Mark Strong, who can currently be seen in Sherlock Holmes, has revealed a bit about his role in the upcoming Pixar live action adaptation of John Carter Of Mars. String plays the villainous Matai Shang, the ruler of the Thems.
Speaking to Cinema Blend he says, “There's some filming in Utah, but most of it is in a studio outside of London. My character doesn't actually get involved in any of the motion-capture stuff. All the stuff is live action. Although I can shift my shape, so I have to be photographed by a 360-degree camera. I can adapt into anything. That's going to be my particular talent. [I ask what he'll transform into] Other human beings mainly.”
He also calls director Andrew Stanton, “A genius. He's such a good storyteller. When I met him and he showed me the storyboards, the ideas for the sets and the designs for the characters, it's just absolutely mind-blowing. I can't wait to get involved with it. I said to him, how do you feel about live action? And he said it's going to be easy. As an animator, you literally have to invent everything. The color of the background, the size of people's noses. Whereas in live action, half the stuff is given, and you can embellish the rest with CGI.”
