Back in June, it was reported that X-Men Origins: Wolverine stars Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins were the first announced cast in Andrew Stanton‘s live-action John Carter of Mars project. Now the project has it’s first big name star with the signing of Willem Dafoe.

Dafoe will be playing the role of Tars Tarkas, a Martian with a heart of gold who has the ability to love, which is very much not a virtue of his particular species of vicious warriors. He joins up with John Carter (Kitsch) in the first story, The Princess of Mars — which this first movie is based on. Collins will be playing said Princess of Mars.

John Carter of Mars follows a Civil War veteran who is mysteriously transported to Mars — a planet that’s dying — and right into the middle of two civilizations that are at war with each other. The character was created by Edgar Rice Burroughs almost one hundred years ago.

While both Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins have the look, they haven’t yet proven themselves to us as actors, which is exactly what they will get to do here. On the other hand, the casting of Willem Dafoe gives them a seasoned, heavily-proven actor to really bring it all together.

This of course is director Andrew Stanton’s first live-action adventure after his incredible animated works like writing and directing my personal favorite Pixar movie Finding Nemo. He’s also written and directed A Bug’s Life and Wall-E, as well as as a writer on Toy Story, Toy Story 2, and Monsters, Inc.. Oh, and let’s not forget his voice talents, which show up in many of the Pixar movies and games with his best known work being that of a certain aged sea turtle named Crush.

[Source: Variety]