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“It’s not their planet anymore. It’s
ours."- Lt. Melanie Ballard, Martian Police Force
The newsgroup alt.movies.john-carpenter has been flooded with messages regarding
the recently released film “John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars." The movie
is a harrowing tale of rescue and escape from a colonized Mars 175 years into
the future. However, this film hasn’t received the amazing recognition a John
Carpenter film usually screams. Nonetheless, this didn’t stop Carpenter fans
from paying movie theater prices to see the film. And, the special effects were
definitely something to gawk at.
Mohammad, a lifelong John Carpenter fan, thinks that “Ghosts of Mars, while
not an entirely bad film, is not a classic John Carpenter film. The Ghosts
themselves should have been a little more than grunting and screaming
automatons. I will add, though, that the film was a visually stunning, but the
rock metal soundtrack had to go and was useless for the most part. “
See the brief breakdown of the movie below. I want to get to the good stuff
first.
About the Production:
“John Carpenter’s Ghost of Mars" began production in a gypsum mine on
the outskirts of
Albuquerque, New Mexico on August 8. The mine is a small parcel of the 120,000
plus acres
of the Zia Pueblo, sacred land that was settled by the Zia Indians nearly 800
years ago. In keeping with the sanctity of the land and in respect for Zia
tradition, at sunset on August 7, the day before start of principal photography
and at John Carpenter’s special request, a tribal elder and medicine man of
the Zia Tribe gave a prayer blessing at the Shining Canyon set. Conducted in the
Zia language, the blessing prayed for the success of the production, the safety
of the cast and crew, and for mutual respect between the production company and
the Zia people. The entire cast and crew listened in rapt silence to the prayer
and then the English translation, given by a Zia tribal representative.
That rather unorthodox start of production was preceded by months of normal
pre-production
activity: casting, rehearsal, location scouting for the five week exterior shoot
and securing stage space for the five weeks of interiors needed to complete
principle photography.
Casting and Rehearsal:
“’Ghosts of Mars’ in an ensemble film," says producer Sandy King.
“The cast is put together piece by piece and the process shifts depending on
the last actor added to the cast." Both King and director John Carpenter
use a core group of character actors for most of their films together, among
them Peter Jason and Robert Carradine, giving them a solid base upon which to
build their main cast.
“You need to create reality in a fantasy film and you do that from the ground
up," states King. “Your extras have to be believable and, more
importantly, your day players have to be really solid, so the audience will go
along when your lead actors go off into their unbelievable flights of
fantasy," she adds.
“My method of casting actors in my movies really hasn’t changed since I
began directing,"
admits John Carpenter. “I try to find the best actors I can fit into the
written roles," he continues, “then make them comfortable on the set and
create a working environment in
which they feel safe to do their work."
Chicks Who Kick Ass:
As for the lead actors, the script called for four strong female characters;
both Carpenter and King were extremely pleased with the group assembled for the
film. “We were fortunate to have a number of smart women in our cast,"
states King. “Pam Grier is an icon in chick action films, the prototype for
every woman who ever tried to pick up a gun and be tough on film."
Veteran actor Joanna Cassidy, along with Grier, provided years of experience and
immeasurable help to relative newcomers Natasha Henstridge and Clea Duvall, who
turned just 23 during production.
The men in the cast, Ice Cube and Jason Statham, came to the project from two
different
worlds – Cube from his phenomenal success in music and positive notices from
his earlier
films, and Statham, discovered by director Guy Ritchie (“Lock, Stock and Two
Smoking
Barrels" and “Snatch") selling jewelry out of a suitcase on a London
street corner.
Getting in ‘Mars’ Shape:
In addition to the requisite rehearsal period, the entire cast, with the
exception of Ice Cube and Natasha Henstridge, went through two months of
intensive physical training and stunt work under the guidance of veteran
Carpenter mainstay, stunt coordinator Jeff Imada. “We did a lot of training,
which I really wasn’t used to," remembers Clea Duvall. “It was hard
work but Jeff was really terrific and made us all experts."
Joanna Cassidy took to the physicality of her role with ease. “I’ve always
kept myself in great shape," she said, “and I looked forward to all the
action." And Jason Statham needed very little help from Imada in the
physical fitness area. “I was a champion high diver in England not so long
ago," says Statham. “That and my gymnastics experience made things a bit
easy for me. The stunt coordination was the more difficult part."
Ice Cube had been on tour with his music act during most of the summer prior to
start of
production and didn’t come on board until two weeks before shooting began. But
he came
prepared. “I did a lot of weight training during my tour," he says,
“seven days a week in the gym trying to get my body right for this movie. Not
too much martial arts though. I’ve done so many fight scenes in my movies that
I’m pretty much a pro at it."
Natasha Henstridge had probably the most difficult time of things. “I came on
board just a few days before shooting began and I had no time to really
prepare," she states. “I have a bit of natural ability when it comes to
physical things. I did a bit of stunt training with Jeff Imada and a little
hand-to-hand work, but other than that, what you see in the finished film is
pretty much what I came to the table with. It was a lot of fun doing that stuff
and, besides, it’s not often that the women get to kick some ass."
Stunt coordinator Imada is impressed with all his charges. “Natasha was really
exceptional," he said. “For as little time as we had to work together,
she was phenomenal. She ended up doing most of her own stunts and impressing
some pretty jaded veteran stunt people in the process. And Jason was absolutely
fantastic. His diving experience stood him well and he picked up the
choreography very quickly." In fact, Statham’s character Jericho is set
upon by twelve warriors in the film’s most intricate stunt sequence. “Jason
handled that scene as well as any actor I’ve ever worked with," states
Imada.
Creating Mars in New Mexico:
How do you turn a gypsum mine on the outskirts of Albuquerque, New Mexico into
the mining
outpost of Shining Canyon on Mars? You start with an extremely short
pre-production schedule of just eight weeks. Then you add a cooperative state
film commission and native American population, and bring on a visionary
production designer to work with your visionary director. You grade fifty-five
acres of gypsum, creating a main street and space for twelve full-size
buildings, braving the 120 degree daytime temperatures. You erect the exterior
sets, taking great pains to build in to all of them the necessary lightning rods
to protect against the almost nightly electrical storms. Then you paint the
whole thing with 100,000 gallons of bio-degradable red food coloring.
“The New Mexico film commission really lobbied for our production," says
King. “They went
so far as to do a photoshop treatment of the gypsum mine, painting it red and so
on, to try to sell it to me." That, and the assurances of the Zia Indians
that production could take place on sacred land, convinced her that it would
work.
Director John Carpenter had a solid idea of what he wanted his Mars to look
like. “I did some research on Mars colonization and terra-forming," he
remembers. “Then I asked myself what kind of world we’d be living in if, in
fact, we did colonize Mars. I felt that initially life on Mars would be much
like that in the American frontier."
With that in mind, Carpenter realized that only the strongest, industrial age
structures and machines would survive. And it was that realization that led to
the distinct look of his Martian sets. Even though the film takes place two
hundred years into the future, the buildings and machines look decidedly
un-futuristic.
To help realize their vision, Carpenter and King brought production designer
Bill Elliott on board. “I was familiar with Bill’s work," says
Carpenter. “He’s a brilliant production designer but I noticed that he had
never had the chance to do science fiction. I met with him and we both got
excited about the possibilities. Not only did Bill design incredible sets for
me, but he solved logistical problems in realizing an ambitious look for a
modest budget."
The building themselves are squat, sturdy looking units that seem to grow right
out of the Martian landscape. The design ideas came from the imagination of
Carpenter and Elliott to be sure, but were also grounded in the reality of the
Red Planet. “The notion behind our sets was what material there would be to
work with on Mars," states King. “It would still be difficult to get
there and even more difficult to bring materials to the planet for building,
etc."
Perhaps the one member of the cast most appreciative of Carpenter’s easy
going, actor friendly style was Clea Duvall. The young actress really responded
to Carpenter’s direction. “He’s one of my favorite directors I’ve worked
with," states Duvall. “He doesn’t make things any more complicated than
they need to be." Clea Duvall fan, Pam Timmons, went to see the film
because of actresses Clea and Pam Grier. However, Pam was very disappointed in
the storyline. “The two people that I went to see turned out to have very
small roles in the film. Pam Grier was killed very early in the movie (and they
didn't even show it!); Clea Duvall had only a few lines in the entire movie and
I think her character was basically insignificant (she did have a cool death
though.) The storyline itself was a bit lacking and predictable. The movie
seemed more like a cheesy made-for-TV movie."
Breakdown of the storyline, as promised above:
Mars, 2176 AD. Long inhabited by human settlers, the Red Planet has become the
dark and
dangerous manifest destiny of an over-populated Earth. 640,000 people now live
and work at far-flung outposts all over Mars, mining the planet for its abundant
natural resources. But one of those mining operations has uncovered a deadly
mother lode: a long-dormant Martian civilization whose warriors, now unleashed
and apparently unstoppable, are systematically taking over the bodies of human
intruders, bent on ridding the planet of the invaders from Earth.
Lt. Melanie Ballard (Natasha Henstridge), a veteran of two years on the Mars
Police Force, is on transport assignment to Shining Canyon to bring James
“Desolation" Williams (Ice Cube), the planet’s most notorious criminal,
to justice. Williams has no plans to make Ballard’s job easy and what begins
as a battle of force and wits between cop and criminal soon turns into something
more fundamental: a battle for human survival and escape from the doomed planet.
Joining Lt. Ballard on the mission are Bashira (Clea Duvall), the timid rookie;
Jericho (Jason Statham), the fast talking young gun; Commander Helena Braddock
(Pam Grier), the
tough-as-nails veteran and Descanso (Liam Waite), the reliable soldier. When the
team
encounters Professor Whitlock (Joanna Cassidy) and learns of her deadly mistake
– accidentally unleashing dormant evil Martian forces from an archaeological
dig site – all hell breaks loose. It’s civilization against civilization and
Shining Canyon becomes the O.K.Corral - 176 years into the future - as Ballard
and Williams join forces in mortal combat with the “Ghosts of Mars."
If Hammon, another diehard Carpenter fan, had the chance to guest star in the
film, he would have been guy opening the door and closing the door for Natasha's
entrance and exit from the courtroom. “For some reason he stood out to
me," Hammon says. “I wondered who he was, if he'd done any other movies
or if he even had a film credit."
Perhaps the filmmakers of this movie will consider the fans’ input for the
next movie. Keep posting in the newsgroups! Maybe the fans’ voices will be
heard for the next Carpenter film.
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"John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars"
