JOHN CARTER (Taylor Kitsch speaks)

• JOHN CARTER

When Total Film caught up with Taylor Kitsch on the set ofDisney’s sci-fi epic John Carter, he was understandably exhausted.

The actor, best known for his role in TV’s Friday NightLights, and playing Gambit in Wolverine: Origins. Is set to break out in Carterand Battleship this year, was doing his best to catch a nap during takes.

Taylor Kitsch as John Carter

“It’s the most physical role I’ve ever done,” admittedKitsch, who plays the titular protagonist, a Civil War veteran who inexplicablygets transported to Mars – or Barsoom as Edgar Rice Burroughs calls it in hisbooks.

“It’s beyond gruelling for me. I’m basically in every scene.You can see the action on it. The main thing I’ve learned is energyconservation.”

It was a challenge beyond anything he could have expected,something that he realised after arriving on set: “The script says things like:‘He jumps from here to there and he fights these guys,” Kitsch told us.

“You write it off when your reading it, but when you do it,it’s a whole day’s shoot. When John gets to Mars, everything is life anddeath.”

That’s not to say that John Carter will simply be a VFXblowout, as Kitsch explained: “It’s a character-driven epic adventure ratherthan just crazy effects.”

Considering Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, WALL•E) is callingthe shots, we’re not surprised.

Check out the Article we did on John Carter

John Carter opens on 9 March 2012.