Bryan Cranston Going to “Mars”

"Breaking Bad" star Bryan Cranston is the latest actor to join "John Carter of Mars," based on the series of novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs, about a Civil War soldier who falls asleep only to awaken on the red planet.

Cranston's role as a Civil War colonel at odds with Carter isn't the only big news around the project. "John Carter" also appears slated to be Pixar's first live-action venture, according to Heat Vision.

The movie, directed by Andrew Stanton ("Wall-E," "Finding Nemo"), stars "Friday Night Lights" man-pretty Taylor Kitsch in the title role, Mark Strong ("Sherlock Holmes"),  Dominic West ("The Wire"), Samantha Morton and Willem Dafoe as Tars Tarkas, a 10-foot tall, four-armed warrior.

Dafoe was mum earlier this month, while making the rounds in support of "Daybreakers," when asked how exactly they were creating his extra limbs.

"I’m not tellin’!” he bellowed good-naturedly. “I’m not telling, and you know what? I can’t talk that much about it, because I don’t know yet."

One thing he was clear on, however, was his respect for Stanton and Pixar, with whom he'd worked before.

"When someone asks you to make a movie directed by Andrew Stanton, with Disney behind it, a big, tent-pole movie… I know from making “Finding Nemo” how these Pixar guys work. They’re very thorough, they’re very rigorous, they really get it. It’s a real pleasure because you get so protected, because they’re so well researched and you get so much help trying to make something."

Contact Us