Willem Dafoe talks Martian Make-Up in John Carter of Mars

Filming is due to start in January on the adaption of John Carter of Mars. Willem Dafoe is set to play Tars Tarkas, a many-limbed green Martian warrior who befriends Carter (Taylor Kitsch) after he gets mysteriously transported from Civil War-era America to the Red Planet.

“I’ve seen renderings,” said Willem when talking about the look of his character. “This is Disney, anyway, but it’s Andrew Stanton. And, I’ve seen a lot of the designs and things, and I’ve just started to do prep work now. I’m doing a play in New York, so I’m kind of preoccupied by that, but I’m starting doing scans and things like that, but it’s going to be a real full-on… Well, I’m nine feet tall with four arms, but, just from the scheduling, I’m going to do the stuff.”

As Stanton himself told us earlier this year, “John Carter” will be the “perfect definition of a hybrid movie,” integrating live-action and computer-based animation. Co-star Lynn Collins (Wolverine), who will play humanoid Martian princess Dejah Thoris, has already started hair and makeup tests and told us her look will be akin to the “best-tan-you-can-ever-imagine.”

How will Dafoe and the CGI be integrated?

“Well, we hope. And, also, they’ll use my face, but they’ll enhance it in a way–both after and before–in a way that I may not be recognizable. But, I’m good with that. It’s particularly cool, because he’s a creature, but he’s got this huge range of character. And, he does cool things in the movies.”

He then went on to talk about the language and culture of the Martians.

“There’s a whole period where we’re going to work with the language and the movement, and find out how I’m going to be nine feet tall, and all that stuff…like, a long period of time where we’re going to go to Thark school, you know what I mean? We’re going to create our culture. So, it’s going to be very cool. These guys know how to do this, and they’ve got great people. And, the designs and things are just mind-blowing.”

“It’s got some stuff to it,” he said in deep contemplation. “It’s got a point of view.”

“I don’t want to say it’s political,” he hinted, “but in the same way that ‘Tarzan’ isn’t just about a man in a loincloth…”

Sounds like this could be quite a deep film with a very cool look.

Source: AICN & MTV