The "Latest" Side of the Web

Ok, ok, so this page will showcase the latest news & devlopments on JC's newest film, whatever that might be. Be forewarned that some of the news may contain SPOILERS. The current JC film in the spotlight is:

John Carpenter's
GHOSTS OF MARS
Set 200 years in the future on a colonised Mars, it is the story of a group of human colonists who must be rescued after they are possessed by vengeful Martian ghosts.

Opens August 24th in North America

10:25 PM 12/3/01 GOM DVD Rant!!! The pro’s and con’s of the GOM DVD. From Ain’t It Cool Coaxial News.

9:08 PM 11/2/01 Several GOM Posts!!! Cool stuff aplenty from MarcoB, from reviews to interviews, and all about GOM, how about that? From MarcoB’s posts on the ITMOM list today.

As an aside, Mr.Showbiz.com shut down today for good, I was a frequent visitor of their site since my University day’s back in 1996 and I’m sad to see them go as I visited them daily. The picture of JC you see in this site’s logo was taken from Mr. Showbiz.com as well. RIP.

9:06 PM 9/19/01 A Plethora Of Posts!!! Here’s a spate of info that I have been unable to report on due to my time constraints, they spread from 9/8/01 to 9/13/01. Thanks to the various posters on ITMOM List, mainly MarcoB, MarkH or as otherwise noted.

Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2001

A visitor to my JC CD site asked for an MP3 of BENSON ARIZONA and being the really nice guy that I am, I created it. This is not a simple "rip the song from the CD" as there are only 2 tracks on the CD and both are 20 minutes long. The track has to be edited out of this 20 minute track...anyway enough rambling... If you click on the DARKSTAR Image (which is a capture from when he turns the music on) the MP3 for BENSON ARIZONA will download:

Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2001

Just click on the link bellow and you will find an interview to Carpenter in real audio at the venice film festival and another one with clea duvall

Date: Sun, 9 Sep 2001

Date: Sat, 8 Sep 2001

Also featuring: CHARLIE BENANTE, drums • J.J. GARCIA, drums • BUCKET BAKER, percussion

From the famed director of Halloween, Vampires and Escape From New York,John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars is a harrowing tale of rescue and escape from a colonized Mars in the year 2025.

John Carpenter returns as both director and composer of this journey intodarkness. Eschewing any sort of traditional approach to the score, Carpenterhas created what could very well become a rock instrumental classic.Featuring best-selling guitarists Steve Vai and Elliot Easton (leadguitarist for 18 years with The Cars), members of the group Anthrax and theinimitable Buckethead, one of the most bizarre and enigmatic figures inAmerican underground and experimental music, the recording sessions for JohnCarpenter’s Ghosts of Mars amounted to a legendary gathering of some of thegreatest rock instrumentalists of our time.

Long inhabited by human settlers, the Red Planet has become the manifestdestiny of an over-populated Earth. Nearly 640,000 people now live and workall over Mars, mining the planet for its abundant natural resources. But oneof those mining operations has uncovered a deadly mother lode: a long-dormant Martian civilization whose warriors are systematically taking overthe bodies of human intruders.

Lt. Melanie Ballard (Natasha Henstridge) of the Martian Police Force is ontransport assignment to bring James “Desolation” Williams (Ice Cube), theplanet’s most notorious criminal, to justice. Williams has no plans to makeBallard’s job easy, and what begins as a battle of force and wits betweencop and criminal soon turns into something more fundamental: a battle forhuman survival in the realm of the Martian warriors. It’s civilizationagainst civilization as Ballard and Williams join forces in mortal combatwith the Ghosts of Mars.

10:10 PM 9/14/01 Mohammad’s OFFICIAL Ghosts Of Mars Review – ONLINE!!! The Reivew You’ve Been Waiting For!!!: Well, it’s that as well as a pretty spoilerish break down of the film. A hybrid of sorts, hope you enjoy it especially if you’re going to have to wait for it to come out in your part of the world yet. Sorry for the wait, but hey, I got there!

12:02 PM 9/8/01 The French Have Better Trailers!!!: Well, that’s according to MarcoB’s recent posting on the ITMOM list. Click the below and choose the teaser VF.

9:17 PM 9/6/01 GOM DVD Specs!!!: A an email concerning DVD specs for GOM. The opening line from the news cracks me up, 10 seconds yeah! From KenP (thanks to GrahamH too)

----After spending about ten seconds in theaters, Columbia has announced specs for John Carpenter's Ghost Of Mars. Goodies including a 2.35;1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, English 5.1 and English and French 2.0 surround and subtitle tracks, an audio commentary with director John Carpenter, three featurettes including "Video Diary: Red Desert Nights," "SFX Deconstructions" and "Scoring Ghosts of Mars," production notes, talent files and theatrical trailers. The disc retails for $24.95 and street date is 12/4.

9:12 PM 9/6/01 JC HereAnd Now!!!: This is what JC is doing as of yesterday. From Yahoo! Reuters.

U.S. director John Carpenter attends a photocall in Venice Lido, September 5, 2001. Carpenter is in Venice to present his out of competition film 'John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars' at the 58th edition of the Venice film festival. REUTERS/Claudio Papi

7:44 PM 8/27/01 Ghost World Interviews!!!: Here is the three part interview JC did late last week I was unable to post until now. From Cinescape Online.

7:39 PM 8/27/01GOM Opening Grosses - Pathetic!!!: The film cost $33 million to make & barely raked in about a tenth of what it cost. Possible foreign box office receipts will help settle things out, let’s hope and pray. From the Sci Fi Wire.

8:56 PM 8/22/01 A Good Screening Review!!!: Martian menace KenP gives up this good email review of the film. There’s hope for GOM yet!

Here is a Ghosts of Mars Review for you to either post or just read. I didn't include any spoilers. I enjoyed the movie, could have been a little better but it was what I wanted to see and I was fine with that!!

I saw this movie at one of those sneak preview radio give-aways before the general release and so I knew that virtually everyone there would

be there for the free movie and not know what they were getting into. Therefore it did not surprise me to hear a bunch of vocal critics yelling that it sucked while leaving the theater. I really couldn't understand why they didn't like it. Of course being a Carpenter fan, I can't have anun-biased opinion, but I can try.

For much of the movie I was totally caught up in what was going on. I was on the edge of my seat as characters began to explore a seemingly abandoned outpost. I thought the main characters were believable and entertaining. I had no problems with Henstridge, Cube or anyone. The dialog may be the biggest weakness of the movie as there were many +stupid+lines. Still, in a movie like this - it seemed to be okay.

The action, sets, effects and make-up were all done well, so I guess any complaints must be aimed to the story. Some on-line reviews state that the plot is stupid but I didn+t see that at all. Actually it may be ignorance of the viewers that may be at fault here. Going into the film I had read a lot about this film from this great web site and others and I knew going into the film what to expect. I really wanted to see a story based on the Quatermass stories and GOM did a very good job with this. Perhaps a bit more explanation on this part may have been prudent. The Assault on Precinct 13 angle is present in the movie but it really adds a lot to the film - creating plenty of tension. The Thing element be the weakest part of the film. I really thought they could have done without it or at least altered it slightly. There may have been too much going on and not enough explanation. Having seen and enjoyed Assault, The Thing and

Quatermass, fans should enjoy this movie. Perhaps more on the Martian race and the whole +ghost+ element could have been explored a bit more. There is plenty in the film that is Carpenter, including the ending and I left the theater happy. It may not be my best movie of the year but given what we have had so far, it may actually be close!!

Sure, Carpenter could have tweaked a few things here and there but for the most part I really thought that this film was his best work in a few years - perhaps his best since "Prince of Darkness."

8:37 PM 8/20/01 The Religion of Mars!!!: JC explains how he went about researching the history behind his new martian menace. From JAM! Showbiz.

8:30 PM 8/20/01 Getting Real With Natasha Henstridge!!!: An article that explores Natasha’s rise to fame, scan to the bottom to read GOM related stuff. From JAM! Showbiz.

3:42 PM 8/19/01 Prevue Online Interview!!!: Prevue Online does an extensive interview with JC. Thanks to Marco’s post on the ITMOM list.

7:21 PM 8/17/01One Tough Chick!!!: Natasha Henstridge goes on about having a tough, masculine side blah, blah blah. Makes it sound a little incongruous when she later mentions in the article how piss scared she was of Ice Cube when they met. Way to go soldier! From the Sci Fi Wire.

7:18 PM 8/17/01 The Latino Review Reviews GOM!!!: A scathing review doesn’t have much of anything good to say about GOM. From the Latino Review, with a nod of the head to Coming Attractions for helping to point the way.

11:57 PM 8/16/01 Pamela Grier Is Bruise Free!!!: Pamela Grier is……JACKIE BROWN!!! Sike, my mistake, I meant to say that she’s Helna Braddock in GOM and in the following interview tells why she didn’t do a lot of stunt work in the film **SPOILER AHEAD** Probably cuz she’s one of the first to get offed by the big red menace. Oh well. From the Sci Fi Wire.

7:46 PM 8/15/01 GOM Soundtrack Release Date!!!: Part of KennethP’s email to me today lets us know when the soundtrack will pop up and take over our souls. He also weighs in on the release date controversy.

Accordying to the Varese Sarabande web-site the Ghost of Mars soundtrack is scheduled for release on September 18.

It's a shame about all the confusion. I'm afraid the movie will come out without much promotion and get lost in the shuffle. Somebody screwed up big time on promoting the movie. I am attending an advanced preview of the movie on Tuesday August 22 so I am assuming the release date is the 24th -but you never know!!

7:39 PM 8/15/01 Mars Ain’t Sexy!!!: Natasha Henstridge spills the beans on being waif thin in Hollywood as well as a few snippets concerning how it was for her to enter into GOM so late in the game. From Cinescape Online.

6:46 PM 8/14/01 Comedy Central & Release Date Confusion Continues!!!: Here’s some info on when JC will be appearing on the boob tube as well as this scoopers confusion with the GOM release date that I previously mentioned on 8/4/01 (see below). From the ITMOM list.

JC is scheduled to appear on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Thursday August 16 @ 11:00-11:30 PM EST on Comedy Central. If you miss it the replay is Friday August 17 @ 1:00-1:30 AM EST. Must see!

BTW, can anybody clarify the confusion concerning the GOM release date? I caught the end of a TV ad that said August 17, I thought great they moved it up. Then yesterday I saw another ad that restated the original release date of the 24th. Anyone know what's up??? Thanx!

10:50 PM 8/10/01 New York Reviews!!!: Fan reaction from those who saw the previews in Manhattan. From Ain’t It Cool.

6:49 PM 8/8/01 Calm down!!!: This email tries to put my fears to rest as per my rant on 8/4/01, but the source is not verified so take this with a grain (or bucket load) of salt. From the all knowing GomKnowItAll.

Hello there again. The movie does come out August 24th and the music on The trailer is Eminem and D12 this music was decided by Sony and no one else it was not up to Jc. Sorry about the music on the trailer. You guys have to wait till you hear the soundtrack, It's awesome!

6:31 PM 8/8/01 See GOM Early!!!: News you can use, all about seeing GOM ahead of the rest of us, if you live in NYC that is! From Dark Horizons.

10:06 PM 8/4/01 2 Trailers – 2 Release Dates – 1 Movie!!!: Ya know, it really irks me when movie studios, BIG movie studios (Sony anyone?) don’t know when their own movies are coming out. I have 2 different GOM trailers recorded on the satellite system I’m testing for my company, both trailers recorded in the past 2 days and as I was flipping between them tonite, examining my favorite parts in each, I came to the horrible realization that neither of them had the same release date. One says August 17 and the other says August 24. You studio fuck ups really piss me off when you do something shitty like this and the funny thing is that I got proof, on tape!

I mean really, August 17th or August 24^th, it’s a shell game now! If I look at it from my standpoint it can make my website look bad because you idiots don’t know when your own movie is coming out and viewers might start hassling me that I got the wrong release date posted above.

And what’s up with you studio marketing biatches? Did JC just happen to look the other way as you stuck an Eminem track over the trailer? I mean, if JC didn’t think Ice Cube (who can rap better than the Real Slim Shady) could rap on the soundtrack because of the tone of the movie, what makes you (Sony marketing) think Eminem was any more appropriate? Maybe you Hollywood dunderheads ought to listen to the lyrics of the song, they aptly describe your marketing techniques and overall IQ (I can say shit like this because I’m not on your payroll, assholes. – ahh, how I’ve missed my rants of yore)

“This kinda music causes mass confusion! People start acting stupid! Acting stupid!” –Eminem (D12, or whoever the hell it really is)

7:48 PM 8/2/01Why GOM may never had happend!!!: JC talks about what to expect when making a semi-low budget film like GOM. From the Sci-FI Wire.

9:33 PM 8/1/01GOM Clip Online!!!: Snake himself slithered by and dropped a martian sized bomb on me. Apparently the official GOM site (accessible at top of the page) has a clip of the movie online, check it out. Damn my busted sound system.

Hey man, I figured you would want to know that the Ghosts of Mars website has a one minute excerpt from the film online. Click on the tomb location of the direction map and there you go. Be cool, and call me Snake!

Ghosts of Mars: Some new pics from the John Carpenter sci-fi pic are now up at movieinside.de

2:25 PM 7/31/01 Comic Con Transcript!!!: This piece o’ gold landed in my mailbox & I ain’t complainin’ it’s MarcoB’s contribution for the day, the week, the YEAR!!! A transcript of JC’s panel at the San Diego Comic Con. So check it out. Thanks to ghost killa MarcoB.

Here is the complete report for gom in the comic con. Carpenter fans must be interested in knowing it

8:52 PM 7/29/01 John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars: First Look!!!: Somebody note down the below GOM special & report back to me on it okay? It’s also mentioned in JCTV.

8:33 PM 7/27/01 Carpenter feels ghettoized???: An interview with JC, but not much we haven’t really heard before, check it out nonetheless. From Cinescape Online.

8:16 PM 7/24/01 More Comic Con News!!!: More news from the GOM panel that appeared at the San Diego Comic Con, including an aside as to what type of material JC might direct next. From Dark Horizons.

SDCC: John Carpenter Projects: The "Ghosts of Mars" panel proved to be one of the most interesting of the con. Carpenter himself was delayed by about 10 minutes leaving Joanna Cassidy to handle the crowd by herself and man it was tough - the 2,000 or so audience didn't want to be stalled and were getting very irrate. Luckily before things turned to fisticuffs John arrived to great applause and things took on from there (Cassidy working well with Carpenter at times). Carpenter himself had some quite interesting things to say, one person asked him if 'Ghosts' has spiritual aspects: "If you're looking for spirituality when you go see this movie you're gonna be REAL disappointed", in fact the film is more of a western set in space with the lead bad guy's makeup taking an average of three hours to apply. Then came the big questions like what does he want to do next? "I don't have any specific plans but I was thinking about going back to my roots and doing a balls out horror film like Halloween...but I don't have a story yet". Someone comments to him that 'Ghosts' looks a lot like "Assault on Precinct 13" to which he replies "Yeah I just make the same movie over and over again" (crowd laughs) "I'm not kidding" (crowd laughs harder). One big thing was revealed when someone asked him about making a new film based on a work from horror writer HP Lovecraft - "I can't get anybody to make HP Lovecraft. I've talked about it with studios, I've talked about it for TV movies, nobody gets it - nobody gets him". One last thing confirmed was there'll be no "Prince of Darkness" sequel.

6:40 PM 7/22/01 Comic Con Hell!!!: According to some AICN pooper scoopers, some dolts at the San Diego Comic Convention didn’t give enuff props or respect to JC during his stint on the podium, so to whover they may be, you better check yo’ self, before you mess yo’ self. Biatch! From AICN.

8:36 PM 7/19/01 GOM Set Report!!!: News about GOM and exactly how JC went about blowing stuff up on the set. From Dark Horizons.

8:14 PM 7/9/01 Exclusive GOM Media File!!!: Just below the Rated R sign at the top of the this page is a static link to some JC media the GOM official site has let me use. Check it out, as my wife would say, it’s DA BOMB! Hehehe….Courtesy of the GOM official media depot.

9:13 PM 7/7/01 When Fans Attack!!!: Rabid JC fan DieterK is frothing at the mouth in his latest email, but it’s all in the hopes of pulling JC out of the doldrums and getting him back into the shape he was when he was directing classics like The Thing.

Greetings, Dieter K. here with some food for thought... I haven't seen GOM and I don't normally judge books by their covers, but I do read the summary before I buy it! Carpenter is loosing his mind. I can't believe the shit he has said and done lately. First off, what is with him saying "techno music" is what he made? Give me a break man. I do not want to hear that shit in a Carpenter film. Secondly, why the heavy metal music? To me, it only cheapens the movie and it all really sounds like marketing hype, something Carpenter USED to be against. The way the bad review sounded reminded me of Escape from L.A., which is to date, Carpenter's worst film. Terrible CGI F/X (Nintendo looking underwater sequence, absolutely gay matte shots of Snake surfing, etc. etc.) poor editing, and a cheeseball guitar version of the Escape from New York music. I can understand experimenting with a few movies, but enough is enough already. Mr. Carpenter, if you're reading this, please take note. You're my favorite director, I'm a musician - when my fans tell me something I make sucks, I take it to heart, and I've found alot of the time, they are actually right. Constructive critisism is always a positive thing. Go back to what you do best man, PLEASE! First, start with the music. Give us more of THE FOG, HALLOWEEN, and PRINCE OF DARKNESS. You virtually CREATED the synth horror film. Why don't you make scary stuff anymore? I enjoyed Vampires, but it wasn't remotely scary and it could have been. I have a feeling GOM is going to be the same, how can it be scary with a "techno" and "heavy metal" soundtrack and Marilyn Manson lookalikes? Next off, cut it on the action. There are a million directors making senceless action movies. You do suspence and horror, dark corners where every shadow poses a threat. Action is great when it's in the context of a horror movie, like when Palmer is changing while tied to the couch, but by it's self, it's just more RAMBO crap. Last but not least, take your time. Whatever magic you performed in the editing room on sceens like the lighthouse sequence in THE FOG is greatly missed. Also, CGI sucks. Stay away from it. It is unneeded and never looks real. Get Bottin back, he rocks. I know you and KNB are buddies, but Bottin created the evil scary transformation sequence, and he is the true master. I can't see him okaying something like the goth rock characters in GOM ever, he would have found some way to tweek it and make it work. To summarize all I've said, please just go back to horror and if you want to do a rock video action movie, don't make it something that could have been a horror film. Dead alien ghosts. Wow. Killer idea. Why ruin the idea and do it as a rock video? It should be all out horror. Starman is one of my favorite movies, imagine if it had been done as a horror movie? It wouldn't have worked. The atmosphere should fit the content. Thanks for listening!

7:45 PM 7/4/01 Hello Mr.KnowItAll!!!: Mr. KnowItAll’s email tells us to just chilllll….til the next episode, sounds like he’s in the know about this picture and all this GOM badmouthing by other websites has got him wired and he want’s us to know it’s all good, not to worry. Well, until the script lands on my doorstep, I’ll keep making my own personal judgements on how I think GOM is progressing and how it might turn out. Still, his input is much appreciated and welcome as it comes to JC’s rescue if other websites do not.

Hello and I hope you are doing well. I'm glad that you are a John Carpenter fan it's great to know that you will obviously be seeing a wonderful movie, well written, well directed and great music. I'm here writing to you and fans of JC that the movie is awesome so great so John. It Hurts to know that they are negative reviews. On Ain't it cool website where Moriarty had a review about GOM that was absolute negative. What that person said is Bullshit the script is not short and crap it is very well written, Ice Cube does a great job in the movie. It saddens me to read something that is BS and on people saying that the movie sucks when they haven't seen it is absolute hideous, How can you judge a book by it's cover when you have no idea what the movie is all about. Sure you can read things on the Internet that are NOT ALL TRUE how can you be a fan when you criticizes something you don't know all about. My advice is go see the movie and find out for yourself JC put his hard work into directing, writing it and making great music.

2:14 PM 6/30/01 Making the GHOSTS OF MARS - Part 2!!!: Todays news is all thanks to Marco and his diligent post on the ITMOM list. He’s found the link to the 2^nd part of Cinescape Online’s GOM article. Main points of the article include Jeff Imada's role as stunt coordinator, how JC went about scoring the picture, and his involvement on the Indian site he filmed on.

10:16 AM 6/30/01GOM "Mobile" Sculptures!!!: Here’s an interesting post by Marco on the ITMOM list. One of the mobiles is glimpsed briefly during the trailer, but here you can see a bunch of them used on the set and throughout the movie as well as numerous conceptual designs. Neato speedo.

I have posted a few pictures taken on the Ghosts Of Mars set. If you would like to see them go to: http://www.arbitrarydesign.com/ and click the "Film Work" link. These photos were sent to me by Mr.Carpenter and his wife (the producer). I hope you enjoy them!

8:37 PM 6/28/01 Creative Screenwriting Magazine!!!: Here’s the business end of MattG’s post on the ITMOM list.

First off, in the latest issue of creative screenwriting magazine, there is an article on ghost of mars.haven't gotten a chance to read it yet, so I don't know if there are spoilers or new news.

3:10 PM 6/24/01 GHOSTS OF MARS Reviews Creeping In...!!!: Not so nice neither. From Ain’t It Cool.

4:47 PM 6/22/01 SH**LOADS OF GOM VIDEOS!!!: The Martian Manhunter himself, DieterK plopped this into my email box people, so hop to it & let me know what it’s all about as I don’t got cable, sigh.

Greetings, Dieter K. here again... Just wanted to tell everyone to go to Carpenter's site and download the incredible ammount of new behind the sceens videos on the making of GOM!!! I've got cable and am getting all the HI RES ones, yet they are crap quality, I'd hate to see what the low res ones look like!!! Nevertheless, it's a must download!!! So what are you waiting for?!!

Making the GHOSTS OF MARS - Part 1!!!: The newly revamped Cinsecape Online has a cool new behind the scenes article on GOM including several new pics too, a must read. From Cinescape Online.

9:44 PM 6/13/01 JC at Fangoria!!!: Once again news on where you can see JC appearing live. Thanks to Marco’s post on the Mouth of Madness list.

John Carpenter and his GHOSTS OF MARS star Jason Statham will appear at the FANGORIA Weekend of Horrors in Pasadena, August 11-12. Go to http://www.creationent.com/ for more details.

11:55 AM 6/9/01 Ghosts of Mars official!!!: Check it out, GOM has an official website. Ya need flash to view the site to be sure, but after that it’s a smooth trip to Shining Canyon mining outpost. Essentially you ride the martian train throughout the outpost, kinda lame, kinda neat, it’s all JC inspired though so it’s all good. It’s like reals-vill Daddy-O. Many thanks to this heads up from Marco on the Mouth of Madness list.

9:14 PM 6/3/01 New Images!!!: New images for you to feast your eyes on from the GOM set. Thanks to Marco’s posting on the Mouth of Madness list.

Chandler Group Executive Producer Bob Shepherd discusses the shot with John Carpenter. Some behind scenes special efects check it out

Classification!!!: GOM is rated R, no biggie there, but a big hurrah & thank you to Marco & his posting on the Mouth of Madness list describing why the film got an R.

it has been given an R restricted, for strong violence /gore, language and some drug content

12:45 PM 5/27/01Quint takes a look at GHOST OF MARS on paper and stage!!!: Here’s a linkity split to a glowing review of the GOM script/storyline. Some choice dialogue is given and the ending is not trashed & bad mouthed as C.H.U.D. did in their review. Actually, the ending is thought to be quite awesome. So check it out and feel good about JC for a change. The best part would have to be seeing Ice Cube running around in the original Snake Plissken threads from Escape From New York, now THAT is going to be soo fucking cool! Courtesy of Ain’t It Cool News.

7:49 PM 5/22/01 GOM Poster!!!: Well, I’m back from my court marriage to a righteous babe (the religious ceremony will be a few months from now) & find that yesterday the GOM poster has turned up. I think it’s very reminiscient of Vampires and shows little, if no, imagination. Kinda goes the Scream route of having the stars posed all serious like. It hearkens to Vampires b/c of Big Daddy Mars face in the background. Very lame effort if I do say so myself. Courtesy of Dark Horizons.

9:04 PM 4/16/01 Mohammad’s Impression of GOM Trailer!!!: Well I finally got to see the GOM trailer (with sound) on TV yesterday and all in all I was pretty impressed. It was nicely edited. Keith David rocked as the voice over narration and the images for the most part kicked arse. Ironically enough I wasn’t taken with Natasha Henstridge’s character, she seemed to wooden, to me she didn’t ooze feminie kickass swagger. Ice Cube on the other hand was pretty damn good with his smack you biatch attitude going full tilt, especially his “Damn girl, I like you already!” bit before knocking out Henstridge (presumably) Richard Cetrone was pretty cool as the bad guy, he’ll be fun to watch, the last image of him seemed to be classic Carpenter material to me. The music? I’m sorry but the music was utter shite. I don’t know but none of the music in the trailer stood out nor was worth remembering for me. I don’t know, I guess I’ll have to wait and see how much of it is a temp track and how much of it is real once the flick comes out. Mind you this all based on a single viewing, if I could’ve taped it I could have provided something more substantial but this is all I got to work with. Deal wid it!

8:33 PM 4/9/01 GOM TRAILER MUSIC REVEALED!!!: Seeing how my sound card is on the fritz, I got no freaking idea what the GOM trailer sounds like, I’m just watching a bunch of moving pictures. That’s why I appreciate this heads up from your friend and mine, dieterK, about the music that plays with the trailer. Apparently he feels it’s not all JC, apparently some of it comes from Kurt Russell’s recent 3000 Miles to Graceland. Well, here’s some food for thought.

Breathe in now, breathe out. Hands up now, now hands down! Back up, back up, watcha gonna do now? Keep rollin rollin rollin rollin rollin….!

Greetings! I'm a huge Carpenter fan, and now, having seen the GOM trailer, I have mixed emotions...The thing that offended me the most was the terrible,trend/grunge/rap music! Ekkkk!!! I was so frightened that Carpenter had lost his mind if this music was, in fact,his creation, but I am glad to say that IT IS NOT! :>I recently saw "3000 MILES TO GRACELAND" - During the sceen where they rob the bank, lo and behold, the GOM TRAILER music is playing! 3000 MILES is soundtracked by George Clinton, basically it's a bunch of DJ crap.The GOM version of the song is a shorter version, but it's deffinently the same music, right down to the"err er err" sound effect that plays when we see thepeople walking on the GOM trailer.Carpenter is becoming notorious for having bad music play on trailers, why doesn't he use his own? (Remember the Marilyn Manson Vampires trailer soundtrack?) The only other thing that I didn't like about the trailer was Big Daddy Mars, who does, in fact, look like Marilyn Manson... I think they could have come up with something way better than a guy with a piercing fetish and makeup. Nevertheless, I will see the movie when it comes out, and still am hoping for the best. Just thought I'd drop this not and clear up the GOM trailer score issue, someone actually said "the music is cool" and I had to clear up that not only does it suck, but thank God, it isn't John Carpenter, and it won't be playing in the movie I hope to God.

8:15 PM 3/23/01 GOM TRAILER!!!: A great way to start off the weekend if I do say so myself. The GOM trailer seems pretty cool with some nifty editing. I’d have to say that some of the Ice Cube images and Big Daddy Mars images are cool. But my soundcard ain’t working so I can’t really comment a whole lot on it right now. Courtesy of Ain’t It Cool and the Fandom Network.

Hey folks, Harry here... Old time AICN-man Smiling Jack Ruby has scored a cool trailer that we're all waiting on... JOHN CARPENTER'S GHOSTS OF MARS!!! The trailer is so small though, that details are hard to make out, so I can't see my head (if it is there at all) and sometimes the action seems to just be pixels moving... but I dig the way the trailer is cut and the music... which is just... cool. Head over to Ruby's house and check it out at This Location!!!!

9:20 PM 3/12/01Anthrax scoring session pics!!!: It really must be true if there are pics, and the official site has them of John and the band jamming together to bring something to the GOM soundtrack. I would’ve preferred him hooking up with Chris Cornell myself (who btw, I just read today, has been hanging aroudn with Rage Against the Machine lately….hmmmm) From Dark Horizons.

5:52 PM 3/10/01 Anthrax scoring GOM!!!: News about whose going to be slinging songs on the soundtrack. I still fully expect the soundtrack to be mainly JC all the way though. From Dark Horizons.

Thrash metal band Anthrax went into a recording studio yesterday where they are working through till Sunday on the score for this horror sci-fi film.

4:47 PM 3/5/01 Quint Takes You To The GHOSTS OF MARS Set!!!: Spies working for Ain’t It Cool dole out an incredible account of their visit to the GOM set courtesy of Greg Nicotero. From Ain’t It Cool. Beware though, these are some long ass reports so be you’ll need an hour to spare at least I’d say, that’s how long it took me.

8:46 PM 2/20/01 Harry plays fly on the wall while John Carpenter composes and performs music for GHOSTS OF MARS!!!: Harry Knowles sits in on the scoring session for GOM, you’ll notice how affected he is by the amount of drool covering this story. From Ain’t It Cool News.

Harry plays fly on the wall while John Carpenter composes and performs music for GHOSTS OF MARS!!!

There are moments throughout my overly lucky life where I am sitting in a place watching a thing going on where suddenly I realize…. "Holy shit, I’m really here watching this!"

I constantly had that feeling in New Zealand while watching the various actors embody and become the characters of Middle Earth. I would look around and just realize… "What the hell am I doing here?!?!"

There was the first time I walked onto the set of Ebert & The Movies and took the seat opposite Roger and looked at the miniature set before me and just realized…. "Oh my God, I’m doing this!!!"

Those are a pair of the more… unbelievably cool moments I’ve lived. Flashes of time and of experiences where I became so self-aware of my sheer luck and unbelievable good fortune to be in a place and time. Today was another.

Today, I woke up in Los Angeles… I’ve been there this weekend working on the TV show with my producer and working on a pretty cool business deal and while I was there my father called to tell me that my 16mm print of FIEND WITHOUT A FACE arrived back at Geek Headquarters in Austin.

I love that film. I love that movie like you wouldn’t believe. And at that moment I thought of only one pair of people I know in the world that share an unadulterated love for the classic B-horror sci-fi flicks of the period. The Carpenters. John Carpenter and his wonderful wife and producer Sandy King.

Since GHOSTS OF MARS started I have been notably out of contact with them. Trying not to be a nuisance. I hadn’t spoken with Sandy in about 5-6 months. Turns out she’s just had knee surgery and is suffering the joy of being immobile. I love immobility (sarcasm spread like jam on morning toast). When I told Sandy that the first person I thought of when I got the news that my print of FIEND WITHOUT A FACE arrived was her… she giggled with delight. You see, Sandy and John have a pure love for films like IT CONQUERED THE WORLD, INVASION OF THE SAUCERMEN, Howard Hawks’ THE THING… well if you’re cool you know the rest.

We chatted for a bit, when suddenly she asked me how long I’d be in town. I told her till late Monday (President’s Day) and that is when she told me that John was scoring GHOSTS OF MARS and that I should check it out.

At this point… My tongue enlarged about 5 sizes in my mouth… It just laid there… unmoving producing gobs of saliva dripping from the red chin hairs…

This was the point where I was supposed to answer. My jaw closed and opened while I gutturally muttered… "Yeaahhh"

As I left the phone conversation I just sort of sat there in my hotel room looking out my window just gob-struck.

The next day, Sandy calls me back confirming that I was on for Monday at 2pm. I was given the address and I really had no idea what to expect. How many musicians would there be? Would I be sitting in some sort of soundproof room staring in wonder at what was going on? I had no idea.

I thought about it briefly, went in my bathroom and flushed a plastic bag covered note that read, "Moriarty… Call Me On The Cell" and watched it spin down the drain to the evil one’s domain.

32 minutes later, the good professor called saying, "What’s up Harold," See… that’s how powerful Carpenter’s influence is… James even calls me Harold, on the account that subconsciously he knows I’m the BRAIN!

I mention to the M-man that I was going to need a ride to a thing on Monday… and if he was busy that I’m sure I could find someone else to fill in.

He asked what I would be doing and I said, "Well… I don’t know if it is up your alley, but… I am going to check out John Carpenter scoring GHOSTS OF MARS."

The next thing I know I hear a clunk… about twenty seconds later I hear the heavy panting of Mongo followed by… ummm… It sounded a bit like slurping… I’m not insinuating anything, but it was slurping sounds… kinda gross slurping sounds. Moriarty returned to the phone in a dazed voice saying, "The Cops took away my license for driving 5mph on the Freeway" Heh… Old people… And he suggested that Harry Lime be the get-away driver on this adventure.

He swore that Lime would leave his zither at home and wouldn’t begin launching into elegant monologues about cuckoo clocks and long periods of peace and the stifling of creativity that peace brings. Well…. I agreed.

That brings us to today. We arrive at the small little recording studio in an unassuming building somewhere in West Hollywood (I don’t know this town). We walk in, I give my name at the desk and they lead us into this small small small room where I’m greeted by some of the sound guys that help master this music for John. And I turn to see a single director’s chair and a large keyboard. Against the far wall was a couch and against the back wall was a nice black leather chair.

OH MY GOD. It’s just John. He’s the only musician that’ll be playing. Oh My God!

So… I make my way over to the couch, John hadn’t arrived yet and as I sit there I take in the atmosphere of this damn cool room. There is a monitor playing scenes from GHOSTS OF MARS… stuff from the first 15-20 minutes of the film. Scenes with Pam Grier, Jason Stratham, Clea DuVall, Natasha Henstridge and Liam Waite… This isn’t the crux of the film… this is set up… There was one scene of bodies hanging upside down with no heads… And the camera motion all of it felt very Carpenter-esque but we couldn’t hear sound. So we sat and watched.

My eyes danced around the room… Looking at the long tube of purple/blue lightning dancing about… A flashing siren like pig head with a cigar (must be seen to understand), a beer sign… STROH'S… there’s a table with pretzels and roasted peanuts… a music stand with books on beats and program notes for the monster of a synthesizer that John plays. To my right was a tiny brown fridge with drinks… Pepsi and bottled water I believe. Moriarty and I grab a water.

After about 5 or so minutes, John arrives and comes over to greet us. Asks us about whether or not any of us had ever watched any scoring before. The professor trying to exhibit his blasted superiority to me says, "But of course I have! You think me a knave from Texas? I was once privy to the scoring of MYSTERY MEN by Stephen Warbeck."

John looked at the feebled wrinkled mass of prunish skin (aka Moriarty) and said, "Oh, well that was a big set up… they had the music all written out, a big professional gig." And the entire time he said this you could see this smile in his eye. This, ‘boys sit back and watch cause I’m hot’, sort of vibe. Not cockiness… just confidence.

The track he was creating was going to be called… WILLIAMS BREAKS OUT and involves a hostage situation between Desolation Williams (Ice Cube) and Bashira Kincaid (Clea DuVall)… as well as Melanie Ballard (Natasha Henstridge) and Descanso (Liam Waite) who are trying to negotiate her release.

The scene played without score ok. Not great not bad… just a sort of neutral vibe. And it also didn’t feel completely Carpentery yet.

John begins to lay down the first track of the piece… a percussion rhythm… a bit cool and groovy… He knew where to come in, but was trying to figure out where he wanted the percussion to come out… to go away. He watched with it twice and ended the rhythm just as Cube grabs Natasha.

Next he began laying down the real Carpenter sound… that Synth-vibe… echos and pops… Heavy bass work… and over the next 20 or so layers he begins laying in the pieces.

Like in the 1 in the 1.2.3.4. count, he’d lay a quarter note of mid-range foreboding synth sound. Then on the next track, he’d be laying in the bass… which was at first just on the synth, but then with a real electric bass which he also played. The bass part came on the 2 & 3 with a quarter note followed by a lower Half note bass riff that came every other 4 count.

As I watched the screen as John played I began to completely feel that Carpenter feeling creeping into the scene. At this point I began smiling like a complete idiot. Moriarty began covering up the bottom half of his face to hide the drool that was constantly flowing down his chest and Lime? He was in a strange Hindu chant mode… Somewhat distanced from the world about him.

As John played he’d be smoking and getting into the music behind the keyboard… his face while playing reminded me a bit of Bruce Lee after he delivered the leaping death blow where he breaks a neck (Think ENTER THE DRAGON)... John would react emotionally to the music while always watching the screen.

Around this time, John introduces us to the ORGASMOTRON! His secret weapon. It is a electrical sound reactive red light drip like device that moves to the music. If the Orgasmotron isn’t moving, John is not happy. But if the Orgasmotron is happy… then the world is happy.

After the initial 5 tracks I was happy with the piece…. Thinking, well this works great, but John continued to add layers that just textured the piece all the way out. Adding cues to motions and actions that took place on screen… like the big timpani boom at a key grab moment… followed by the big reverse cymbal crash as a knife is drawn to a throat.

Those sound cues that only live in Carpenter movies… the high squeal as Snake throws a knife followed by a grooving beat…

After about 2 hours I noticed that my foot had subconsciously began tapping along… I found myself counting and noticing where things came in and went away. When he put in what sounded to my untrained ear to be a reverse chromatic scale that came down 5 notes before going 2 notes back… and I actually got a cold chill… the Professor and I just smiled like a pair of geeks in heaven.

The amazing thing for me was that John came in with nothing… not even sure what was going to be scored this day. As he watched the scene… then watched it again as it was about half composed… then two-thirds… then done it was amazing to see him being both conductor/composer and director. Every now and again, I’d hear him say under his breath, "Keep it simple stupid!" and that would usually be followed with a "Alright Time Out, I think I want to try something… and for the next 2 minutes he’d scroll through sound and menu options while one hand danced across the keys playing various Carpenter-y bits… till he’d finally find the right sound and emotional chord to add.

Ever since I left the recording studio today, I’ve had Carpenter themes in my head… just dancing. I am still in a bit of a shock that I got to do what I did today. I mean… Christ Almighty, I’m a Carpenter Music NUT! I can’t even count the number of hours I’ve driven the streets of Austin to his themes. There is nothing like driving in Austin in the fall down residential neighborhoods after school has left out while listening to HALLOWEEN! Or driving downtown to ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK! Or driving cross-country with VAMPIRES! Or hanging in San Francisco to BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA.

But remember… when you hear "WILLIAMS BREAKS OUT"… I was there watching it come together… layer after layer. Watching John intuitively place the tracks. Way Cool. Watching John in his sweatpants and sweater… dancing in his pure white socks to the music he was creating instantly… Heh… BLISS! A great great fun time. Watching him play with the keyboard and discovering what he could make it do and his delight at each discovery. That was what it was about.

The ride from the studio to the airport was non-stop… OH MY GODs… Moriarty’s first film set experience was STARMAN, right after he first fled to America to escape British justice…. So for him, John symbolizes the direction he took with his life at that point. For me… John has scored entire sections of my life with his music. Played with my heartbeat and is one of the few guys that can make a synthesizer be really really cool.

I can’t wait to hear what the score beneath my HEAD ON PIKE scene will sound like. I can’t wait. I can’t… really I can’t!

3:29 PM 2/16/01 Upcoming GOM Trailer!!!: Below is part of a scoop telling which movie we might see a GOM trailer, yes! From Dark Horizons.

Upcoming Trailers and Posters: 'TheatreNazi' has been with DH for a while and helped out a lot with that recent "Planet of the Apes" poster scoop very late last year. Now comes an update from him that should make some people's mouths water:

Finally, I received a trailer request form from Sony for trailer placement of upcoming movies. Listed under Final Fantasy, they have Spiderman (tsr-attached), The One (enclosed), Ghost of Mars (enclosed)."

7:57 PM 1/22/01Neil Jacobs Photog Credit!!!: Below is most, not all, of an interesting email from still photographer Neil Jacobs (who worked on Vampires and GOM) He hints at a book about the GOM production, s-w-e-e-t!

Also, Neil if yer out there, thanks for putting me in the know that there’s a JC fan responsible for shooting some of the neat pictures this site has posted. Props to ya and yer hard work bringing us those cool arse pics, whichever of them apply to you :)

I was the still photographer on JC's "Vampires" and JC's "Ghosts of Mars." I enjoy reading the info on your site and get a kick out of the accuracy and speculation regarding John and his work. I'm not writing to praise or complain, but I happened to see two of my photographs from"Ghosts" on your site. I looked hard, but I did see a © Screen Gems onone of the photos. But photo credit to the photographer is alwaysappreciated. I'd like that.

(By-the-way I am looking for a publisher to do a book on the production of "Ghosts of Mars" which will look very good if I can get it published. I'm doing this on my own, with the Carpenter's permission. Wish me luck. I'm sure all John's fans would love it.)

6:54 PM 1/22/01 'Ghosts of Mars' Info!!!: Jason Statham relates news that’s old hat to most people following GOM’s progress, but oh well, here it is. From Cinescape Online.

Jason Statham (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) is shedding some light on his role, and how he got it, in the coming John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars. While talking to the Calgary Sun, Statham spoke of initially trying out for a different role in the film than the one he got, saying, "John saw me in Lock, Stock and set up a meeting. He wanted me to play the prisoner the (futuristic) cops have to transport in Ghosts of Mars, but the studio insisted he cast a higher-profile actor."

Eventually that role went to Ice Cube, but Carpenter was insistent on using Statham to full effect. The actor revealed that for Mars, his writer-director "reworked the screenplay so that my character is far more important to the plot and far more visual."

6:27 PM 1/17/01 2 New GOM Pics!!!: C.H.U.D. with the aid of Wicked Magazine scores our latest look at GOM. I’m particularly fond of the look at the villans and seems I was right initially, that IS Big Daddy Mars!

8:05 PM 1/10/01 GOM Release Date!!!: Looks like we can put a finger on it now, GOM has gotta release date. Lets hope it doesn’t start shuffling around now. From Coming Attractions.

January 10, 2001... Sony sent along a slew of release dates, and on that list was this: August 24th for the spooky people on that red planet. [Info provided by Sony.]

7:41 PM 11/9/00 Wanna different kinda Harry head.... eh baby???: The fat man with the plan Harry Knowles’ latest film cameo, in GOM nonetheless. At least he’s decapitated ;) I downloaded the file at work but didn’t have the necessary codec to run it. Damn! From AICN.

Wanna different kinda Harry head.... eh baby? Also: GHOST OF MARS news

Hey folks, Harry here.... Some months back you might remember that I had my head cast for the upcoming John Carpenter movie, GHOSTS OF MARS.

At the time, I said that we would be putting together a full length video presentation on the site that over the course of a few weeks, you'd get to see how to take a perfect full head cast of someone.... using me as the example.

Due to editing equipment issues, that is still being worked on, what we have here is a brief.... over-view of the entire process including WAY TOO DARK final frames of the finished head. Soon, I'll have perfectly lit images of the KNB created HARRY HEAD for John Carpenter's GHOSTS OF MARS.....

Along side those clips will be full info on who at KNB was doing this to me... as well as what all the different gunk was they were using. This will probably be one of the only times you will ever see me looking like Dynamo from RUNNING MAN.... or like the beginnings of the Kingpin.... Harry sans hairy is scary.

Some people have a bad trip with this sort of thing... me... hell, I'd do it again in a drop of the hat.... reminded me of a cool sensory deprivation tank they have over at the University of Texas.... Tiny scrapings sounding like a dental pic in my ear canal scraping flesh away with that chromey prong thing.

Soon there will be more cool stuff regarding this experience.... For now...

CLICK HERE FOR A 15 MEG QUICKTIME MAKING OF A HARRY HEAD!!!

Yes, I am in GHOSTS OF MARS.... and there was a need for my head to be cast and then made. Do the addition and division and I think you have an idea of basically what it is I do in GHOSTS OF MARS.

Meanwhile.... I would like to know how they teach counting in Florida.

8:53 PM 11/6/00 'Mars' spoiler-level synopsis!!!: Bitchin news on the storyline, sounds freak-a-licious! From Dark Horizons.

Ghosts of Mars: You've heard about rock stars and locations for John Carpenter's new project, but what in the hell is it about? 'Desmondo' has a written up a minor spoiler-level synopsis based what one of the crewman on the project knows:

"The basic plot premise is that there are these miners on Mars who accidentally dig up the remains of some ancient Mars warriors. The spirits of these warriors then posses the bodies of the miners and cause them to mutilate themselves. Now, at the same time this is happening, Ice Cube's character is being transported either somewhere else on the planet, or off the planet (not sure yet). He is a really bad criminal named Desolation (I know for sure) Jones (I think). The police officer that is coming to take him wherever he is going is Natasha Henstridge. Another little twist is that Desolation's friends, three guys named Uno, Dos, and Trace are planning on busting him out.

So as you can probably put together while transporting the prisoner, they run into the trio somewhere near the mine and violence insues. Now, here is where it gets pretty cool, the zombie warriors that have come from the remains are trying to kill everyone around them, there's a reason why but I won't spoil it...but if someone kills a Zombie warrior, the spirit that possessed the zombie then posses whoever killed it. So there is some fun things going on with these guys running from an army of zombies that they cannot kill. Another thing is that the army of zombies likes to use razor discs and spears to attack the characters "

Carpenter Talks 'Mars'
Though John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars won't be in theaters until next summer, the legendary genre director recently took the time to talk about the project with Cinescape magazine contributor J. Rentilly.

"This is a giant action movie," Carpenter said of the film, which is about colonists battling ancient phantasms on Mars circa 2176. "This is the Alamo of humanity."

As that Alamo metaphor suggests, Ghosts will boast a decidedly Western flavor. It might take place on a colonized, terraformed Mars, but the trappings -- mining towns, jailbreaks, train rides and renegade marshals -- come straight out of the Wild West. "Think Howard Hawks and you'll know where my heart is on this movie," Carpenter says.

Despite being a supercharged sci-fi action Western -- a fusion that sounds cool but not cheap -- Ghosts is being produced for a lean $30 million. But even at that low price, it wasn't easy to win a green light for the project. Pre-production has stopped and started several times since Carpenter emerged from self-imposed retirement in 1999 to craft the script with co-writer Larry Sulkis. The delays, though frustrating, gave Carpenter time to perfect the screenplay before the cameras started rolling.

"We wrote the original screenplay story in a very linear way," Carpenter explains. "But it wasn't working like that, so we flipped all of the time around. We used flashbacks. And now I'm making my first experimental film."

For more on the making of Ghosts of Mars, pick up the November/December issue of Cinescape magazine, on sale soon.

6:13 PM 10/25/00 Quint's Adventures in L.A.!!!: Straight and skinny from the ace in Knowles pocket. Only the part concerning GOM is related for you as the entire article is just too damn long to post on its own, from AICN. Gee, I hope the aliens don't turn out to be the little fartknockers from Village of the Damned.

Ahoy there, my fine sea squirts! Aye, it's the inevitably crusty seaman, Quint, here once more, this time with an epic tale of one geek's five day excursion to the forbidden city.

Now, the day was supposed to start with Andy, Don's son, and myself going down to Hollywood Blvd. to shop for movie memorabilia. Instead, I found myself at KNB Effects.

In one corner there was a couple rod puppet Martians for John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars. They looked pretty cool. Apparently they're only used once in a flashback sequence. We get to see them wiped out, hence the presence of their ghosts thousands of years later. The main one was only about 2 or 3 feet tall with a light orangish skin. The face looked more friendly than menacing. Its costume was what looked like red armor. It had 3 deep, horizontal cuts on its legs. A self-mutilation thing.

9:12 PM 10/15/00 Old GOM News!!!: 2 Older news posts from when the site was offline, both from AICN.

From the set of GHOSTS OF MARS!!!

Harry here, and ya know folks... there's a lot of Carpenter talk right now.. because this coming FRIDAY THE 13th of October has one helluva line up at the Egyptian Theater in Los Angeles with Carpenter and nearly everyone still around from the making of HALLOWEEN taking the stage to tell em how it was and how it went. Well, Thomas Dunson here went along for quite a bit of the filming of Carpenter's latest film... GHOSTS OF MARS, and he's here to lay it out for us. Sounds like shooting and production has been going quite well. Here ya go....

It's been awhile....I don't have the knack for writing witty reviews like the rest of your gang but I thought I would send you a little info on GOM. Chances are, this is old stuff but if not, then enjoy.

In all honesty, I'm not a big fan of Carpenter's films but I am definitely a fan of both John and his wife, Sandy King. I have a great deal of respect for his way of working and Sandy's comittment to seeing John's vision come to life. I spent a great deal of time on the set, on location shooting from 6pm to 6am and 2 weeks in a wharehouse shooting from 3pm to 3am. The crew was extremely professional and the atmosphere was very relaxed for an LA production. It helped to have an excellent AD staff and the UPM maintained an outwardly appearance of calm even when things were getting crazy.

As for the script, a page turner but your basic western formula...except it takes place on Mars and gets high marks on the drool meter for Natasha Henstridge playing the lead role. Jeff Imada coordinated a kick ass stunt team and the special effects alone will be worth the price of admission. I didn't see every single take but what I saw of Clea Duvall and Jason Statham was very good....both are charming and down to earth with Jason holding poker games with the crew and Clea doing time as a set PA. Hopefully, their best acting won't end up on the cutting room floor. Joanna Cassidy looks amazing and Cube was pretty much himself.

The set was totally amazing and will blow your mind when you see it. Add to that nearly a hundred extras dressed as ghost warriors, police and miners and you really get the feeling that you're on another planet. The train, complete with depot and interiors, had their very own SFX team and group of operators and they did an excellent job maintaining such a huge piece of machinery amidst the rain, wind and blowing gypsum.

The awesome special effects makeup and prosthetics was handled by KNB and the whole team is amazing. Several of the guys from makeup stunned the rest of the cast and crew after attending a local party one night and joining several other bands in a jam session blasting out some old ACDC tunes. The next day not only were they part of the highly respected KNB team but they were now rockstars and we have the photos to prove it.

They are finally back in LA and are scheduled to wrap shooting somewhere around the 19th of October and a release date in 2001. Anyway, sorry if this is old news.

From the set of John Carpenter's GHOSTS OF MARS

Hey folks, Harry here... ya know, I can't wait to see this baby. It could be very very hardcore cool. However, I have this whole big fear that this film will be sacrificed before the altar of blandness coming down from the folks up on high... However, violent it is... It's on Mars... and their killing Martian screwheads (you'll get that when you see the film) Now I've read the script... It's fun... fun in the way that John Carpenter films can be.... Here ya go...

Hey I am a big fan of the website and I have some things to say about the Ghosts of Mars movie coming from John Carpenter. I was on the set of the film for a good two weeks straight, I really don't want to say doing what because I really don't want to be sued by some hollywood jerk. But here we go, from what I have seen it looks like the movie could go either way, Cheesy stupid or Fucking Awesome.

The main bad guy who they have affectionately deemed Big Daddy Mars on the set looks really cool. He wears a big black...outfit but his face is painted all white and he looks like a really cool version of death. The extra's are really cool I mean when you have about a hundred mutilated people walking around it brings a tear of joy to your eye.

There are tons of explosions, it seemed like there was an explosion every night, and people loosing arms, heads, getting stabbed with spears and horribly burned. Some things you have to look forward to. Ice Cube running down a hill screaming, "DIE YOU BRAINLESS MOTHER FUCKERS!" and a Lewis from Revenge of the Nerds is one of the good guys that comes to the rescue.

The only thing that worries me is that it seemed that the script might be a little weak. But if you are going for blood, gore, horrible mutilation, and explosions then G O M will be right down your alley.

9:26:18 PM 9/7/00 GHOST OF MARS: John Carpenter Interview!!!: What follows is one hellaciously good interview on GOM from JC himself. From Fandom,a site that never does a half-assed job when interviewing great directors.

GHOST OF MARS: John Carpenter Interview
The director discusses his upcoming science-fiction film, currently in production.
Author: John Thonen
Date: 9/7/00

The Internet has become an amazing source of information on past, current and upcoming films, but, the net’s very nature has also made it a breeding ground for gossip and misinformation, particularly for actors and filmmakers with strong cult followings. One such director, John Carpenter, took time from the busy tasks of his upcoming film, Ghosts of Mars, which began production in August, to share some straight-from-the-source facts with Fandom denizens about his latest project.

One inaccuracy that recently surfaced about Carpenter’s upcoming science fiction-action-horror hybrid regards the film’s title. While long reported in the plural form, some Internet postings have suggested that parent studio Sony/Columbia (through their newly revived Screen Gems division) had changed the title to a singular supernatural entity. "Nope," says the always laid-back Carpenter. "Many, many ghosts. They’re pretty much all over the place."

Carpenter also shares the names of key cast members, laying rest to reports of Whoopi Goldberg’s involvement. "Whoppi was approached, and she was interested," Carpenter tells us. "But it just didn’t come together." The director declines to share what Goldberg’s role might have been, explaining that "I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings by letting them know they were the second choice for the part."

The rest of the cast is largely made up of performers on the cusp of major stardom. Rapper turned actor Ice Cube tackles Desolation Williams, whose very name conjures up such past Carpenter anti-heroes as Snake Plissken. Coming on the heels of Cube’s critical success in Three Kings and commercial success in Next Friday, GOM might just be a star-making vehicle for the performer.

The film’s female lead held similar breakthrough potential for another musician-turned-actor, Courtney Love, at least until late July. Love was set to play Melanie Ballard, a Martian cop in pursuit of the notorious Desolation Williams. Unfortunately, the actress injured her ankle during training for the rigorous fight scenes, and for a short time the film’s start, scheduled for early August, seemed threatened by Love’s sudden departure. Thankfully, Carpenter managed to sign Natasha Henstridge (Species) and the production is back on track.

Carpenter’s story (co-written with Larry Sulkis) presents Melanie as something of a rebel within the matriarchal society that dominates the Martian colony. Despite her position of authority, Melanie’s willingness to sleep with men, and even bear their children, makes her nearly as much of a social outsider as Williams.

The third lead character is Jericho Butler, played by British actor Jason Statham, from the sleeper hit Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Carpenter described Jericho as "a seasoned cop on his first escort squad assignment." He adds that the character is an expert at lock-picking and fixing machinery, skills that will likely come into use in the film’s adventure tale.

Also featured are Blade Runner femme fatale Joanna Cassidy, as science officer Darlene Whitlock and Clea Duvall as Bashira Kincaid. The busy young actress (whom Fandom readers may best recall as Stokely, the morose outsider in Robert Rodriguez’s The Faculty) joins GOM’s cast as a rookie cop on her first Mars assignment. Carpenter says that Duvall generally plays "geek girls," but she will be opening some eyes through her character. "None of that in this film," he states. "She’s a lioness in this one."

Carpenter is notably excited about his cast, admitting that Jason Statham had been his original choice for the Desolation Williams character and that he was briefly "a little unsure at first" when Screen Gem’s urged him to give the part to Cube. "When he came in and we started talking about the character, he had some great ideas. He’s a very interesting and smart man. Very focused on what he’s doing. I’m very happy to have him."

Carpenter also feels that the change benefited the story. "Originally it was Desolation and Melanie, and we did a rewrite and expanded the Jericho character for Jason, and that really changed the dynamic. I think it’s better than what it was originally." Carpenter had also been pleased by Courtney Love’s involvement, describing her as "a fascinating person." Her replacement by Hentsridge, likely demanded some minimal rewrites, but long time screenwriter Carpenter is more than up to the job.

For his crew, the director has rounded up such common Carpenter collaborators as actors Pam Grier and Peter Jason, co-producers Debra Hill and Sandy King (Mrs. Carpenter in real life), cinematographer Gary Kibbee, makeup effects house K.N.B., and stunt coordinator Jeff Imada, who will likely be kept busy considering Carpenter’s description of his movie. "There’s a lot of action in this film. A lot of action. There’s a siege on a jail, fights on a train, battle sequences. Lots of physical training for everyone. Jeff has them all out there right now, learning how to kick ass."

Carpenter says that no decision had yet been made on who would be handling the film’s visual effects, sharing only that "There’ll be effects, but the effects have to serve the story. Not the other way around." When asked how he expected to achieve the effects for the zeppelins that some web sites have talked of as a mode of transportation for the Martian colonists, Carpenter only laughs.

"There’s a zeppelin in my film? No. There’s a weather balloon. Joanna Cassidy’s character makes an escape in a modified weather balloon and travels across the Martian landscape in it. But no zeppelins. No cheesy spaceships. None of that stuff."

With a major rapper in his cast, it was only a matter of time before the subject of Ice Cube contributing to the soundtrack came up, earning only a noncommittal response. "Who knows? At this point, things like that aren’t decided. I’ll be scoring it, but I certainly wouldn’t be negative to [him] contributing. I’m negative to nothing really. I’m a very positive kind of guy."

One notable difference between GOM and most sci-fi offerings is a lack of emphasis on high tech, futuristic aspects. The man behind classics like Halloween, Escape From New York, and The Thing, as well as 1998’s Vampires, says that "most of it takes place in this little outpost, a frontier type town on Mars that’s near a mine. There’s no trace on the surface that there was any past civilization on the planet, but the mines have uncovered this… well, basically a trap."

It’s Carpenter’s intention to present, not just The Angry Red Planet, but one that’s seriously pissed-off. "It’s a Land-of-the-Pharaohs [a 1956 film about the building of Egypt’s Great Pyramid) kind of situation where these doors open and out comes this almost unkillable evil that sweeps across the planet. That’s our dilemma. It takes us over. You’re not human anymore. You become an ancient Martian warrior and you gather together and start attacking. Wiping out anything on the planet that you perceive as an invader."

Another variation in Carpenter’s approach to his tale is that the long deceased Martians aren’t the typical highly advanced culture found in most aliens-meet-humans tales. "They’re a barbaric tribal society. Their race developed no high technology," the director explains of his long extinct antagonists. "What they developed was of the supernatural, and this trap is their sentinel. Something left behind to make sure their world is never claimed by others."

Followers of Carpenter’s past work and influences have already drawn parallels to concepts in GOM, noting that the film’s leads—two cops and one convict—are identical to that of Assault on Precinct 13, a film that also deals with a small band of people barricaded in a jail and battling hordes of attackers. Even the gender and racial mix is the same: two men, one of whom is black, and one woman. Carpenter himself downplays the similarities.

"Well, there’s a jail, a prisoner, a barricade and an attack. So yeah. There are some superficial similarities. But that ‘people barricaded somewhere’ is something I’ve visited a lot. It’s there in The Thing and Prince of Darkness. Every film has it’s antecedents, but this one is really closer to Zulu [a stirring, reality-based British action film about a handful of soldiers who successfully repelled thousands of Zulu tribesmen] which was also a major influence on Assault.

"Zulu is a favorite of mine," Carpenter continues. "There’s just something about a small group and overwhelming odds. I like what it brings to a story and the characters."

Another link drawn by many is that GOM’s storyline bears some similarities to Quatermass and The Pit (a 1958 BBC TV serial and 1967 Hammer film, titled 5 Million Years To Earth in the U.S). Carpenter has never concealed his admiration for that film’s writer, Nigel Kneale, but he doesn’t see a strong link between the films. "All that stuff is always in the back of my mind from childhood, but there’s a thing he [Kneale] did for British TV called The Stone Tapes, which has much more influence here. I read his script for it, and it’s really creepy. It’s about this cathedral, and the stones in it hold these, spirits and images, of things that happened within its walls in the past. It’s a fabulous idea. So I think that probably echoed more than anything else."

When asked if the time spent in New Mexico shooting Vampires was part of the inspiration for GOM, Carpenter downplays the connection. "No, not really. I had the idea about a year and a half ago. New Mexico certainly plays an important part in it because there’s these Indian pueblos [the Zia Pueblo] we saw there, and the Indians are very cooperative about letting us use them, letting us do just about anything: stage fights, gun battles, blow stuff up, even paint everything red. This is Mars, so everything has to be red, you know."

When asked how the red planet effect will be achieved, the director is uncommonly reticent: "If I told you what we’re using you’d be amazed. So I’m not going to tell you. But I was stunned when I saw the test footage. My jaw dropped. I could believe how great it looked and how it had been done."

Asked about the rehearsal process, Carpenter says, "It’s very important. And there’s a lot of benefits to it." Like many directors, Carpenter`s method is to do a read-through of the script first. "It lets you hear your lines and hear the ones that just thud and lie there. We do nightly rewrites during the first week of rehearsals to adjust for that and for the input the actors bring to the table. Making a film is constant adjusting. It’s Darwinian. You drop what doesn’t work, and something better develops out of the process."

Pressed for examples, Carpenter shares that "I told Cube this new idea I had been kicking around for the ending, and the next day he came in and he’d written the whole thing and it was just great. So we incorporated that. It also let’s you individualize the lines. For example, Jason is British, has a Cockney accent. Now that wasn’t the original character, so Larry and I had to do rewrites so the dialogue worked for him, and we did a lot of that with Jason’s involvement. That’s just being smart. But you have to get as much of that done before you are out there shooting. Because you have to hit the ground running."

Pressed as to how flexible he is with actor contributions, Carpenter tells us, "I’m always open to ideas, to changes. Nothing is precious about a screenplay or about a cut. An actor can say what they want as long as they don’t change my narrative or suddenly become a different character. But in terms of individualizing who that character is—if it’s better than what’s on the page, I want to hear it." (That very flexibility will likely help the director weather the strains of adapting Hentsridge to what had been Courtney Love’s role, with little preparation time.)

The action scenes in Carpenter’s recent Vampires, which he credited as being influenced by western movie masters like Sam Peckinpah and Sergio Leone, reflected some changes in the director’s standard techniques, which he says would likely continue on GOM. "Yeah. Probably more of things in that vein. A lot of that depends on the characters and how they play against each other. There’s a lot of action in this movie, and that will require a different cutting style than some of my older movies. It’s an evolving thing."

When asked if his GOM editing style would be closer to the rapid fire, and at times near subliminal, editing of young directors like Armageddon’s Michael Bay, Carpenter is at first hesitant. "I don’t know how to comment, really. I think that sometimes it’s fast just for the sake of being fast. I didn’t care much for The Rock [an earlier Bay film], but there were things in Armageddon that I thought were really fun and stirring. At least until the shuttles took off and started zipping and zooming around like some cheesy space opera thing. Then they lost me. The stuff at the space station? I thought a lot of it was just silly. And that asteroid? It was like something out of Planet of the Vampires [a 1965 Italian sci-fi film, often cited as one of the inspirations for Alien). I’m like, ‘What the hell is this and how much did it cost?’ But it worked for the audience, I guess."

Carpenter does share with us that not all the web rumors reports about his latest film are inaccurate. Such as the one about the near collapse of the GOM project a few months ago "Now that one’s true. It’s a hard one to tell you about, though. This is the first film for a new company, Screen Gems, which I guess is to sort of be the Dimension-type branch for Sony. Their mandate was that they were supposed to make films under 15-million. So, along comes this film, and it’s twice that. So there were problems right out of the gate. There was a struggle going on over it, and I just thought, ‘Eh, I don’t want to do this.’ So I withdrew for a while. But it got back on track, and now we’re doing it. At least this week. Next week. Who knows?"

One of the more interesting results of Carpenter’s GOM down time, were some comments he made at the South by Southwest Film Festival "Yeah, I had a discussion with Robert Rodriguez and Harry Knowles about my plans to revolutionize Hollywood, and how to go about doing it." Citing the incredible strides made in digital filmmaking and electronic post-production, an enthusiastic Carpenter says that "we can own the business. No middle men. No money men. It can be done, and I know how. All we have to do is go out and do it. But I don’t know how many filmmakers really want to do it. How many will embrace it."

Carpenter suggested at the time of the festival that he might soon be starting a self-funded, digital project, and the idea hasn’t lost its appeal to him. "I come from low-budget filmmaking and have gone back and forth throughout my career making real low ones, big ones—anything. It would be very easy for me just because I’m a brand name. If I made a genre film, it would sell."

The appeal to an independent filmmaker such as Carpenter is obvious. "You’d control the production, and you’d own the copyright. You’d own everything. That intrigues me because, there’s a business side to me as well. I’m not just purely a liberal hippie. I’m a big fan of capitalism. So controlling the copyright is a very tantalizing idea. I’m still interested. It’s something to think about."

11:27:50 PM 8/23/00 Harry Lime Is Haunted By the GHOSTS OF MARS!!!: From AICN.

Harry Lime Is Haunted By the GHOSTS OF MARS!!

Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some rumblings from the Lab.

Harry Lime is a sneaky bastard. Don't ever forget it. I like how he claims I gave him the GHOSTS OF MARS script here. Riiiiiight. Like his black market connections didn't put it in his hands. Like he's not over here at the Labs every other day, trying to sell me this or that item that just mysteriously appeared in his apartment. He's extra sneaky because he read this script before me, and now he's got our first look at the final shooting draft of the newest film from genre legend John Carpenter. Let's check in and see what's up with AICN's baddest boy...

The other day while wasting time over at the Labs, Moriarty tossed a script into my idle hands. On the cover the “Storm King” logo smiled up at me. I had a pretty good idea what it was, and my suspicions were confirmed after I flipped to the front page. When the title of a movie starts with “John Carpenter’s,” you know you’re in for a very particular kind of ride. I had already heard the title of his current project, and I had read Moriarty’s story about pop star Courtney Love joining the cast, then abruptly dropping out. I also knew that the cast of the film would be predominantly female, but I had little idea what the film was actually about... except for the extreme probability that it was set on the planet Mars.

Before I even get started, I gotta say that John Carpenter is one of the good guys... one of the best. I’ve got a real soft spot for his films... even the ones that aren’t exactly career highs. I can’t tell you how much it bugs me that most of my close friends have not only met the man, but are actually pretty tight with him. One of the things I like best about his style as a director is the way he gradually builds to the big stuff. Nobody directs the calm before the storm better. Sometimes he goes a little overboard like the forty-something minute opening of THEY LIVE, but check out ASSUALT ON PRECINCT 13 again and you’ll see what I mean. But, before I stray too far, let’s get back to the business at hand --

JOHN CARPENTER’S GHOSTS OF MARS is indeed set on Mars. I originally thought that he might be making an AMAZON WOMEN ON THE MOON type Sci-Fi comedy along the lines of a BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA meets FORBIDDEN PLANET. I was wrong. Instead, this feels more like his work on ASSULT ON PRECINCT 13, THE FOG, ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK, THE THING, and PRINCE OF DARKNESS. It also has the distinct vibes of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, THE EVIL DEAD, and especially the recent AICN fav PITCH BLACK.

The story is familiar: A group of individuals are brought together through a circumstance that places them on the opposite sides. When an evil force that appears to be unstoppable confronts them, they have to put aside their differences and fight as one to stay alive. If I had to narrow it down, I’d say GHOSTS OF MARS is most like a cross between NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and PITCH BLACK. There’s even a badass convict character in GHOSTS that reads almost exactly like the badass convict character Vin Diesell played in PITCH BLACK. It’s so close that I unfortunately found the similarity a little distracting.

The film unfolds almost entirely in flashback, much like Carpenter’s IN THE MOUTH OF MADNESS (which, since I’ve brought it up, has always felt to me like a remake of Tommy Lee Wallace’s HALLOWEEN III). Like in MOUTH, our main character has already been through the shit and is now recounting the tale to an interviewer. In MARS, the interviewer is called “The Inquisitor,” and the setting is much like a courtroom. Our main character, a young woman named Melanie Ballard, is the only survivor of a particularly nasty incident and has to give her testimony. Through character actions and dialogue, it becomes obvious early on that this future, the mid 22nd century, is presided over by women. Aside from gender roles, “mainstream” sexuality has also transformed a bit.

The scripting by Larry Sulkis and Carpenter is efficient, but far too reliant upon overused gimmicks of past genre films. There’s a point where I gotta ask, “Okay... what else ya got?!” The true originality in the script comes from the bizarre customs of the evil, spirit-like force that invades the bodies of the intruding humans. Although this isn’t the first time Carpenter’s dealt with such an antagonist, it’s their odd rituals and strange desire for self-mutilation/decoration that suggests a totally alien culture.

The bulk of the film takes place in a frontier style boomtown called Shining Canyon, a mining colony on the newly settled surface of Mars. In many ways, this is a western. A train carrying a small team of military police stops at the town to pick up a prisoner for transfer back to the main colony, Chryse. Melanie, who’s telling the story, is one of the police officers in charge of the transfer. The prisoner, James “Desolation” Williams is known as a violent type who finally went psycho and mutilated a group of people in an alleged robbery. When they arrive, they discover that all but a few inhabitants have been mysteriously slaughtered in much the same fashion as the Williams killings. The strange part of it is that Williams is still shacked securely in his cell. As the police investigate, they discover that a supernatural force far deadlier than Williams controls the town. When the shit really starts hitting the fan, they’re faced with a choice: enlist the aid of Williams and his cronies to fight the ghosts of Mars, or probably die fighting alone.

As I said, this is pretty recognizable stuff. There’s even a sequence in which one of them is suspected of being possessed, giving the rest of the team reservations about letting her back inside when she comes knocking at the door. Yeah, I remember that one, too. I’m curious to see how well Carpenter pulls off such a familiar beat, though. Perhaps the thing that disappoints me most about the script is the fact that his last film, the hugely under-rated VAMPIRES, was such an original kick. I loved that it walked such a fine line between brutal imagery and hilarious characterizations. Any film that has a master vampire rip a guy apart one-handed and has our main protagonist take a knife to a priest to get information gets a hearty recommendation in my soon to be published video movie guide. Heck, I’d like to see James Woods play Crowe in a more elaborate sequel almost as much as I’d like to see Kurt Russell reprise his Jack Burton role. Almost.

In the end, I have a feeling that it’s going to come down to execution. This might turn out to be a very entertaining movie. I just wish he’d throw us a curve ball more often. The last time he did, the ill-fated MEMOIRS OF AN INVISIBLE MAN, both he and star Chevy Chase were bitch-slapped somthin’ fierce, which might have made him hesitant to stray too far from his area of expertise. Even with MEMOIRS, though, he approached comedy by way of science fiction instead of head-on. Perhaps he was worried that no one would warm up to a straight comedy from the director of HALLOWEEN. Or maybe he just really dug the book and thought it would be an ideal step for him as a filmmaker. Whatever the case, the overwhelmingly negative response must have pushed him back to the safety of usual genre tricks like MOUTH and VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED. Sadly, I’m certain there’s a side to this legendary director that will most likely never be given a chance to live on screen. And that’s a darn shame.

And with that, Harry Lime slinked away into the sewers and the shadows once more.

6:49:05 PM 8/22/00 Sebastian On 'Mars'!!!: From Cinescape Online.
Sebastian On 'Mars'
Lobo Sebastian is the most recent addition to the cast of John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars, according to Variety. There's no specific word on what part he will play in the film, which is currently shooting in New Mexico.

Ghosts of Mars: The set of another sci-fi epic is having problems of its own - namely the weather. "Ghosts of Mars" supposedly halted filming on Tuesday due to a downpour and word is a lot of the crew have yet to be called back. Ice Cube was spotted on set earlier this week, and it seems all the principal actors are now there. Thanks to 'The Earth Hour' & 'AgentX'.

8:19 PM 8/16/00 'AgentX' has more from the set of the new John Carpenter film!!!: From Dark Horizons.

Ghosts of Mars: 'AgentX' has more from the set of the new John Carpenter film where production is underway:

"Natasha Henstridge may have arrived in Albuquerque late last week and been seen on the set (an Indian reservation in northern New Mexico) yesterday. I'm told Joanna Cassidy also was on the set, but I have no idea of what she was doing there, other than going around and greeting the "Background Artists" (that is apparently what they call the extras).

The location is in the desert, as expected. Expect lots of rocks painted red to look like Martian rocks. The movie may actually look like the Mars that NASA has revealed over the past 20 years. And they seem to have a train engine set up as a "ship". Expect lots of violence, bloodshed, gore. The bad guys are "zombies". A male "star" was spotted but not identified. I've been able unable to locate a cast list for the movie so far, but he is described as middle-aged and balding. I doubt it's Patrick Stewart.

Lots of water is being made available to the Background Artists. At least one member of the crew is constantly reminding them to drink plenty of water. The filming actually began earlier in the day than previously anticipated, so the whole crew and cast were subjected to the gruelling New Mexico sun. The heat here is not as bad as in Arizona or southern California, but at this high elevation (around 1 mile or more) the air is thin and doesn't hold any moisture, so people get heat sickness and sun sickness quickly. Temperatures are not as bad as they were two weeks ago, when we were seeing temperatures of 105-110 degrees Fahrenheit (which is above normal)."

Cast members have apparently been arriving on the set of Ghosts of Mars!!!: From Coming Attractions.

August 16, 2000... Things are beginning to move and shake as cast members have apparently been arriving on the set of the new John Carpenter film. Dark Horizons reports the latest Ghosts of Mars happenings from their informant down in New Mexico: "...Natasha Henstridge may have arrived in Albuquerque late last week and been seen on the set (an Indian reservation in northern New Mexico) yesterday. I'm told Joanna Cassidy also was on the set, but I have no idea of what she was doing there, other than going around and greeting the 'Background Artists' (that is apparently what they call the extras)...

"Expect lots of violence, bloodshed, gore. The bad guys are 'zombies'. A male 'star' was spotted but not identified...he is described as middle-aged and balding."

Ghosts of Mars: 'Agent X' scored some up to the minute information on John Carpenter's new project:

"Filming is supposed to start on Monday (August 14) at a location just north of Albuquerque. The extras are being told to show up at 4 PM and that they will work until 4 AM. They have hired over 100 extras for the film, of which nearly 100 will be "warriors" in leather and dark, raggy clothing (some with spikes). I've heard some say "Think of the 'Road Warrior'". There are minors, scientists, and warriors. I don't know how many miners but there are very few "scientists".

It sounds like Carpenter may produce an unusually high body count even for one of his own movies in this one. New Mexico is experiencing an unusually hot season this year and the extras have been told to bring canteens with plenty of water for themselves. It sounds like filming will be under extreme conditions."

1:34:12 PM 7/29/00 Natasha Henstridge lands the lead role in John Carpenter's GHOSTS OF MARS!!!: Well, I guess this is a step in the right direction. I mean, Henstridge is pretty easy on the eyes, but as an ass kicking hero? Well, the jury is gonna be out on this until I see some live footage.

Takin' my time to perfect the beat, and I still got love for the streets! It's the D.R .E.!

Natasha Henstridge lands the lead role in John Carpenter's GHOSTS OF MARS

Hey folks, Harry here. I can absolutely put to rest any ongoing lingering rumors about the casting of the lead role in GHOSTS OF MARS. In yesterday's story, Moriarty ended the piece saying that Natasha Henstridge was being favored for the lead role... well as of about 2 hours ago, the ink dried and she is in. Natasha will be playing a non-lesbian 'breeder' cop that ends up in a pretty fucked up situation involving the ghosts of Mars. With the lead role now filled, the production will begin steaming ahead with BROM tattoos, KNB monstrous practical effects and the inevitable badass Carpenter theme. Also, you should know that my head will be appearing in the film. How it will be used is a matter of top security on the project. Rumors are even surfacing at this very moment on this very site, that my head will be revealed as being the glowy thing in the hatbox at the end of the film. Oh yes... It's true... uh huh... yeaaaaaah, and if you believe that, then... God bless ya... You should see this confirmed in the trades probably this Monday or Tuesday.

8:27:03 PM 7/28/00 Search For GHOSTS OF MARS Replacement Continues!!!: From Ain't It Cool News.

Search For GHOSTS OF MARS Replacement Continues!!

Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here. Well, with Courtney Love out of the picture due to her ankle injury -- coughbullshitcough -- Screen Gems, Sony, and John Carpenter are searching for a suitable replacement. I've seen names like Famke Jannsen and Michelle Yeoh being bandied about elsewhere on the 'net, with people reporting that the role was officially filled. Well, that ain't the case. Yeoh was approached, but she's got major scheduling issues that seem to make it impossible. The coolest possible choice was RUN LOLA RUN's Franke Potente, but she's officially passed now, and an offer has been made instead to a certain long-limbed lovely who we all first enjoyed in oh-so-many-ways in SPECIES. Yes, Natasha Henstridge is the current fave for the role. We'll see what happens in the next few days, since a choice has to be made, no matter what.

7:03:49 PM 7/26/00 Conflicting reports on who will replace Love!!!: From Coming Attractions.

July 26, 2000... OK, two different scoopers with two totally different claims to make. First up is the fellow who swears to us that Famke Janssen (X-Men, GoldenEye) has offically signed on to play the character of Melanie in Ghosts of Mars. Janssen is supposed to be taking over the role Courtney Love was supposed to play but had to give up due to injury. Filming will be delayed two days because of another film Famke is finishing, then the actress will leap into her Martian boots...or at least that's what they tell us. [Anonymous.]

Our second scooper tells us it's not Janssen but Michelle Yeoh who'lll be taking over the part. They kept their scoop short and to the point but promised more juicy stuff later. Let's see which one, if any, pans out. [Second delivery by 'TheBigOnonymous'.]

Jean Grey to 'Mars'?
A reader named "Susan" contacted the Insider this morning with an unconfirmed rumor about actress Famke Janssen, most recently seen as Dr. Jean Grey in the X-Men. Susan tells us that Famke has been offered the lead role in the upcoming John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars, replacing Courtney Love who had to bow out of the production with an injured ankle.

Although as-yet unconfirmed by Janssen's reps, it sounds like a good choice for the role. One wonders what sort of parts are being offered Hugh Jackman these days.

8:21:56 PM 7/23/00 Love Departs Mars!!!: From the official site of Courtney Love's band, Hole. Don't let the door slam you on the ass on your way out love ;)

July 21, 2000
Love Departs Mars
While training for her role in John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars, Courtney sustained a serious foot/ankle injury running that has, unfortunately, forced her to abandon the project.

11:20:16 PM 7/21/00 LOVE LEAVES CARPENTER'S 'MARS' PIC!!!: From Variety.

Rock crooner-turned-thesp Courtney Love is literally ankling her role in Screen Gems' futuristic frightener "John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars," having injured her ankle earlier this week -- ironically while training for the physical demands of the shoot.

Love was getting into better shape for the nonstop actioner in which she would have played a police lieutenant opposite Ice Cube ("Three Kings," "Next Friday") and Jason Staham ("Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels").

According to a production insider, a tight $30 million production budget and an even tighter Aug. 8 production start means Screen Gems brass will not be able to wait for the star to mend and will be forced to recast the pic. No word yet on who may fill her athletic shoes.

Love, who has appeared in pics "The People vs. Larry Flynt" and "Man on the Moon" will next appear in Shooting Gallery's Bob Gosse-helmed "Julie Johnson," which is unaffected by the injury, having wrapped earlier this spring.

Carpenter and Larry Sulkis wrote the "Ghosts" script, which is being produced by Sandy King's Storm King Prods. Film will be released domestically by specialty arm Screen Gems, with most overseas territories handled by Columbia TriStar Intl.

Love's publicist, Pat Kingsley, confirmed her injury, but could not speak to whether Love would depart from "Ghosts."

The actress is repped by the William Morris Agency and managed by Untitled Entertainment.

(Don Waller contributed to this report.)

10:59:58 PM 7/21/00 Love Leaves Carpenter's Mars!!!: The news just keeps getting better and better ;) From the Sci Fi Wire.
9:00am ET, 21-July-00
Love Leaves Carpenter's Mars

Rock star and actress Courtney Love won't appear in the supernatural SF movie John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars, Variety reported. The trade paper cited an injury to Love's ankle, but the Ain't It Cool News Web site suggested that on-set tension may have been the reason.

Love would have played a police lieutenant who, with Ice Cube (Three Kings) and Jason Staham (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels), investigates the disappearance of Martian colonists. Carpenter and Larry Sulkis wrote the script, Variety reported.

Liam Waite, meanwhile, joins the cast of the film, which begins production Aug. 8, the trade paper reported.

AICN reported that Pam Grier has also joined the cast in a major supporting role, and that offers have gone out for a new lead actress.

10:21:46 PM 7/21/00 Love Hurts: Courtney Forced Off Mars!!! From Mr. Showbiz.

July 21, 2000
Love Hurts: Courtney Forced Off Mars
Hellcat singer-actress Courtney Love has said she's always wanted a part that allowed her to take a stereotypical male role and, say, kill aliens. She finally got that wish, only to lose it this week due to an untimely injury.

Love, who fronts the rock band Hole as a day job, was to play a futuristic police lieutenant possessed by space spirits in the sci-fi thriller John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars. But the actress was let go after she damaged her ankle while doing physical training for her part, reports Variety.

A set insider claimed that due to a stringent $30 million budget and a tight Aug. 8 start date, producers will not be able to wait for Love to heal her wounds. No word yet on who may fill her space boots, but can we suggest the equally brash, equally spacey Carmen Electra?

Love would have starred opposite rapper-actor Ice Cube (Three Kings, Next Friday) and Jason Statham (Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels). Carpenter and Larry Sulkis wrote the script.

Love, who has been trying to break into a credible corner of the acting world, appeared in the Milos Forman pictures The People vs. Larry Flynt and Man on the Moon. She'll next appear in the independent film Julie Johnson as a naughty girl who teaches housewife Lili Taylor how to tango with a lady.

Love's publicist, Pat Kingsley, confirmed her ankle injury but couldn't say for sure if Love would definitely be unable to film Ghosts.

Love Ankles On 'Mars'!!!: From Cinescape Online.
Love Ankles On 'Mars'
Variety reports today that Courtney Love, due to star in the upcoming John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars, has injured her ankle and will have sit the movie out. A tight production schedule that insists shooting begin August 8 means the rock singer turned actress will not have time to mend before going in front of the camera. Ironically, Love injured her ankle while training for the physical demands the movie will put the star through.

5:42:17 PM 7/21/00 COURTNEY LOVE Forced Out Of GHOSTS OF MARS!!!: There is a God, that piece of shit Courtney Love is out, lets pray it stays that way. From AICN.

COURTNEY LOVE Forced Out Of GHOSTS OF MARS!!

Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here. Looks like the trades are about to start reporting that Courtney Love has left the production of John Carpenter's upcoming sf/action/horror film GHOSTS OF MARS, and the excuse given is going to involve injury of some sort. I've spoken with several sources close to camps for Love and the studio on this picture, though, and that's not the case. I know that John Carpenter and his producer, Sandy King, both fought very hard to get Courtney on the film, but observers say the rehearsal and pre-production period has been wrought with tension as it became clear the casting wasn't going to work. Every effort seems to have been made by the director, but the official word has finally been handed down, and Love is gone. Pam Grier has just joined the cast in a major supporting role, and right now, offers for the lead are out to actresses with strong international appeal, and an announcement about a replacement for Love is expected immediately. As soon as the news is available, we'll have it for you first here on AICN.

Also, later this weekend, I'll be taking a look at the final shooting script for this tense, violent thriller that looks to be the best of the recent flurry of movies set on Mars. Until then...

"Moriarty" out.

9:08 PM 7/18/00 Giving Up The Ghosts For Mars: Clea Duvall thinks JC is her wierdo dad, wotta revelation, from the always dependable IGN Movies.

Giving Up The Ghosts For Mars

Clea Duvall goes from lesbian cheerleader to John Carpenter's latest -- with weapons training, to boot.
July 17, 2000

Most folks had their first encounter with Clea Duvall via her portrayal as the tough-yet-shy Allison Reynolds-meets-Jo Polniaczek character she portrayed in 1998's The Faculty. Currently Duvall can be seen on the big screen in the off-kilter comedy But I'm A Cheerleader, starring opposite Natasha Lyonne. And if that weren't enough, she's now embroiled in the strenuous shoot for John Carpenter's upcoming outer-space ghostazoidal epic Ghost of Mars.

Duvall's part as Lyonne's rough-around-the-edges lover seems somewhat reminiscent to Stokely, the loner tomboy character she played in The Faculty. But don't call her a tomboy in real life. "I think tomboy is what you are when you are twelve. And I think it's a label that people like to slap onto people who don't wear dresses and make-up everyday. And I think it's very narrow and shallow and it's really kind of irritating."

While Duvall may find the whole "tomboy" label irritating, she'll soon be seen toting guns and kicking much ass given the fact that she recently landed a choice role in John Carpenter's upcoming joint, Ghost of Mars. "We started a few weeks ago," she explains. "We're in training and we have to work-out like 100 hours a day and weapons training."

Damn! That John Carpenter sounds like a slave driver. But Duvall sets the record straight. "We see him all the time and he's like very paternal," she says of the horror film veteran. "He's like my dad, like my weirdo director/father. [laughs]. I'm the youngest [in the cast] and he's very sweet to me."

Given that Carpenter is helming the flick and that it's got the words "ghost" and "mars" in the title and that the cast is undergoing weapons training bootcamp, does this mean that Duvall's character is gonna be an ass-kickin', gun-toting, take-no-prisoners type hardcore babe? "It's not so much like brute force as it is that she's just the best person in her whole class," Duvall explains of her character. "She's like the valedictorian of her police class and she's just the best, but she's a rookie and she's young and she's scared. She's definitely the most vulnerable person in the film."

And how was it making the transition from But I'm A Cheerleader and Girl, Interrupted to a bigger budget action/horror flick? "It's fun. I'm getting paid to get in shape and to shoot guns and it's fun."

Fun, that's an understatement. Imagine if you were 22, hangin' out with John Carpenter, makin' a film which also stars Ice Cube and Courtney Love. "Yeah," laughs Duvall. "And Pam Grier! Yes, you have to have like a platinum album to be in the film."

And given that Duvall has had a diverse range of roles including the lesbian lover in But I'm A Cheerleader, the loner tomboy heroine in The Faculty, and the tweaked young woman in Girl, Interrupted and is now rampaging against red planet's poltergeists, one can't help but wonder if she ever suffers from thespian schizophrenia.

-- Spence D. has never seen a ghost nor been to Mars, but he is the Senior Editor of IGN For Men

9:09 PM 7/18/00 Script Asylum: Ghosts of Mars: From IGN Movies, damn these guys are good! ;)

Script Asylum: Ghosts of Mars

Get all the details on this upcoming horror/sci-fi flick from director John Carpenter.
July 17, 2000

Why does John Carpenter's The Thing kick so much ass? Well, for one, the set up is near perfect when you're talking 'bout the suspense/sci-fi genres. MacReady and his gang are stationed at the North Pole, doing their thing in desolation, when a dog comes out of nowhere being chased by a chopper full of gun-toting strangers. So the protagonists kill the perceived aggressors, preserving the life of the stray mutt that's now become part of their compound. It's hard to know what kind of threat this puppy holds, and watching the animal's terrifying progression is what really gets the suspense cooking. Unfortunately, with his latest script Ghosts of Mars, Carpenter seems to be sacrificing the slow and focused build-up that has marked his stronger films (The Thing, The Fog, Christine, Halloween) for quick build-up action a la Vampires. Which is a shame, cuz the concept behind this one has the potential to be off the hook in a creepy-Carpenter kind of way.

A little over a year ago, the studios were in a race to put out some Mars flicks. Well, Mission to Mars plain stank. We're hoping Red Planet produces, and the trailer looks pretty ill (Carrie Ann Moss, baby!). Carpenter (as expected) is taking more of the horror/sci-fi approach to his Mars project. Which is probably a good thing. Who really fricking cares about a by-the-books Mars flick at this point? We'd much rather see The Martian Chronicles than any of the above, but that ain't gonna happen. If it happens the Hollywood way we have a feeling that it'll be lame. Any solid directors out there who are bigtime Bradbury heads?

Ghosts of Mars is a cross between Alien, The Thing, and Pitch Black. The flick takes place on Mars (duh) in a future where a large population of humans inhabit scattered colonies on the red planet. Conveniently, the colonies don't keep up much contact between each other. But when a distress signal goes out, it's the over-zealous, underestimating military team to the rescue (haven't seen that before). In the opening, the lead character Melanie (Courtney Love) is pulled off a runaway train, having been beaten and chained in a room. The rest of the flick takes place as Melanie recounts her experiences at the mining colony Shining Canyon. And the worst part is that the ghosts don't manifest themselves as ghosts. They possess people who turn into psycho-loonies, so for all intensive purposes they could just as well be taken over by aliens. Not much of a ghost story. If this one is starting to sound like a run-of-the-mill alien movie, that's because it is in the screenplay.

Carpenter and writing partner Larry Sulkis have nailed some of the characters really well. Courtney Love is a perfect fit for the lead, Melanie: Rebellious, brash, at times violent, and super-annoying. If you dug Riddick in Pitch Black, you're sure to love Desolation Williams. While this convict badass has some brutal moments and sharp dialogue, he's basically yet another bad guy who's really the good guy that's been misunderstood by the system (a sympathetic character who's killed a couple dozen people). The visual elements of the script are fairly solid with sweet colony description, hot air balloons whipping through sandstorms, and the baddie thugs vividly depicted as pierced and self-mutilated primal warriors. The look of the flick will be great, but the story is more of the same old, feebly attempting to incorporate elements of infighting amongst the protagonists. While that technique added layers of goodness to The Thing, in Ghosts the interpersonal conflict seems too put-on.

The mystery revelation comes too soon (about page 50). And rather than build the whole ghost element, Carpenter has chosen to dive headlong into rambunctious, over-the-top action. Which is a crying shame, cuz the man has really tweaked the suspense factor brilliantly in certain films of his career. Don't expect a slow creeper or an original take, this one's a by-the-numbers sci-fi/action flick with some interesting characters and locales. Ghosts of Mars will probably line up right inbetween Vampires and Escape from LA in the JC archive.

7:01 PM 6/12/00 From People Magazine: Thanks heaps to Tony S. for letting me know about this clipping from (I'm assuming) the latest 'ish of People Magazine.

Ice Cube starts shooting GOM Aug. 1st 2000
Says he's taking a fitness trainer on tour with him. He has to be fit to fight with martial arts skills and fight "on top of a train" ?!

Well, according to Harry Knowles review of the script / story there is a train involved, I'm hoping maybe its a conduit between settlements on the Martian landscape, and the evil gets on board & starts slicing & dicing or some such. That Martian air can't be good for the skin though, did you ever see Total Recall? Sheesh...!

7:07 AM 6/7/00 Additional Casting on John Carpenter's GHOSTS OF MARS: From AICN who got it from the official Hole site.

7:02 PM 5/3/00 HUGE Ghost news: O Glory be that this news is true. If it is, then brother I humbly bow before ye, NOT! hehe..From the ITMOM List yesterday.

I spoke with JC's assistant today regarding an interview for GOM coverage and
she said the stuff in the trades has been premature and inaccurate. She
wouldn't elaborate much but said she though JC and his production company
just signed with screen gems to do the film this past Friday, so no start
date or casting decisions are set at this point. I'm supposed to check back
in 2 weeks when things should be firming up, but I think it's intersting to
think that info in the entertainment trades can be that unreliable

8:33 PM 4/17/00 John Carpenter's GHOSTS OF MARS greenlit and moving forward: Oh, I get it now, Harry Knowles says everything is awright so we can all relax. If you believe that, perhaps I can interest you in buying this slice of green cheese from the moon. Forget it jack, I'm not biting. Nice to hear the project moving forward though. From AICN.

John Carpenter's GHOSTS OF MARS greenlit and moving forward

Hey folks, Harry here. Well all you Carpenter faithfuls, good news today! John Carpenter's GHOSTS OF MARS.... well, it's actually going to be made! Yippee!

For quite some time there was some doubt whether or not this project would be moving forward because of weirdo studio head bumping mating rituals, but it seems that all of that is behind us now. When John Carpenter was down here in Austin, he seemed to be real iffy about the project and was looking to possibly make an independently produced (by him) shot on Digital movie that he would control 100%.

While I'm still hoping that he'll do that, I'm very excited about GHOSTS OF MARS. Now, I know the casting on this sounds weird as hell, but folks... Once you have read the script, the casting makes sense. No... really it does.

Ice Cube is in as Desolation, he's the Plisskin/Mad Max/John Voight from RUNAWAY TRAIN type of character. One of those... too mean to live types. Then there is Jason Statham as Jericho... Once again, you'll just have to see him in the role. You might remember Jason as Bacon in LOCK, STOCK AND TWO SMOKING BARRELS. He has a ton of really cool lines in the latest draft of the script.

Then there is Courtney Love. Now I know there is this really vocal anti-Courtney Love thing in the world, but she really is right for this character, in that same sort of odd way that Roddy Piper was balls on perfect for THEY LIVE. Courtney's character is a no-nonsense cop, not the head screw, just one of the grunts... She's been on the job for a while, but keeps being passed over for promotion because... well, she isn't a lesbian. In this future, Women Rule and men are lowly dogs. She's a breeder, which means... she'll bare children and sleep with man. But as a result she's treated as a lessor.

To me with all the intense situations and scary Ghost stuff... it's this aspect that really makes me smile. This is a hardcore John Carpenter written scifi-action-horror film set in a female dominated society. (ahem... now do you understand why there were political problems?) As usual John is exploring alot more than... just action.

Pre-Production on GHOSTS OF MARS started today. Shooting will begin on August 1st... at least that's what some folks doing some work on it tell me. So, hang on... this is the first 100% John Carpenter film we've seen in a while.

4:24 PM 4/14/00 Ice Cube Character Description: News on Ice Cube's character makes him sound a lot like Napolean Wilson from Assault on Precinct 13 don't it? I'm almost goofed there and was about to say Napolean Bonaparted instead. From Dark Horizons.

Ghosts of Mars: Actor/rapper Ice Cube had a short interview with MTV recently and briefly touched upon his next work - the new John Carpenter sci-fi film. Cube says his role is that of an outlaw, one being transferred between prisons when en route the police vehicle carrying him is attacked by creatures unearthed on the red planet. Courteney Love fits in somewhere (no she's not one of the creatures, rather a federal marshal stationed on Mars), but anyway the pair will star in the flick which begins filming soon. Thanks to 'Kirk' & 'Shade'.

4/10/00 NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO: I just lost my lunch. Ya know, now that Courtney is all but signed, sealed and delivered I'm not gonna be calling for her blood anymore. I'm going after JC for this atrocious casting, she's just doing what any other Hollywood shark would do, score the big bucks. If JC doesn't deliver some AWESOME direction, this film deserves to go straight to hell. This is a unique day for me, the first time when casting for a JC film hasn't elicited cries of joy from me. Sheesh. From C.H.U.D.

"Courtney Love is in final negotiations for a seven-figure payday to star opposite Ice Cube and Jason Statham in Screen Gems' "John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars." The project is targeted to start shooting in early summer. Love would play a police lieutenant in the sci-fi thriller set 174 years in the future. The screenplay, written by Carpenter and Larry Sulkis, centers on a group of human colonists on Mars who must unite for survival after being threatened by vengeful Martian ghosts. "Ghosts" will be released domestically by Sony's niche label Screen Gems, with most territories handled by Columbia TriStar International. Screen Gems executive vp Clint Culpepper is overseeing the film for the studio."

What does this mean? It means that there's no escape from her. She's not going to fall off the map. She's not going to follow her husband's example and add more lead to her diet. She's going to lurk out there...waiting. On a positive note, Jason Statham was great in Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels.

6:01 PM 4/3/00 Ice Cube Eyes 'Mars' Mission: From Yahoo! Entertainment News.

Ice Cube Eyes 'Mars' Mission

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Rapper-turned-film mogul Ice Cube will expand his repertoire to become a sci-fi action hero in ``John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars,'' which is slated for a June start.

A thriller set 174 years in the future, ``Ghosts of Mars'' concerns human colonists of the Red Planet who must be rescued after becoming possessed by vengeful Martian ghosts. Ice Cube (aka O'Shea Jackson) will play the lead role.

The title will be released domestically by Sony's mid-budget label Screen Gems. Carpenter, who wrote the script with Larry Sulkis, will also produce.

Ice Cube most recently starred in, wrote and produced ``Next Friday,'' which grossed $56 million domestically. He also starred in David O. Russell's ``Three Kings.'' He is developing ''Pimp'' at Fine Line Features and ``Shadow Man'' at New Line.

His latest disc, ``War & Peace, Vol. 2 (The Peace Disc),'' debuted at No. 3 on the top 200 album charts last week.

Ice Cube Joining 'Ghosts'
Ice Cube has signed on to John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars project. According to Variety, the actor turned rapper will take the film's male lead role. Set in the far future, the film tells the story of a rescue mission to save Earth colonists on Mars from a vicious killer. The crew soon learns that the real killers are the ancient violent spirits of the Martian dead who possess humans driving them to do terrible things. Production on the project is scheduled to start in June. Courtney Love and Whoopee Goldberg have previously been rumored to be joining the film's cast as well.

9:58 PM 3/25/00 Carp's LOST IT: I really don't give a rat's ass what JC or anyone thinks, but Courtney Love as THE STAR of GOM is just not going to work (for me anyway). Get someone else, like Kristen Johnston or Fairuza Balk, or jeeze, anyone but that wet-paper bag. And now Ice Cube too? Well, I can handle that, but is it me or is JC suddenly going for some REALLY mainstream HIP and CURRENT actors? Usually, just one well known actor is enough, but oh boy...I don't like what I'm hearing so far. This weekend is turning pretty shitty for me with this sort of news cropping up. From Coming Attractions.

March 25, 2000... Via her band's Official website at Holemusic.com, Courtney Love confirmed that she's taken a part in Ghosts of Mars. Love will play Melanie, described on the website as "an interplanetary police sqad officer 175 years in the future." Holemusic.com also mentions that Ice Cube ( Three Kings) will also star in the film, which she describes as "the only girl western I've seen... ever." Also, the pciture has a tentative 2001 release date now associated with it. [Sent in by Emmet McIlvenna; originally appeared on Holemusic.com.]

10:54 PM 3/15/00 Hammering Away at Carpenter!!!: IGN Movies come clean with choice tidbits on GOM. Well, not really.

Hammering Away at Carpenter

Spence D. tries to pry some Ghosts of Mars info from horrormeister John Carpenter.

March 15, 2000

The scene is the SxSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas. It's Sunday afternoon, March 12, and legendary genre director John Carpenter is sitting on the stage in room 10A of the Austin Convention Center. To his left is Internet movie guru Harry Knowles, and to his right is Robert Rodriguez. Not surprisingly, the three of them have been discussing film, everything from the impending digital revolution to the state of the genre film. At one point in the course of the discussion a member of the audience inquired about the current status of Carpenter's upcoming Ghost of Mars project.

"Ghost of Mars right now, Sony Pictures thinks it's set up with them, but it's not," was all Carpenter had to say.

Not satisfied with this mere kernel of info, we threw the following question out to Carpenter:

"It's well known that you have a long standing love of the Western genre, and the bulk of your films follow the basic elements inherent to that genre without actually being a Western. So given this aspect of your filmmaking style, will Ghost of Mars be a veiled Western?"

Carpenter's reply to our question was just as short and sweet as his answer to the previous Ghost of Mars question, albeit delivered with considerably more deadpan aplomb: "I'm sorry but I cannot give that information away now." As a sly grin adorned Carpenter's face, the crowd showed its approval via a bout of laughter and applause.

Check out all the further adventures of Spence D. at SxSW Film Festival right here.

5:33 PM 3/14/00 Casting Convergences???: The article that started all this Whoopi Goldberg / Courtney Love crap. Let's hope it stays right here, in print and goes no further. This scoop is good....for me to poop on! From Variety's Michael Fleming.

CASTING CONVERGENCES?: Now that Disney has proven there is box office life on the red planet with “Mission to Mars,” comes word that a neat cast is in the offing for another expedition, “John Carpenter’s Ghost of Mars,” a pic orbiting Screen Gems. Dish hears Courtney Love looks likely for the role of a butt-kicking leader of a expedition to Mars, Whoopi Goldberg is a possible as a science officer. They go to the planet planning to hunt down a guy alleged to have killed his fellow colonists in atrocities actually committed by an army of colonists possessed by a homicidal ghost of an ancient Mars civilization. The framed guy helps the team kick Martian tail. Dish hears Carpenter wants Jason Statham for the male lead. He starred in the Guy Ritchie-directed “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,” and just wrapped Ritchie’s followup “Diamonds” with Brad Pitt. Screen Gems favored a better known lead, though other studios are kicking the tires ...

5:33 PM 3/14/00 Love Going To Mars???: Glean from this what you can. From the Sci Fi Wire.

Rock-star-turned-actress Courtney Love is reportedly under consideration as the leader of an interplanetary expedition in John Carpenter's Ghost of Mars, an SF film in development at Screen Gems. Variety columnist Michael Fleming reports that Love would play the "butt-kicking leader of an expedition to Mars," with Whoopi Goldberg possibly playing her science officer.

The story concerns a mission to Mars to hunt down a colonist accused of several murders. But the astronauts discover that the colonist has been framed by the ghosts of long-dead Martians.

Fleming also reported that Carpenter wants Jason Statham (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels) for the male lead.

5:33 PM 3/14/00 Ghost of Mars Info!!!: Holy Shite! Whoopi Goldberg AND Courtney Love in GOM? Folks, if this happens, let me be the first to say that JC has completely fallen off his rocker. What is he THINKING? Goldberg as a SCIENCE OFFICER? For christ's sake this is an action / horror film, not a comedy or drama! The only way I'll see GOM w/these two in it, is if they die, horrible screaming deaths. Otherwise, forget it. From Cinescape Online.

'Ghost of Mars' Info
Information regarding the casting and the story of the upcoming John Carpenter's Ghost of Mars project are coming to light. According to Variety columnist Michael Fleming, there's rumblings that the director is looking to fill the film's lead role of a "butt kicking leader of an expedition to Mars" with Courtney Love. In addition, there's talk of Whoopi Goldberg taking on the part of the ship's science officer. Beyond that, Carpenter is said to be hoping to cast the film's male lead role with Jason Statham (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels). The film will tell the story of a ship sent to Mars to hunt down a man who they believe to be a serial killer among the red planet's colonists. They soon learn that the carnage is actually being caused by an ancient evil ghost from the world possessing different humans to commit the crimes. The wanted man and his hunters then team up to stop the evil entity.

---[ LATEST JC ]---

Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2001

Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2001

Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2001

Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2001

Date: Sun, 9 Sep 2001

Date: Sun, 9 Sep 2001

Date: Sat, 8 Sep 2001

Date: Sat, 8 Sep 2001

Friday, January 5, 2001

Euro-AICN: GHOSTS OF MARS

Father Geek here with Edgard's Euro-AICN column for this week.

7:41 PM 11/9/00 Wanna different kinda Harry head.... eh baby???: The fat man with the plan Harry Knowles’ latest film cameo, in GOM nonetheless. At least he’s decapitated ;) I downloaded the file at work but didn’t have the necessary codec to run it. Damn! From AICN.

Wanna different kinda Harry head.... eh baby? Also: GHOST OF MARS news

Hey folks, Harry here.... Some months back you might remember that I had my head cast for the upcoming John Carpenter movie, GHOSTS OF MARS.

At the time, I said that we would be putting together a full length video presentation on the site that over the course of a few weeks, you'd get to see how to take a perfect full head cast of someone.... using me as the example.

Due to editing equipment issues, that is still being worked on, what we have here is a brief.... over-view of the entire process including WAY TOO DARK final frames of the finished head. Soon, I'll have perfectly lit images of the KNB created HARRY HEAD for John Carpenter's GHOSTS OF MARS.....

Soon there will be more cool stuff regarding this experience.... For now...

CLICK HERE FOR A 15 MEG QUICKTIME MAKING OF A HARRY HEAD!!!

Yes, I am in GHOSTS OF MARS.... and there was a need for my head to be cast and then made. Do the addition and division and I think you have an idea of basically what it is I do in GHOSTS OF MARS.

Meanwhile.... I would like to know how they teach counting in Florida.

From the set of GHOSTS OF MARS!!!

From the set of John Carpenter's GHOSTS OF MARS

Harry Lime Is Haunted By the GHOSTS OF MARS!!

Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some rumblings from the Lab.

And with that, Harry Lime slinked away into the sewers and the shadows once more.

Natasha Henstridge lands the lead role in John Carpenter's GHOSTS OF MARS

Search For GHOSTS OF MARS Replacement Continues!!

COURTNEY LOVE Forced Out Of GHOSTS OF MARS!!

Also, later this weekend, I'll be taking a look at the final shooting script for this tense, violent thriller that looks to be the best of the recent flurry of movies set on Mars. Until then...

"Moriarty" out.

Additional Casting on John Carpenter's GHOSTS OF MARS

John Carpenter's GHOSTS OF MARS greenlit and moving forward

Hey folks, Harry here. Well all you Carpenter faithfuls, good news today! John Carpenter's GHOSTS OF MARS.... well, it's actually going to be made! Yippee!

While I'm still hoping that he'll do that, I'm very excited about GHOSTS OF MARS. Now, I know the casting on this sounds weird as hell, but folks... Once you have read the script, the casting makes sense. No... really it does.

Pre-Production on GHOSTS OF MARS started today. Shooting will begin on August 1st... at least that's what some folks doing some work on it tell me. So, hang on... this is the first 100% John Carpenter film we've seen in a while.

Ice Cube Eyes 'Mars' Mission

---[ carpenticized@hotmail.com ]---

All content and design of this website are
©1997-01 The "Carpenticized" Side of the Web or the respective ©holder

---[ LATEST JC ]---

Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2001

Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2001

Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2001

Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2001

Date: Sun, 9 Sep 2001

Date: Sun, 9 Sep 2001

Date: Sat, 8 Sep 2001

Date: Sat, 8 Sep 2001

Friday, January 5, 2001

Euro-AICN: GHOSTS OF MARS

Father Geek here with Edgard's Euro-AICN column for this week.

7:41 PM 11/9/00 Wanna different kinda Harry head.... eh baby???: The fat man with the plan Harry Knowles’ latest film cameo, in GOM nonetheless. At least he’s decapitated ;) I downloaded the file at work but didn’t have the necessary codec to run it. Damn! From AICN.

Wanna different kinda Harry head.... eh baby? Also: GHOST OF MARS news

Hey folks, Harry here.... Some months back you might remember that I had my head cast for the upcoming John Carpenter movie, GHOSTS OF MARS.

At the time, I said that we would be putting together a full length video presentation on the site that over the course of a few weeks, you'd get to see how to take a perfect full head cast of someone.... using me as the example.

Due to editing equipment issues, that is still being worked on, what we have here is a brief.... over-view of the entire process including WAY TOO DARK final frames of the finished head. Soon, I'll have perfectly lit images of the KNB created HARRY HEAD for John Carpenter's GHOSTS OF MARS.....

Soon there will be more cool stuff regarding this experience.... For now...

CLICK HERE FOR A 15 MEG QUICKTIME MAKING OF A HARRY HEAD!!!

Yes, I am in GHOSTS OF MARS.... and there was a need for my head to be cast and then made. Do the addition and division and I think you have an idea of basically what it is I do in GHOSTS OF MARS.

Meanwhile.... I would like to know how they teach counting in Florida.

From the set of GHOSTS OF MARS!!!

From the set of John Carpenter's GHOSTS OF MARS

Harry Lime Is Haunted By the GHOSTS OF MARS!!

Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some rumblings from the Lab.

And with that, Harry Lime slinked away into the sewers and the shadows once more.

Natasha Henstridge lands the lead role in John Carpenter's GHOSTS OF MARS

Search For GHOSTS OF MARS Replacement Continues!!

COURTNEY LOVE Forced Out Of GHOSTS OF MARS!!

Also, later this weekend, I'll be taking a look at the final shooting script for this tense, violent thriller that looks to be the best of the recent flurry of movies set on Mars. Until then...

"Moriarty" out.

Additional Casting on John Carpenter's GHOSTS OF MARS

John Carpenter's GHOSTS OF MARS greenlit and moving forward

Hey folks, Harry here. Well all you Carpenter faithfuls, good news today! John Carpenter's GHOSTS OF MARS.... well, it's actually going to be made! Yippee!

While I'm still hoping that he'll do that, I'm very excited about GHOSTS OF MARS. Now, I know the casting on this sounds weird as hell, but folks... Once you have read the script, the casting makes sense. No... really it does.

Pre-Production on GHOSTS OF MARS started today. Shooting will begin on August 1st... at least that's what some folks doing some work on it tell me. So, hang on... this is the first 100% John Carpenter film we've seen in a while.

Ice Cube Eyes 'Mars' Mission

---[ carpenticized@hotmail.com ]---

All content and design of this website are ©1997-01 The "Carpenticized" Side of the Web or the respective ©holder

All content and design of this website are
©1997-01 The "Carpenticized" Side of the Web or the respective ©holder