John Carter of Mars gets it’s lead and may start filming in November

Get your ass to Mars!

Taylor Kitsch – who played Gambit – and Lynn Collins – who played Kayla Silverfox – in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, will star in John Carter of Mars, the big screen adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs pulp series that Andrew Stanton will helm for Disney, According to The Hollywood Reporter.

‘John Carter’ will be the first live-action feature for Stanton- who directed Pixar’s Finding Nemo and Wall-E. According to the report, Disney hopes the big-budget production will launch a franchise on the scale of Pirates of the Caribbean.

The film centers on civil war veteran John Carter (to be played by Kitsch) who finds himself mysteriously transported to Mars, where his involvement with warring races on the planet force him to rediscover his humanity.

Collins will play Dejah Thoris, heir to the throne of Mars’ Helium kingdom.

Stanton wrote the screenplay with Mark Andrews, and Jim Morris, who produced Wall-E, along with Colin Wilson, will produce.

According to an article on the Salt Lake Tribune website, Andrew Stanton and Disney have selected Utah as a main shooting location for movie, which will double for Mars and the old Civil War South. The crew is expected to spend roughly 45 days there between November of this year and July 2010. Lake Powell, where parts of the original Planet of the Apes was shot, along with Moab, and Kane and Wayne counties, are prospective filming locations.