Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. I don't really know what to think of this news. Borys Kit at The Hollywood Reporter just broke a story that the two leads of Andrew Stanton's adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' JOHN CARTER OF MARS series have been cast.
Civil War soldier turned inter-planetary traveler and hero John Carter will be played by Taylor Kitsch, best known to movie-goers as Gambit in the horrible WOLVERINE movie that just came out.
Also nabbed from the X-Men Origins call-sheet is Lynn Collins, who played Wolverine's real/not-real girlfriend Kayla.
I wasn't as taken with Kitsch's turn as Gambit as most were, but he did have a certain charm. I don't see him as having the weight of character, the history written in his eyes and on his face that John Carter needs, but if Stanton sees that in him I'll defer judgment until I see him in the role. The kid definitely has talent, but this is going to be a big proving ground for him.
Collins... that one I don't really see any light at the end of the tunnel. I hope she surprises me, but I thought she was horrible in WOLVERINE. Maybe that wasn't her fault, that whole film was a mess after all... and I remember liking her in BUG. But Dejah needed to be someone a man would do battle with a sea of 15 feet alien warriors for. A Charlize Theron, perhaps. Or, if you want to go for someone obvious, an Angelina Jolie (after she's had a couple of sandwiches).
I don't know. This casting isn't the worst news in the world, but it doesn't get the fire going. I think Kitsch has the potential to surprise us and really cement himself as movie star with this role. But he's going to have to bring everything he has and more to this character. I hope he's up for the challenge.
What do you folks think?
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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