Mark Strong, in an enviable burst of big-budget activity, is Lord Blackwood in the imminently upcoming Sherlock Holmes (his third film for Guy Ritchie) and Sir Godfrey in Ridley Scott's Robin Hood (his second film for Sir Ridders). And according to a lengthy interview over at Collider, his role in Andrew Stanton's John Carter of Mars is also not insignificant.
Strong is playing Matai Shang, a heavyweight player in Edgar Rice Burroughs' series of novels come book three, Warlord of Mars. Shang rules a race called the Ferns who, says Strong, "exist over and above the Martians like Olympian gods. People aren't sure they exist, but they do! They travel round keeping order: Shang is basically a Master of the Universe."
Strong has seen treatments for parts 2 and 3 of Stanton's projected trilogy, and says Shang "comes into his own during the second half of the current movie, and then just gets bigger and bigger in the sequels. He's basically John Carter's nemesis."
Shooting will last five months, before two years of post-production FX work that will see the film released in 2012. Strong says he's not aware that 3D is on the agenda, but concedes that, in the wake of Avatar's premiere, "Stanton's brain will be whirring and eyes twinkling: he'll want to surpass it. No question."
PIxar's first live-action, John Carter of Mars stars Taylor Kitsch in the title role, with support from Willem Dafoe, Thomas Haden Church, Dominic West, Samantha Morton and James Purefoy. Filming kicks off in London in January.