well.. that's not exactly cool now is it ?

Course these rumours could be utter bullshit in which case they could easily be denied surely ?

Well, I've lost lots of great sites this way. I remember when Upcoming Movies was a cool site to read. Long gone. AICN didn't die today, but it's been diagnosed with terminal selloutitis. Fatal in 100% of cases. So sad.

There WERE other ways of getting the job, you know.....

Still, being a tarzan fan, I can tell you that Edgar Rice Burroughs, being a product of his time, presented a lot of prejudicial, racist themes in Tarzan as well, to say nothing of the antiquated notions concerning aristocracy and familial traits. Still, they were able to white wash much of Tarzan in Greystoke: The Legendof Tarzan and the untold numbers of other adamptations. From what you have described about John Carter of Mars doesn't sound all that different from the myriad of "white aristocrat tames the black savages and the dark jungle" themes that were running through Burroughs' Tarzan novels.

My guess is that one would just characterize the race wars in Carter as negative and Carter's desire to unite everyone as a positive thing. As for Carter being white, so long as its played down, ala Tarzan, I doubt most people, beyond the all-too sensitive "we are special people" groups, will actually even notice. They'll be too caught up in the "racism is bad" motiff, to say nothing of the awesome visuals and interesting setting.

Bikini-type apparel is all good though. And please, someone with a voluptuous bod for Dejah Thoris instead of some flat hardbod skank.

Still, you asked a great question. IMHO the other question to ask is: Where are all the great producers like David O. Selznick?

We will always have some who will whine about Racism when a white guy is a hero outside a white environment- but those of us with an IQ over 73 will just ignore these asswipes and enjoy the flick.

Granted, that description leaves it open to a bit interpretation, but virtually every artist who's tried to illustrate Barsoom has portrayed the Martian women as very curvy. This holds true for Frank Frazetta, Michael Whelan, Frank Cho, Joe Jusko and all the comic books and model kits.

Any image search online using "dejah thoris" will yield results which bear this out in most cases.

And you're wrong about Crudup -- he'd be great (right age, acting chops and the physique) and he's the spitting image of the Whelan book cover version.

I still strongly disagree because Dejah is clearly described as having a “slender, girlish figure” and “her every feature was finely chiseled and exquisite”. This is not a Marilyn or heavily curved woman by any means - I think a young Sophie Marceau facially/carriage wise would be close….though maybe too tall. It’s not that I have anything against curvy women – heck Dejah could have a nice …uh chest – but she is clearly slim and regal appearing…and not a full figured sex bomb type. (Though it sounds like she has full lips).

Also Wheelan and Frezetta don’t draw her at all alike. Frazetta draws her like just about every other Frazetta girl- very very curvy- and not AT ALL like Burroughs describes her. Whelan draws her accurately- she is slender though with a nice chest.

On a sidenote I think most Barsoom art is rather poor- and certainly very inaccurate. Wheelan is easily the most true to the description – indeed really the only one who is even worth mentioning as such (and no wonder, he was a HUGE fan of the novels and was sketching this before college). Frazetta may not be “poor” as art (he is after all Frazetta), but he is completely inaccurate as I mentioned and frankly not nearly as inspiring as Burroughs own decriptions (again keep Frazetta in Conan where he shines)…and nearly everyone else is just bad.

On Crudup, maybe if he worked out…a lot, and they cast smaller men to play the Martians he would be OK- I’ll retract thw “outright suck” comment- that was admittedly overstated- and since I also admittedly can’t pick anyone that is inspiring to star as John Carter other than hoping for an awesomely cast unknown …or Michael Bay…I’ll leave that one alone.

Kudos again on pulling the quote right out of the book- especially when it was not a smoking gun for you- I admire the effort and commitment to accuracy in debate…nice touch. It’s also nice to not talk politics with you for once…

So cheers Doc.

Not by a LONG-SHOT. Heck, I saw better looking women at the mall yesterday.

As for Frazetta, I agree -- although I enjoy his Tharks, Martian outfits and Barsoomian women, I really don't like his John Carter. Conan IS where he shines the most.

Harry: "I didn't sell AICN despite oodles of cash thrown my way."

Talkbackers: "Harry you fat moron! Where's your fucking common sense?"

The only thing I have ever known of this was through this site, and all I have read is how difficult this thing is to make. The first appearance of Carter was apparently in a comic/book/whatever called Princess of Mars. How about just making a movie about that? If there are origin stories about him, put that at the beginning and segue that into the Princess of Mars movie. What is the big freakin deal?

Thank you for creating this site, and thank you for having the integrity to not sell it out.

…newsflash, her being in some movies doesn’t make her better looking than women who have nicer features than she does…and there are plenty o those….oh-and if you do live in The Hills town…I recommend that you move STAT!

…but to the main tpoint-the 1st 3 books were not “all over the place” and a competenmtly shot faithful adaptation would do FAR better among all but small children than a Pixar kiddification of a relatively adult book….Or perhaps you would like Pixar to do any future Conan films and believe they would have been better suited to invent the Alien franchise? If not your point is moot…some stories are perfect for Pixar- some are not…and John Carter is certainly NOT…Sorry Jack.

Right you are then ebonic!

And I have given Selma tons o crap over the last 4 posts in relation to Dejah –especially because facially she is not really exceptional at all and her carriage is all off for Dejah –she’s more feisty/bitchy than regal…but that said, I should clarify a bit-because her body in Dusk To Dawn was INSANE- and that was one of the most sensual scenes I have ever watched- heck its still the only real reason I keep the channel on when Dusk kicks in on a pay channel- I even got a friend who hated the movie and would never watch it through to stick around due to Selma- he had never watched that scene (he had seen much of before and after in parts & HATED the lame vampires) but I made him wait it out without telling him why…he went from sitting there annoyed in a chair to somehow sitting like a dog in front of the TV by halway through the scene and didn’t move for the rest of the movie…fricken pricelessly funny to see in person. Especially because for part if it he looked like s a slack jawed dunce…he probably drooled on himself at some point.

Also any news about the Pixar/Nintendo collaboration for the Mario movie?

I missed the gone thing- I wonder how.

Animation might be a better (and cheaper) choice, though, to blow people's socks off with crazy Pixar renderings. I'm sure it'll be compelling either way.

Good luck writing, Andrew!

Good luck sloppin' hogs on the ranch.