Here's how Taylor Kitsch became 'John Carter'
BEVERLY HILLS - Man is about to make an epic landing on Mars.
But to get there, Taylor Kitsch, 30, had to convince a host of Hollywood types that he was the right guy to take on John Carter (out Friday), a space-traveling big-budget movie born 100 years ago in a popular series of science-fiction novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Kitsch calls the audition process "very intense" to nab the role of the Civil War veteran who is accidentally transported to a planet known as Barsoom (Mars) in the 3-D live action film. Once there, Carter encounters green creatures called Thark; gigantic, ferocious white apes; and a group of combative, red-tattooed human-like inhabitants who are engaged in their own battle to the death. (Not to mention Dejah, a beautiful, defiant princess played by Lynn Collins.)
Confused? So was the Canadian-born Kitsch, who grew to fame playing a football player in the cult hit television series Friday Night Lights and honed his action chops playing Remy LeBeau in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
"I came out of that first meeting and (went) straight to the bookstore," says Kitsch, who wasn't familiar with the classic sci-fi series.
Director Andrew Stanton had hoped for years to bring the series to the silver screen, and he had eyed Kitsch for the role since Friday Night Lights premiered in 2004. "But I would always give the caveat 'but he's probably too young,' " says Stanton, who makes his debut directing a live action film with John Carter.
But, "because I couldn't stop putting him on the short list," Stanton turned to IMDB, where he was ultimately swayed when he found out that Harrison Ford and Sean Connery were each about 30 years old when they took on Star Wars and Bond flick Dr. No, respectively.
Kitsch was 28 when cameras for John Carter's intense seven-month shoot began to roll. The new leading man prepped hard, building a brawnier, 3-D-worthy physique, cramming with Civil War historians and diagramming (via chalkboard) the hierarchy of the character-crowded Barsoom.
"He's not a superhero to me," says Kitsch, despite Carter's burden of ultimately saving the foreign world. "That's a huge part of the relatability factor of it. He's just a guy, a Civil War vet that's lost everything, his family, his cause, and he gets put into these insane circumstances, and gets another chance to find that purpose within himself."
Winking humor also is tucked into the packed plot, thanks in part to Stanton, who moves into live action after winning Oscars for helming Wall·E and Finding Nemo. (See: Woola, a rather adorable, lizard-like dog Carter adopts in the new world.)
But becoming a leading action star meant Kitsch had to prepare. Hard.
For 11 months, Kitsch, who is also a nutritionist, existed on a diet of oatmeal, egg whites, protein shakes, dry chicken breasts, yams and brown rice.
"It's brutal," he admits now, happily dipping into the bread basket. Kitsch's perfectly toned physique came courtesy of daily hour-and-a-half sessions of high-intensity cardio intervals, plus sword training, band work and wire training. "And I wanted him to have a boxer's physique," says Kitsch. "I boxed a lot."
But one day, an exhausted Kitsch couldn't walk up a short hill on location in Utah. Stanton told the actor to sleep for half a day. Later, on set in London, Kitsch collapsed. Doctors ordered three days of bed rest. Each time, Kitsch came back, rallying the crew and carrying on.
"It was a lot," Kitsch says. "And I think I grew in different ways, just that it didn't break me, I didn't really just quit. There's moments when I was definitely close."
Stanton remembers the exhaustive shoot days all too well. "And then you add, on top of that, that his character, narratively, gets beat up a lot. Before we were even halfway done on the shoot I was just saying, 'Thank you for not quitting.'… It really was a marathon."
Big movie aside, Kitsch is refreshingly candid in person. The Vancouver native admits he doesn't care for the scene in Los Angeles (he lives in Austin), and says his personal life, while impressively un-blogged about, is minimal.
"I'm married to my work right now," he says with a shrug. "There are guys who have set the precedent, that have gotten movies this big that aren't in the (spot)light." His role models? "(Christian) Bale. (Matt) Damon. (Johnny) Depp, even. So it can be done."
Kitsch next reunites with FNL director Peter Berg for Battleship, another mega-budget movie due in May. A big role in Oliver Stone's "incredibly violent and unapologetic" Savages (out this July) follows.
And of course, John Carter 2 could be waiting in the wings.
But Kitsch says the almighty box office is not top of mind. "My heart's in this film," he says. "I just want people to hopefully share what it was to make it. Stanton, I hope the best for. I'd love to do it again and reunite with that family." USA Today