Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on April 2012

The fantasy adventure John Carter made headlines when Disney announced it expected to lose up to $200 million on the film, but the cast and crew were upbeat during a recent trip to Tokyo. “We are proud of our work, and happy that the film was selected to commemorate the 110th birthday of Walt Disney,” said Lynn Collins, who plays Princess Dejah. In-demand title star Taylor Kitsch, who also appears in Battleship, which opens the same day in Japan, commented that it was “great to be a part of the Disney family.” The release also marks the 100th anniversary of the first appearance of the title character, an American Civil War veteran who has adventures on Mars in 11 fantasy novels by Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs. Disney attempted to bring the character to screen as early as 1931 with an animated version that was shelved, and various plans were made over the decades until Pixar veteran Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo) was given the reins. Although CGI helped create the creatures in the film, Stanton insisted on having Willem Dafoe perform motion capture for the 15-foot Martian Tars Tarkas, as the interaction of the two characters left a strong impression on him when he first read the book at the age of ten and dreamt of making a film about it for 30 years. The project was also a dream come true for Collins, who quipped “I get to play a Disney princess in this, something I have wanted to do since I was four years old.”

John Carter opens on April 13.