Strong, Purefoy and Church Fly to Mars

Pixar’s first foray into live-action film (unless you count brief snippets in Wall-E), an adaptation of Edgar Rice Burrough’s John Carter of Mars by director Andrew Stanton, has gained three fantastic cast members: Mark Strong (Syriana, Kick-Ass), James Purefoy (Resident Evil, Solomon Kane) and Thomas Haden Church (Spiderman 3, Sideways).

Church will play “Tal Hajus, an ambitious and vicious Thark warrior who is biding his time to be a ruler,” while Strong will play “Matai Shang, the ruler of the Thems with godlike status.” Purefoy plays Kantos Kan, a captain of a huge warship called the Xavarian.

This is all Greek to me, but it sounds freaking fantastic. They’re joining the already cast Taylor Kitsch (Wolverine) as John Carter, a Civil War veteran displaced to the landscape of Mars. Filming will begin early next year. All the pieces are in place for this film to be another grand slam from Stanton and Disney.