John Carter of Mars — New on the set details

A terrific blog in the Guardian talks with John Carter (of Mars) director Andrew Stanton and reveals a couple of key behind the scenes details that promise to make this the next franchise hit for Disney.

I felt that if the actor was really there looking into the eyes of the other actor – the human one – you would sense it … So we actually put the characters on stilts in motion-captured grey pyjamas with these helmets and cameras they used on Avatar pointing towards their faces. It was a very odd-looking set. You would have the actor really there, you would have these guys on stilts representing Tharks and you would have people in green gimpsuits making sure they didn’t fall over and hurt themselves. Some days on the shoot I sat there and thought: ‘What the hell am I doing?’ But man did it pay off, and if we were to shoot another one tomorrow I would do exactly the same.

John Carter will feature an epic scale that draws characters and stories from the first few books by Edgar Rice Burroughs, while leaving plenty of room to expand the universe and stories in future films. It hits theaters in March of 2012

More at the Guardian.