Willem Dafoe Talks About JOHN CARTER, Playing Tars Tarkas, Edgar Rice Burroughs & More!

In another in-depth interview for the Andrew Stanton-directed film John Carter, this time with Willem Dafoe, the actor talks about playing the green Martian warrior, working on this film and much more. Check it out...

By WolvieCBM - Jan 06, 2012 01:01 PM EST

Filed Under: John Carter of Mars

Walt Disney Pictures has provided Adventuresbydaddy.com with the question-and-answer interview with Willem Dafoe, who is playing/voicing the green Martian warrior Tars Tarkas via motion capture in the Andrew Stanton-directed film John Carter, a science fiction epic based on the classic novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Thanks to Barsoomia for the heads up. Check it out below.

“When I saw you leap into the sky, I wished to believe it was a sign that something new can come into this world.”

How did you get involved in “John Carter”?

Willem Dafoe: "I was very lucky because the project was quite far along in its casting when I came around. I was in Los Angeles, where I rarely am because I don’t live there. I knew Andrew was meeting with people for “John Carter” and since I had worked with him before and was aware of the project, I said that I’d like to have a meeting with him. We met and he told me what he was doing and showed me some of the art. When I read the script, I got excited. I said, “Listen, you want me to play a Thark, I’ll play a Thark. I would love that. I would love the physical challenges.” This film had lots of challenges, not only because of the stilts, but some of the gestural language and the fact that we had to learn a Martian language for part of it.

So, I said, “Where do I sign?” and that’s pretty much how I became involved."

How did director Andrew Stanton draw you into his vision?

Willem Dafoe: "He didn’t need to do too much because I really like him and trust him. I know him from working on “Finding Nemo” and I know that he’s quite rigorous and detailed. I was struck by his take on the story and I could feel his passion when he showed me some of the designs for the film and talked about his vision. The script was also very strong; it was exotic and it was fun. I liked the idea of the source material [“A Princess of Mars” by Edgar Rice Burroughs] even before I read it. I was excited that it was a big movie and I liked the prospect of playing a nine-foot tall Martian warrior."

Please describe your character, Tars Tarkas.

Willem Dafoe: "Tars Tarkas is the head of a warrior tribe called the Tharks. They are very tall, green-skinned Martians with four arms and tusks. There’s a feeling that their culture is in decline; they were once a great society and now they’ve been reduced to being a nomadic, warlike society, moving from place to place to survive. There’s a feeling of sadness and lost empire to them and it very much informs who Tars Tarkas is. The Thark culture is brutal, primitive and warrior-like, but it hasn’t always been. Tars remembers a more refined, civilized past. He secretly yearns for those days and for a more humane society. He knows there’s got to be a better way than how they’re surviving now."

Tars Tarkas develops a special relationship with John Carter. Can you talk about that?

Willem Dafoe: "They are a very odd couple, visually to be sure, and when they team up, there’s a lot of interplay about the very different cultures that they come from. There are lots of opportunities for humor and misunderstanding. It’s a special relationship because there’s excellent development of those two characters in the story."

What other characters does Tars Tarkas interact with the most?

Willem Dafoe: "My principal relationship is with John Carter. Then I have relationships with some of the other Tharks, which are Sola, played by Samantha Morton, Sarkoja, played by Polly Walker, and Tal Hajus, played by Thomas Haden Church.

There’s an interesting relationship with Tal Hajus because he’s sort of my second in command and is always challenging my decisions. He’s always nipping at my heels trying to see if he can take over the Thark nation."

Please talk about motion capture and how Andrew Stanton handled it with the actors.

Willem Dafoe: "Andrew Stanton was very insistent that he wanted scenes played out for the human characters, and also to always have the scenes fully realized. So, I’m in all of the scenes with Taylor Kitsch, who plays John Carter. It’s not just motion capture on green screens. And it makes a big difference. It’s a big difference for the actors because everything is informed by the set; it’s not disjointed. It gives a kind of integrity for the animators to work with as everything holds together as a piece. I think that’s very important. I’m not sure that’s ever been done to this degree."

The scale of this film is huge. How does that affect filming as far as actors are concerned?

Willem Dafoe: "It does have enormous scale, but I will say, the great thing about this film is Andrew [Stanton] knows how to handle it; he’s demanding and he’s a detail guy. There’s a very practical approach. It’s all very tight, considering what we’re doing. Though the scale is so massive, we move quite fast and we move decisively. There’s not a lot of waiting around. For a big film like this, it’s amazing how immediate the shooting is."

What do you think audiences might love or find amazing in “John Carter”?

Willem Dafoe: "It’s a grand adventure; it’s exotic; it’s classical in the sense of its origins. Remember the source material was written in 1912, and Edgar Rice Burroughs was imagining things that we had no scientific basis for at the time. So, it’s pure imagination. Some of those ideas really informed science fiction later because these books were widely read and embraced a lot of the popular imagination of the time.

So there’s something kind of classical about the imagining of Mars. Some people are cynical about green men on Mars but are we so sophisticated that we can’t embrace that? I don’t think so because I think green men from Mars came from something in our imagination that had to be there in order for “Star Wars” to happen or “Avatar” to happen.

This is a very well imagined world that Edgar Rice Burroughs has created. It’s got all the attraction of that imagination plus pure fantasy. The story he tells really is very evocative, the characters are so well drawn and it puts forth some questions about society and how we conduct ourselves. It asks what our ambitions are and what we’re willing to sacrifice. It’s rich material.

I can imagine that the film will work for a very broad audience. It works on lots of different levels because it’s complex, it’s dense and it’s very detailed. One of the biggest pleasures in doing this project is to work with someone like Andrew Stanton who works on this scale, on a story that has popular appeal but doesn’t pander. “John Carter” was created from a very personal place."

To read some more, just click HERE.

Starring Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Willem Dafoe, Mark Strong, Bryan Cranston, James Purefoy, Dominic West, Thomas Haden Church and Ciarán Hinds. John Carter is set to hit theatres on March 9, 2012!

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7 Comments

95 - 1/6/2012, 3:48 PM

Best interview I've read in a very long time.

localman - 1/6/2012, 3:55 PM

I read these books years ago and loved them. I never thought they would ever be made into movies unless they were really, really cheesy. But this is looking great. I'm sure parts of the original books will need to be changed (like all the nudity), but I like most of what I see so far.

Dafoe is a great actor, and to put his talent into an animated character should make this pivotal character something special.

vermillion - 1/6/2012, 6:56 PM

Halfway through the first book. It's pretty amazing. I went ahead and ordered Book Two and Three. (I got the newest version of it... I guess they re-released them to build more hype for the film.)

BubbaDude - 1/6/2012, 11:04 PM

I am sooooo psyched for this.

And I don't think they should have changed the nudity. About the only thing they should've changed should have been the institution of slavery that was prevalent and really creepy in the original books.

Varmintkiller2 - 1/6/2012, 11:22 PM

iv read the entire series afew times. only books i actually sat down to read when i was growing up :P im so stoked for this movie! sounds like they are really putting the effort into it.

darkendeath - 1/6/2012, 11:33 PM

I have read all 11 books and you can download the first 5 for free from Ibooks on your Itouch or Ipad. If you think the 1st book is wild wait till you read the rest of them. Once you have read them you will see the origin of everything from Avatar to Superman to Star Wars came from. I just started to read A Princess of Mar for the 3rd time in which the movie John Carter is about. :)

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Willem Dafoe Talks About JOHN CARTER, Playing Tars Tarkas, Edgar Rice Burroughs & More!

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