then she went on to later direct "Strange Days," written by ex-husband James Cameron... but anyway, back to Mr. Carpenter. "The Fog" gave me chills, and I knew most of those guys (the dead ones.) The mysterious ship plank that leaked seawater was cool beyond words. And "Prince of Darkness" obsolutely screamed for a sequel that should ever be made. "Big Trouble in Little China" featured Raiden long before Chris Lambert got the role in "Mortal Kombat." And "They Live" made Roddy Piper an action hero, a virtual impossibility if only for a moment. Which brings us back to "Vampire$"... the say-anything attitude of James Woods as Crow was a return to form that been missing in the last few Carpenter flicks... maybe John is catching his second wind. I, for one, can't wait to see what's next.
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Hooper is dead and buried as far as I'm concerned. As for Crapenter, its nice to have Kurt Russell as your cousin. On "Escape From New York", Carpenter was at his best. We had a $7 million dollar budget from Avco to do this film and he brought it in under! He had creativity back then. The bigger the budget, the more he messes things up! Then he does "Escape From L.A." which Crapenter got $10 million, Sandy got $10 million for producing, Russell $20 million for acting and they made the movie on $5 million and it was the SAME STORY ALL OVER AGAIN! If Crapenter would take a drug test, half of Bolivia and Mexico would be in there!
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Oct 15, 1999 4:58:20 PM CDT
Sounds like it has the potential to be a Carpenter classic
by alfred hitchcock
Of corse, so did In the Mouth of Madness. Either way, I'm drooling in anticipation over this project.
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3)The Thing 2) Escape from N.Y. 1) The movie no one has mentioned in all the talkbacks...Starman! That was a great f-ing movie. Hell, Jeff Bridges got an Acadmey Award nom for best actor for that movie and the music was great! (JC did the music too.)
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Oct 15, 1999 8:39:02 PM CDT
"GET YOUR AS TO MARS! GET YOUR ASS TO MARS! GET YOURS ASS TO MAR
by uncapie
Its been done..."Total Recall" had similar elements.
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I don't know who Uncapie is, but they are way full of it re EFLA. First of all, Kurt is not JC's cousin; secondly, Sandy did not produce EFLA; thirdly, the salaries mentioned are hysterically incorrect--especially SK's. Oh yeah...and EFNY cost $8.5 mil.
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