Mars filming this year?

Is Disney getting ready to finally begin filming on JOHN CARTER OF MARS later this year? A report in the Salt Lake Tribune of Utah (via Ain’t It Cool) says that they’ve just approved a request by the JOHN CARTER production company to film in Utah for 45 days starting in November. The film, which will mark the live-action directorial debut of Pixar’s Andrew Stanton (WALL-E), has been in development for many years with Jon Favreau and Robert Rodriguez all taking a stab and trying to get the film before cameras.

The paper lists the production running from November of 2009 to July 2010, which is a pretty big span of time to be filming. In Utah they’ll be filming in the Lake Powell and Moab areas, among others (I’ve included some photographic samples of those areas below to give you an idea what to expect). This isn’t the first time Utah has doubled as another planet in a movie. Just this summer, the San Rafael Swell as on screen as the planet Vulcan in STAR TREK.

A while back Stanton had said he had actors in mind for the major roles in the film so with a filming date approaching, we’ll keep our ears to the ground for any news on who would star in the film. Stay tuned!