Jeff Doten's Venusian Blog

Stolen from The Amazing website of Kavalier and Clay. Jeff is fraking off the walls now. The best of the best. CHABON REVISING ‘JOHN CARTER OF MARS’ SCRIPT Thursday, April 9, 2009 8:44 am In yesterday’s item by Deadline Hollywood Daily about Michael Chabon switching agents, it mentioned that he was attached to write a script for Disney’s John Carter of Mars. Having never heard that before, I checked in with Chabon to see if it was accurate. The answer is yes. “I’ve been hired to do some revisions to an already strong script by Andrew Stanton and Mark Andrews,” Chabon said. “I wrote my original screenplay The Martian Agent back in 1995 because I wished I could do [Edgar Rice] Burroughs’s Barsoom. So this is pretty much a dream come true for me.” Disney got the option rights to Burrough’s 11-volume series in 2007 after the rights lapsed at Paramount Pictures. Andrew Stanton, the writer and director of Finding Nemo and WALL-E, is set to direct. It’s expected to hit theaters in 2012.

I love these books. I NEED more. The world needs more interplanetary romance adventure this-kind-of-stuff. I read Sky People when it came out and really enjoyed it, but being a Barsoomian obsessive I was really pumped for In the Courts of the Crimson Kings. And I was right. ( Note - the martians have a formal language that is structured like the language from the show Deadwood, without the profanity. Once you get the swing of it, it's hysterical ) I just read the paperback on holidays, but I need to get the hard cover to match my hardcover of The Sky People. And it's ripe for a third one ! All of you, go out and buy them now !

I've got a new forum attached to my John Carter of Mars site, barsoomia.org . Go on over and post, well, help get the posting going....

Holy Crap. It’s real. The John Carter of Mars movie. “It’s real,” Stanton assured us. “We’re full bore on it right now. We’re over the hump of the writing phase, and we’re certainly far from rewrites.” I really didn’t think I’d see this day. It’s like getting to 3rd base or some base anyways. It’s been all over the web for about 2 days now, but here it is SciFiWire and MTV they’ve got the best stuff. I really liked this - Stanton: Well, it's not being done by the Pixar crew. It's being done by Disney, and I'm sort of being loaned out. We're sort of using any element that we need to to make the film right. We're not being purist with Pixar, but Pixar's a brand that you have to trust that's for all ages. This story of John Carter is not going to be an all-ages film. Are you thinking PG-13? Stanton: Well, if you do the story right, there's no way you couldn't. Jeff - just freakin’ wow.

I hate to say it, but deadlines seem to work for me. Here it is all done. I think. I was thinking about Charles' comment on my use of color. I think I'm an impressionist at the heart. Something I may work on later is on the far left of the painting. Behind the 2 windows is an open wall with more mural on it. That is what the color and squiggle are about, but seeing it here, I think it needs more attention, despite my sketch and photo. But I have a tree put up now.

This is a study of a painting for my wife. It's were we stayed on Vancouver Island last summer. Of course I've left it to the last minute, but I was torn, waiting to see if we were going back this coming summer. Now that we've confirmed our booking, I'm painting.

SO that’s me, happy little guy tagged and ready to party at the beginning of the World Fantasy Con were I live in Calgary. Take note of my Fire Gods of Venus are behind me, and Burroughs images to the right of me. Not that you can see it, but I even had a print of the banner for my Barsoomia.org site ( which I’m in the process of repainting ) Set up Thursday,met a couple artists. I have to go home and be dad. Check out this 20lb bag of book loot ! Fri- Todd lockwood shows up & shames us all, fortunately he's a great guy.I went to a panel with him & John Picacio on process & learned a few things. I've been playing with digital water color now after he gives us a tutorial on his mac. My friend Dan & I take Julia, a starving young artist from Denver out to pub & we discover that everyone from the US wants to talk about the election. We thought it would be off limits. Then I had a meeting with a publisher at their party suite & it turns out there are 2 there...