Bryan Cranston Joins ‘John Carter of Mars’

Published by Jeff Leins on January 14, 2010

Underrated actor Bryan Cranston has joined the cast of Disney’s John Carter of Mars.  The live-action/CGI hybrid is under the direction of Andrew Stanton (Wall-E, Finding Nemo) as he embarks on his first non-animated movie.

THR’s Heat Vision Blog reports Cranston will play “a Civil War colonel who comes into conflict with Carter.” In the 11-novel series by Edgar Rice Burroughs, a Civil War veteran (Taylor Kitsch) seemingly dies and is transported to another physical body on the planet Mars where he discovers a lush, diverse landscape.  This unfortunately means Cranston’s part will be a small one as the rest takes place on the red planet.

The rest of the cast includes Lynn Collins, Willem Dafoe, Samantha Morton, Thomas Haden Church, and Polly Walker who all basically play 12-foot green aliens.  Sounds like Avatar only with names like Tars Tarkas.

Cranston used to be known as simply the dad on “Malcolm in the Middle,” but has recently won back-to-back Emmys for the first two seasons of AMC’s “Breaking Bad.”  It’s one of the best shows on television right now and if you haven’t seen it yet, you should find a way to check it out.

The cast is coming together because photography starts next week.  It was erroneously reported in several places as a Pixar film, but that is incorrect.  It will be billed as a “Walt Disney Picture” according to CHUD’s Devin Faraci.