Comic-Con 2011: Mark Strong Talks About His Role in John Carter

One of our favorite new genre actors to emerge in the past couple years has been Mark Strong. Playing tough-guy heel roles in films like Sherlock Holmes, Robin Hood, Kick-Ass, RocknRolla and others, he's developed a perfectly menacing appearance and demeanor, that combined with his bald pate, makes him look like Jason Statham's evil twin.

While we're still awaiting the inevitable news of a movie pitting the actor against Statham (Crank 3 anyone?), there are quite a bit of other Strong-related tidbits flying around. In addition to his upcoming role as Sinestro in this summer's Green Lantern, Strong will also be playing Matai Shang, the ruler of the godlike martian Therns in the 2012 science fiction film John Carter. We're excpecting much more news about the film to come out of San Diego Comic-Con, but in the meantime Strong recently sat down with the fine folks at MTV Movies to discuss his role, as seen below:

The film is based upon the classic character who first appeared in the 1917 book A Princess of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, who is also the creator of Tarzan. After decades of trying to get a proper John Carter movie made, things are finally moving ahead, with none other than Pixar's Andrew Stanton at the helm. Stanton has been involved with most of that studio's hits, having directed WALL-E and Finding Nemo and done story work on all three Toy Story movies. John Carter will mark Pixar's first foray into live action, starring Strong, Willem Dafoe, Dominic West, James Purefoy, Bryan Cranston and others, as well as Friday Night Lights' Taylor Kitsch in the title role. John Carter will hit theaters on March 9, 2012, more than enough time for you to catch up on all the original Burroughs stories.