When Civil War veteran John Carter (Taylor Kitsch) mysteriously awakes on the surface of Mars — also called Barsoom — he little expects the adventure that awaits him.
Carter reluctantly becomes embroiled in an epic conflict among the red planet’s inhabitants, including Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe) and Princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins).
As Barsoom is poised on the brink of collapse, war-weary Carter rediscovers his humanity when he realizes that everyone’s fate is in his hands.
Director: Andrew Stanton
Production Designer: Nathan Crowley
Studio: Disney
Starring: Taylor Kitsch, Lynn Collins, Willem Defoe & Samantha Morton
Locations: London, UK & USA
Location Brief: I was tasked with finding alternative Studio space to build the ‘Palace of Light’ set in, as there was no other Studio spaces available in the UK for the foreseeable future.
Brief: Minimum 150,000 sq ft size / 45ft high, close to Central London / Home Counties, 7 month lease and to be able to service around 1,000 people each day when filming.
Woolworths had recently gone into administration and their West London distribution warehouse was now being stripped and refurbished, and would potentially be available in the near future for a short term lease until they find a suitable long term leasee.
Here are some of my initial location scout photo’s of the warehouse:
A few months later and we were in building the sets:
Here is the final ‘Palace of Light’ as seen in the film:
Film Trailer:
