Like his main character, director has an awakening in the desert
Although ‘ a stranger in a strange land’, Oscar winner Stanton experiences sense of liberation while filming Martian tale by Tarzan author
EMERYVILLE, Calif. — For Oscarwinning filmmaker Andrew Stanton, it was a moment of epiphany.
He, his actors and crew had arrived in Utah to continue with the shooting of John Carter, Disney’s $ 250- million homage to a cult fantasy novel written a century ago. And as he found himself in an alien environment of desert, shale and sandstone, of eerie red cliffs and timeless towering arches, Stanton felt — in his own words — like “a stranger in a strange land.”
In other words, he felt just like the title character, an earthling “thrown into a world he didn’t see coming …”
A bewildered John Carter has awakened into this world — where, to his amazement, he can leap to huge heights, a world in which four- armed creatures three metres tall stride the landscape.
That world is Mars — or rather “Barsoom,” which is the name bestowed on it in the 1912 Edgar Rice Burroughs novel on which John Carter is based. The production moved to Utah following six months of interior filming at England’s Shepperton Studios. For Stanton, the state’s bleak, forbidding landscapes were vital to their needs.
Furthermore, the cult status of the Burroughs Mars books helped the filmmakers overcome any resistance from Utah’s Bureau of Land Management, when it came to filming in protected areas.
“That’s my favourite book,” a bureau official exclaimed. Utah Gov. Gary Herbert was also a fan of A Princess of Mars, the Burroughs novel on which John Carter is based — so much so, that he visited the set during filming. “So we had no problem,” Stanton remembers.
Stanton’s own reaction to this terrain is striking and significant. He’s a major figure in the world of animation — long a creative force at Pixar, where he directed two of its most acclaimed computer- animated features, Finding Nemo and WALL- E. But John Carter, a project that has been a personal obsession since childhood, marks his entry into live- action filmmaking, and what he has experienced during a production process that has lasted more than two years is a personal sense of liberation.
“I felt like a kid who had been stuck indoors for 20 years and was finally allowed to go outside. I was in sandstorms, below- freezing weather, 130- degree heat, but I didn’t give up, because I was so excited to be seeing stuff made on the same day at the same hour. Oh my god, I couldn’t get enough of that.”
The film, opening March 9, is seen as a gamble by industry watchers because of its origins — despite a fervent cult following, this is a largely forgotten cycle of novels by the creator of Tarzan — as well as its staggering budget and the casting of littleknown Canadian actor Taylor Kitsch, best known for Friday Night Lights, in the title role.
Despite his impressive track record in the world of digital animation, Stanton is an old- fashioned guy who sees David Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia as his artistic touchstone: “It’s in my DNA. It’s my favourite movie.” So, although he employs motion- capture techniques, computer animation and all the paraphernalia of today’s cinematic technology, he also has gone the old- fashioned route — using wires for John Carter’s astonishing leaps, and embracing old- fashioned production design whenever possible.
“For me, every tool in the tool box should be valid,” Stanton says. “As much as I could, I used anamorphic lenses, because I wanted the film to feel that it came from another era.” For him, filmmaking is like magic. “To me, some of the best magic tricks are the simple things which nobody would expect, because they think everything’s gone high- tech. I’m just going to use whatever tool is necessary. I don’t care whether it’s new or old. That’s not why I’m in it.”
So, despite some 2,000 high- tech visual effects, the aim was to use real locations and landscapes.
“As much as possible, we decided to shoot in actual locations and minimize the amount of digital set creation, so that the audience would always feel like they were grounded in real places,” producer Jim Morris said. “We hope this will add an additional layer of authenticity that will heighten the believability and realism of the film.”
For example, the ruined remains of a Martian city figure prominently in the movie. Those were digitally created in post- production — but against the natural splendour of Utah. It’s a way of creating what co- producer Colin Wilson calls “our little slice of Mars.”
“Our philosophy has been to use practical locations with real sets and set pieces that create a cornerstone for our digital world.”