swanksalot's photostream  

near Anacoco Lake, Leesville, LA

outside of Leesville, LA

Or so I've read.

Around Hollywood, Disney’s quarter-billion-dollar 3-D epic John Carter holds a dubious renown: it’s the film with Avatar-size ambitions that’s being greeted sight unseen as the next Ishtar.

The sci-fi thriller lands in theaters March 9, and if you’ve seen the billboards or commercials, you’d be forgiven for wondering what it’s about. A hunk in a leather chest harness (Taylor Kitsch of the late, beloved, but little-viewed sports drama Friday Night Lights), identified as “John Carter of Earth,” battles aliens in a coliseum, faces down a stampede of four-armed beasties, and seduces a princess who resembles a va-va-voom version of Jasmine from Disney’s Aladdin. Is this Avatar meets Clash of the Titans? Gladiator meets Cowboys and Aliens? A 22-second “teaser” trailer that aired during the Super Bowl didn’t make things any clearer. “You know it’s gotta be bad when they start breaking up the scenes and doing something conceptual for a Super Bowl spot,” observed a ranking executive at a rival studio. “It’s like, ‘Guys, this is your Hail Mary?’”
…
Fortunately for Ross, John Carter is a problem he inherited from his predecessor, and that has provided him some insulation from the slings of detractors—even though the film needs to make $400 million just to break even. Based on novels by Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs, the project had been kicking around Hollywood since the 1980s with various directors and stars attached, including Tom Cruise. In 2007 Disney’s then studio head, Dick Cook, gave the project the green light, with Pixar’s Andrew Stanton writing and directing.

www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/02/21/john-carter-dis...

At a relative's property, outside of Leesville, Louisiana.

At a relative's property, outside of Leesville, Louisiana.