Taylor Kitsch: “I would do John Carter again tomorrow.”

Michael Sellers John Carter News

From EW.com

It is an old Hollywood maxim that everyone flees from failure. When a big movie bellyflops at the box office — like John Carter, which has pulled in a cringe-inducing $62 million in the U.S. in its first three weekends, barely a fourth of the film’s $250 million budget — usually everyone involved tries to get as much distance as they can from the film, as quickly as they can get it. Everyone’s hoping to salvage not only their careers, but their psyches as well, especially when that much blood, sweat, and treasure has been invested in a passion project that’s become a media punching bag.

Apparently, no one told Taylor Kitsch this is how he’s supposed to behave. When EW caught up with the actor a few hours before he was embarking on his global press tour for Battleship— his second effects-laden big budget studio picture this year — the 30-year-old actor said he had “absolutely no regrets” about his first big screen starring role. “I would do John Carteragain tomorrow,” he says forthrightly. “I’m very proud of John Carter. Box office doesn’t validate me as a person, or as an actor.

Read the entire article at EW.com

9 comments

  • Theres too many question marks with the marketing of the movie that go hand in hand with the way Disney treated John Carter after release with it’s “flop speculation”.

    I’m not a conspiracy theory believer but if Disney doesn’t answer the questions fans have asked and have the right to know, I prefer to believe there’s some rich old white guy(I’m white so not a racist comment) who had a hand in the most illogical marketing campaign and train of un-earned bad press I’ve ever seen.

    More to the story as the pre-written letter to send on this site states very well.

  • Typical, Thats whats wrong with Hollywood and the press. Tell people how to think or act after they print or say like their opinion is the word of God. Taylor Kitsch is right to feel proud of his work and the film crew. Who are these people what right have they got to tell an actor how he should act to their tune. If we listen to these type of people there would be no creativity, just reality pograms like Big Brother Or X factor. Critics Are AND Always will Be Has Beens And Bitter People who failed where others succeeded.

  • Taylor was a professional hockey player before he blew out his knee and got into acting, so he’s not just some shallow Hollywood pretty-boy. He’s got that sports mentality — you win or lose as a team. You stick by your mates.

    Especially hockey players — theyre super competitive, but not whiners. The dude is not all wrapped up in the glitter. He’s got class. (and, by the way, makes a great John Carter)

    But everybody’s who calling this film a super flop should realize that the game is not over yet. The final score on this film — and the entire cast and crew — has not yet been tallied. You dont just quit before the final buzzer. Let’s see what time will tell about this movie. Sometimes reputations build slowly.

  • @Judy….Thanks for your comment. Well … the math is that Disney spent 250m to produce the film and $100m to market it, so — $350. Their share of the $234m is about 50% (it’s more complicated than that — but that’s generally how it works out). So they are at $117m in Revenue and $350 in costs. It will end up at, say, $260m BOG, so that’s $130m to disney, plus say another 50-100 net for other revenue streams (DVD/Blu-Ray, Cable, TV, etc) against $350 cost. The 200m seems high, and premature — but it’s definitely a losing proposition.

    The other aspect that is probably driving it up is the Hollywood accounting factor. For the BOG to date ($234) you have to first cut it in half to get Disney’s share, but then Disney will probably pay itself 30% of that as a distribution “fee” (as if it’s a 3rd party cost, even though it’s not) — i.e. “Buena Vista Distribution” gets 30%, then Walt Disney Studios, the owner of the film, gets what’s left after that and that is what is applied against the cost.

    It’s a very big can of worms but what’s interesting is that in other cases, studios use all of this to basically obscure how much they lost on a given film, figuring it’s better for them and the film to do so. (There’s also a thing called “Income Forecast Method of Accounting” which allows them to defer expense and further manipulate the bottom line in whatever direction they choose.) In this case, Disney seems to have been intent on making it look as bad as possible as early as possible — and there are plenty of theories as to why. The one that involves the least “conspiracy” thinking is just that they wanted to take the hit now so that when their official quarterly reporting comes out it won’t be quite as bad as they projected–they will “beat expectations” and that’s a win for them in terms of stock price.

  • Dear Mr Kitsch, you’re great in the film and I’m sure you’re aware by now how many people have loved JC and stand by it.

    Thank you so much for being a true actor, someone who loves his profession and his roles and don’t just want to be successful, rich and popular.
    Really hope you’ll be “our” John Carter again in the sequels (and waiting for Battleship too!).

  • Dear Disney Chappies & Chappessesess!

    JC is one of the best done fantasy films ever & certainly of the last decade.

    Andrew Stanton has shown to be the prefect talent for such tales, & the actors owned the characters.

    In order to make an untouchable billion ++++ dollars, you should make a 200 mill sequel as soon as poss, with a forty mill. marketing budget, giving you the equivalent product of a 140 mill film.

    One of the benefits of making a top fantasy film is that the optimum marketing is way less expensive. For three weeks before the next sequel opens, & for approx. six weeks while it plays, spend all your marketing on attractive fantasy posters in magazines, newspapers or in subtle exterior hangings.

    Don’t bother with expensive t.v. spots and the like at all, you are throwing your money away, same for big huge building sized posters – that’s not how you gonna reach your audience. It’s not that ‘part’ of your JC fantasy audience is seperate from movie blockbuster audience, it’s just you won’t reach that part of your audience doing it like say you might for an super-hero film or even a more action centric Genre of fantasy as opposed to an adventure Fantasy ( or old school sci-fi if one wants ) which is the actual Genre of the John Carter film.

    If the films remain good, & the Andrew Stanton same crewed future films obviously would be, then you will have an on going untouchable billion dollar franchise & dvd/blu-ray sales will take off.

    All the best & thanks for a great film, have a red jello on me.

  • It is so refreshing to see Taylor Kitsch react to all the criticism surrounding John Carter with such humbleness and grace. His portrayal of John Carter was excellent…the movie itself amazing…As an ERB fan…I have “NO REGRETS” with Taylor’s performance. He has the right stuff to have a long successful career ahead of him…..

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