Charlize Theron is considered one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood and regularly tops “sexiest” polls around the globe. Labelled a Hollywood beauty, Charlize’s choice of roles have often disguised her stunning features or turned her appearance into a curse, the latter of which was used to full effect in her latest film, Snow White and the Huntsman.

To coincide with the release of Snow White and the Huntsman on Blu-ray and DVD on 1st October, we take a look at the films which Charlize Theron has used to redefine the notion of Hollywood beauty – and indeed sometimes deliberately disguised it – into something a little different.

The Devil’s Advocate (1997)
Charlize Theron’s breakout role saw her play the tormented wife of a lawyer (Keanu Reeves) who is oblivious to the fact that he works for Lucifer (Al Pacino). Despite appearing alongside actors with far more experience, she managed not only to hold her own but to convincingly portray a formerly rational woman’s fall into delusion and paranoia. To prepare for this early dramatic role, Charlize visited a psychotherapist for three months to understand the harrowing disintegration of the mind and the effect it can have on appearance.

Mighty Joe Young (1998)
After taking on a number of critically-acclaimed edgy and dramatic characters, the family-friendly Mighty Joe Young brought Charlize into the mainstream. Her motherly persona in the Disney picture added another string to her already diverse bow and the warm performance she gives steals the show away from the 16-and-a-half foot ape she shares screen time with.

The Cider House Rules (1999)
In the charming The Cider House Rules, Candy (Charlize Theron) teaches Homer (Tobey Maguire) about life outside of the sheltered orphanage he grew up in. Set during World War II, Charlize plays the lonely girlfriend of a soldier in battle with conviction perfectly suited for the period and her character’s reaction pre and post-abortion is fraught with realistic emotion and inner-turmoil.

Monster (2003)
Charlize Theron’s spectacular turn as the prostitute-turned-serial killer, Aileen Wuornos, is considered one of the great movie performances. Catapulting her onto the A-list, Monster earned Charlize an Oscar as audiences witnessed the naturally stunning actress disappear completely into the disturbing and unflattering role of a desperate woman on the edge of sanity.

North Country (2005)
Hiding her natural beauty once again, although not as dramatically, Charlize cemented the idea that she has the innate ability to take on powerful roles about unglamorous women in a man’s world. In North Country, she becomes the fearless mine-worker that won the first sexual harassment case in American history with such compelling human detail that critics failed to fault her in the often difficult follow-up major role following an Oscar win.

Young Adult (2011)
Charlize uses her appearance to full effect in Young Adult, which tells the tale of a self-absorbed, destructive prom queen who has grown up, yet never let go of her high school glory years. In the gritty stand out role, her character is not particularly likeable, nor is she meant to be, but the Oscar-winner played the flawed part so realistically that critics commented on how unsettling her portrayal of a narcissistic, lonely woman was.

Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)
In a role that demanded that she must be the “fairest of them all,” Charlize was perfectly cast as the soul-sucking beast beneath a beautiful exterior. Utilising her full range, her portrayal of the unbalanced Queen Ravenna flits from innocent victim, to evil schemer, to frenzied ruler with such unpredictability that it is no wonder that she instils fear into the hearts of every living thing around her with nothing more than a deliciously icy stare.

Snow White and the Huntsman is on Blu-ray and DVD from 1st October. You can get your copy here: http://bit.ly/OW5YcO

This post is sponsored by 8ball.co.uk movie t-shirts.

So far summer 2012 has been a bit of a dull one. Warnings of drought in the Spring have given way to dull skies and endless rain. So maybe the best plan is that rather than demanding the sun to shine, you should set out to recreate the summer in your living rooms with some great films that evoke the spirit of the season. As we all cross our fingers that the weather improves for the next few months, here’s our list of the best movies for summer.

10. Big Wednesday (1978)
What’s It About?: Set across 12 years from the 60s into the 70s, three young men love nothing more than hanging out on the beach and enjoying the sun, girls and waves. However the Vietnam War interrupts, and leaves them wondering if they’ll survive to find the fabled ‘Big Wednesday’, when the greatest wave of all time will come.

Why Is It Good For Summer?: Admittedly the Vietnam War isn’t very summery, but a film about three guys and their love of surfing certainly fits the bill to make you wish the sun was out and you were on the beach.

9. Grease (1978)
What’s It About?: Over the summer, Danny and Sandy fell in love, but when Sandy turns up as a new student at Danny’s school, she discovers that at home he isn’t known as the sweet, innocent by she fell for on holiday. He’s a bit of a bad boy and very concerned about keeping that rep, something that stands in the way of their romance.

Why Is It Good For Summer?: Admittedly Grease doesn’t start until the end of summer, but it’s still got that feel of great weather and good times. Of course it’s also got the ultimate summertime song, the infectious Summer Nights.

8. Summer Holiday (1963)
What’s It About?: A group of London bus mechanics organise a deal where if they can prove they can make a go of an idea to kit out a double decker bus as a mobile hotel that travels all around Europe, they’ll get a whole fleet of them. This sets up a series of adventures where the boys must deal with the passengers, the terrain and with love.

Why Is It Good For Summer?: It’s a Summer Holiday! It’s got catchy songs that even the cheesiness of Cliff Richard can’t dent, as well as being insanely good natured. Few films capture being young and carefree quite like this.

7. Dirty Dancing (1987)
What’s It About?: Set in the 60s, Frances ‘Baby’ Houseman is a young woman who heads off with her family to a posh resort in upstate New York. While she expects to live a life dictated by her privileged upbringing, she unexpectedly falls for the resort’s dance instructor, a man whose background is very different to her own.

Why Is It Good For Summer?: Not only is Dirty Dancing set during a holiday, but it’s all about breaking free, growing up and rebelling a bit, which feel like very summery things to do.

6. Point Break (1991)
What’s It About?: A gang of bank robbers calling themselves the Ex-Presidents are causing mayhem in LA. Young FBI Agent Johnny Utah is sent undercover to get in amongst a group of surfers the feds believe could be the criminals. As Johnny gets drawn into the surfing lifestyle, the boundaries between his emotions and his job begin to blur.

Why Is It Good For Summer?: If the films above aren’t action-packed enough for your summer viewing, how about Point Break? You gotta love Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze surfing, skydiving and having fun, even if it may be being paid for through bank robberies.

5. Roman Holiday (1953)
What’s It About?: The royal Princess Ann sets off on a highly publicised summer tour of European capitals, but soon gets tired of the protocol and official duties. While she’s in Rome, she decides to sneak out of her hotel room to go exploring, but ends up asleep on a park bench. She’s found by journalist Joe, who doesn’t initially realise who she is.

Why Is It Good For Summer?: One of Audrey Hepburn’s most charming films, Roman Holiday is all about breaking free and trying to chart your own course in life. Set in the sunny environs of romantic Rome, it’s a true summer treat.

4. Dazed and Confused (1993)
What’s It About?: It’s the last day of term before the summer holiday and various groups of teens have different plans about how to celebrate. Some seniors set out to haze incoming freshman, others just want to party, and one of them wants to dance! Everyone is getting stoned, drunk or laid, although this causes issues for football player who’ve signed a pledge to stay sober and upright.

Why Is It Good For Summer?: No film has ever captured the excitement and anticipation for the summer holidays quite like Dazed and Confused. It’s a film that knows the pains, awkwardness and optimism of youth and the promise that escaping school for the summer brings.

3. The Endless Summer (1966)
What’s It About?: Bob Brown’s documentary follows two surfers as they travel around the world, looking for great waves and a summer that never ends. From West Africa to Australia to Tahiti and beyond, the guys live out their dream, finding the greatest surf and a lifestyle far from most people’s daily grind.

Why Is It Good For Summer?: It’s one of the great escapist films, and while there are a few dodgy aspects – especially when it tangentially deals with race – it wonderfully captures the idea of getting away and managing to make the summer last forever. It’s also full of amazing surfing footage.

2. Stand By Me (1986)
What’s It About?: A grown-up writer reminisces about a summer adventure when he was a kid. He and three of his young friends set out to find a dead body that’s supposedly been discovered by a group of older boys – however the towns bad kids aren’t far behind. What starts a simple trip ends up as a series of adventures and the kids realising they’re growing up and things will never be the same again.

Why Is It Good For Summer?: Stand By Me is all about the long summer days of youth, as wellas that moment when absolute carefree innocence – when everything seems like a grand adventure – gives way to a realisation that growing up beckons. It’s a powerful reminder of that and one of the best summer films around.

1. Jaws (1975)
What’s It About?: The island community of Amity lives for the summer, when the tourists arrive and their cash flows into the town’s tills. However there’s a bit of a problem – a giant shark is in the waters, intent on picking off anyone who goes for a dip. The mayor doesn’t want to believe it in case it scares off visitors, but Police Chief Brody becomes increasingly convinced something must be done.

Why Is It Good For Summer?: For a start, this is the movie that gave birth to the summer blockbuster, so what better film could there be for those long, warm days? Admittedly getting eaten by a shark isn’t a particularly fun summer activity, but Jaws remains an exciting ride and captures the fun and fear of the limitless blue seas.

This post is sponsored by 8ball.co.uk movie t-shirts.

With the Men In Black back in cinemas this Friday (May 25th), it started us thinking about all the great US government agents there have been in the movies. Whether it’s the FBI, CIA or a fictitious agency like the IMF or MIB, investigating for the Americans government has given us a lot of good movies over the years. So who are the best agents? Here’s our top 10.

10. Dale Cooper
From: Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992)
Played By: Kyle McLachlan
Agency: FBI
Although his best work was on TV, the quirky, idiosyncratic Special Agent Dale Cooper did get to make an appearance on the big screen in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. Prone to strange visions of backwards-talking dwarfs in red rooms – which give him odd clues for his investigations – Cooper certainly doesn’t go by the FBI handbook. On TV he was sent to Twin Peaks to investigate the murder of young Laura Palmer, which comes to a head in Fire Walk With Me, where the strangeness of the town goes into hyperdrive and we discover what actually happened. Sadly Cooper isn’t in it a huge amount, but at least he makes an appearance.

9. Gracie Hart
From: Miss Congeniality (2000)
Played: Sandra Bullock
Agency: FBI
I can’t imagine that in reality the FBI would send an agent undercover as a beauty pageant contestant (it would be asking for a sexual harassment lawsuit), but that’s Gracie Hart’s assignment in Miss Congeniality. When someone threatens to bomb the Miss United States competition, the unkempt and constantly tripping over herself Gracie is given an extreme makeover and sent to join the beauty contest. Although she at first thinks the whole thing is ridiculous, she soon learn perhaps it’s not so bad after all. A lot of fun, Bullock’s charm and wit make her one of the most entertaining FBI agents we’ve ever had.

8. Joseph Turner
From: Three Days Of The Condor (1975)
Played By: Robert Redford
Agency: CIA
Films normally concentrate on the field agents who are out there fighting crime, shooting the bad guys and constantly in danger, but what about the people behind the scenes putting together important info and doing the background investigations? That’s Joseph Turner, who works for the CIA as a researcher. He pops out of the office and returns to find all his co-workers have been killed. Not knowing what’s going on, he’s forced to go on the run, unravel a complex conspiracy, work out who he can trust and try not to get killed. Robert Redford is superb as an ordinary trying to deal with extraordinary circumstances in one of the best conspiracy thrillers ever made.

7. Evelyn Salt
From: Salt (2010)
Played By: Angelina Jolie
Agency: CIA
Is she a loyal US agent or a secret Russian mole? That’s the question in Salt, and as the film plays out the answer seems to change just about every 10 seconds. Evelyn is a highly respected CIA Agent who seems shocked when a Russian agent walk in and claims Salt is a double-agent who’s about to assassinate the US President. She goes on the run, and while normally in this sort of film we discover there’s no truth to the allegations at all, it turns out there may be some reason why the Russian Agent thinks Evelyn is a secret assassin. But is she? Although a bit silly, Salt is great fun and it’s always nice to see a woman being allowed to kick ass as an agent, especially if she’s in the form of Angelina Jolie. 

6. Ethan Hunt
From: Mission: Impossible (1996)
Played By: Tom Cruise
Agency: IMF
He’s now taken on impossible missions in four movies, working for the IMF (Impossible Mission Force), an independent agency of US government who get involved in the things it would be difficult to do officially. Ethan’s been involved in all sorts of adventures, often getting set up and having to clear his name, as well as trying to destroy a genetically modified disease called Chimera, taking on a ruthless arms dealer and in his latest outing, crawling all over the tallest building in the world. While Mission: Impossible is always in danger of being a very generic franchise, it’s given us four surprisingly fun films, with a fifth in the works. 

5. Samuel Gerard
From: The Fugitive (1993)
Played By: Tommy Lee Jones
Agency: US Marshals
Samuel Gerard searched every gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse for Richard Kimble and won an Oscar for Tommy Lee Jones in the process. Gerard’s single-minded approach and shrewd attitude marks him out as a superlative G-Man, something brought to bear even more strongly a couple of years later when Jones joined the Men In Black. The US Marshal is brought in when Dr. Richard Kimble goes on the run after being accused of killing his wife. Kimble insists a one-armed man did it, but all Gerard cares about is tracking down Kimble and bringing him in to face justice. Gerard got his own movie, US Marshals, a couple of years later, but the less said about that the better. 

4. Clarice Starling
From: The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)
Played By: Jodie Foster
Agency: FBI
Clarice Starling is just a trainee when she’s brought in to consult with genius serial killer Hannibal Lecter. The powers that be hope the young woman will entice Lecter to start talking and help with their investigation of a new murderer, known as Buffalo Bill, who kills and skins his victims. Lecter is onto their games immediately, but does begin to talk to Clarice, quid pro quo. The scenes between Hannibal and Clarice are some of the best ever filmed, helping to make this one of the few movies that have ever won the big five Oscars (Picture, Director, Screenplay, Actor and Actress). While it’s normally Lecter people concentrate on, Foster’s Clarice Starling should not be underestimated, with a superb mix of innocence and toughness. 

3. Black Widow
From: The Avengers (2012)
Played By: Scarlett Johansson
Agency: S.H.I.E.L.D.
While she appeared in Iron Man 2, Joss Whedon introduced us to a more interesting Black Widow in The Avengers, an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. who’s more than able to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the superpowered likes of Hulk and Thor. What makes her particularly interesting isn’t just her astonishing fighting skills, but her almost preternatural ability to get people to reveal the information she’s after without them realising, or indeed knowing what it is she’s trying to discover. It’s extremely well done and ensures she’s a vital member of the Avengers team. We can only hope she’ll get her own movie soon! 

2. Jason Bourne
From: The Bourne Identity (2002)
Played By: Matt Damon
Agency: CIA/Treadstone
It must be pretty disconcerting to wake up with absolutely no memory but soon discover you have innate talents at killing people. But then, I suppose if you can’t remember anything, you wouldn’t know whether everyone went round killing each other all the time and so you were juts normal. However Jason Bourne assumes there’s something unusual about him, not least because of the tracking chip under his skin. He goes on the run across Europe, enlisting the unwitting Marie to help him as he tries to avoid a series of assassins. But what’s going on and what does it have to do with something called Treadstone? Well, there’s this film and two more where he gets to uncover all the CIA’s covert secrets about exactly what sort of agent he is. 

1. Agents J & K
From: Men In Black (1997)
Played By: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones & Josh Brolin
Agency: MIB
The MIB is an unusual government agency in that it looks like it actually might be quite fun to work for, even if the three Men In Black movies have proved it’s a pretty dangerous job. Agents J & K are part of a team that monitors alien activity on Earth, ensure that it’s kept secret from the human population and ward off extra-terrestrial trouble. While many aliens are nice, every so often there’s one who has nefarious plans and wants to take cause major problems, whether it’s a ‘Bug’ who wants a powerful energy source known as The Galaxy, aliens looking for the Light of Zartha that could destroy the Earth, or in the latest film, killing Agent K in the past, so J has to go back in time to stop him from being killed (oh, and preventing the invasion of Earth too). Plus, they get to use some of the greatest gadgets ever. What more could you want?

Cameron Crowe’s We Bought A Zoo tells the tale of a man (played by Matt Damon) who buys a rundown wild animal park and puts his heart and soul into reviving it. While the film is set in America, it’s based on the true-life British tale of Benjamin Mee, who bought the rundown Dartmoor Wildlife Park near Plymouth in 2006, rechristened it Dartmoor Zoological Park and nearly went bankrupt while dealing with personal crises and attempting to ensure the animals were properly looked after, following years of neglect.

However there’s a whole other story of what went on at Dartmoor Wildlife Park before Ben Mee arrived on the scene, when for years the zoo was the bane of some animal rights groups and the animals there nearly all had to be destroyed.

I went to Dartmoor Wildlife Park quite a few times as a child, and it wasn’t quite like any other zoo I ever went to. The whole thing had a slightly homemade feel, with cages seemingly made of whatever they had lying around and a slightly cavalier approach to animal welfare and visitor safety (while the park never had an accident, many suggested this was more luck than judgement)

Indeed, although it got more visitor friendly, when I was very young you felt the owners would have been happier if they didn’t have to open up the park to visitors at all. It felt a little like the private big cat collection of a man called Ellis Daw, and while it had other animals, the park prided itself on the number of different species of cat it contained, with lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars and other cats all on display in what could only be described as rather outdated cages.

It was also home to the only literal bear pit I’ve ever seen. Visitors were pointed off the main path and onto a walkway that crossed over what was essentially a large concrete tank. Down below were the park’s brown bears, living in a cramped pit with a concrete floor and very little to keep them entertained. They, like many other animals in the park, exhibited the extreme repetitive movements indicative of creatures given too little space and stimulation, with their environment literally sending them mad.

Over the years improvements were made, but these always seemed to be done in response to outside pressure, with Ellis Daw coming under scrutiny from animal rights groups over his bear pit and the living conditions of other animals, while the local council demanded upgrades and new enclosures for many of the big cats in order for the park to keep its license. The bears eventually got a whole field to live in, but for a very long time the damage done to them by their previous environment was clear, as despite the much larger space, they stayed in only a very small part of it, as if they simply couldn’t comprehend being able to move around freely.

It was the only zoo I ever went to where you ended up feeling a little sorry for the animals, as it was clear a lot of them weren’t doing well mentally, others lived in conditions that seemed unpleasant and cramped even to a child, and it was clear the whole place needs huge amounts of money and work to bring it into the modern day.

There was one other abiding memory I have of Dartmoor Wildlife Park as a child, and that’s that every time you went, there seemed to be baby tigers that would be brought out on leads at various times during the day so that visitors could ‘aw’ and ‘ah’ at them. As a child I never even thought about it, but it was actually evidence of what became the major battle that took place before Ben Mee took over and massively improved things.

Due to dilapidated cages, animals exhibiting repetitive behaviour and Daw’s rather outdated attitude to animal husbandry, Dartmoor Wildlife Park came to the attention of animal rights groups. While other parks made strides to breed endangered species, increase education and bring themselves into the modern day, Ellis Daw’s place stayed closer the mind-set of the old menageries, and the owner didn’t seem keen on anyone telling him what he should or shouldn’t do with his animals.

Things became particularly intense in 2001 when the Captive Animals Protection Society issued a report criticising the living conditions of the animals and the quality of safety barriers, as well as calling for the zoo’s license to be revoked. The local council was reluctant to remove the park’s license, as it was unclear what would happen to the animals.

An investigation led to Daw being charged with 16 animal welfare offences, most of which were eventually dropped, although he was convicted of breeding tigers outside of an organised breeding programme and of keeping them in poor conditions. Daw’s attitude was that Siberian Tigers were endangered and so any breeding had to be good, but legally breeding them must be done in an officially recognised programme to ensure bloodlines are properly mixed and the breeding stock is properly managed to ensure the future health of the species.

Daw had actually been breeding the animals off-show, with claims that after he was pretty much forced to take his bears out of their pit and give them a proper home, he moved tigers in, which were kept off-show and bred in small, cramped conditions (and once he bred them, few other parks wanted to take them, so they stayed at Dartmoor in unsuitable condition). Whether this was to ensure the supply of cubs that became the park’s main attraction, I can’t say, but looking back on it, it certainly appears that way. After the 2001 conviction, Daw was given a small fine and most of the tigers were sent to a refuge in Holland.

The fact that that majority of the animals at the park weren’t part of any proper breeding programmes or stud books was also part of the reason why the local council was so concerned about the future of the animals if they revoked Ellis Daw’s license. If an animal isn’t officially registered and its parentage is unknown, it becomes difficult to bring it into a proper breeding programme, and therefore many of the Dartmoor Wildlife Park animals weren’t of much use to other zoos, especially as many of them were old and exhibited repetitive behaviour.

This became a more pressing problem a few years later. While Ellis Daw survived the investigations and attacks from animal rights groups, and did indeed do some work to try and improve the animal’s lives, a lack of money and his increasing age meant he decided to put the park up for sale. It proved a tough sale, with few people wanting to take on a park that had faced bad press and needed huge amounts of investment to improve the facilities for both the animals and the visitors – not to mention that it’s not exactly on a main road, making it somewhat difficult to find. After 18 months looking for a buyer, Daw handed in his zoo license and the park had to close, with reports at the time suggesting if a buyer wasn’t quickly found, many of the remaining animals would have to be put down, as most couldn’t be rehoused.

It was a rather sad end for Daw, who claimed to have started the zoo after being appalled by the conditions animals were kept in during his childhood in the 1920s, and he wanted to give them more space to roam. However he ended up becoming the poster child for what he claimed to be against, largely because ideas about animal welfare outpaced both his attitudes and his wallet.

With the lives of the animals at risk, the plight of Dartmoor Wildlife Park went viral and soon there were expressions of interest from around the world, although most came to nothing. What the park needed was someone who had a bit of a vision and was prepared to take a huge risk, and that’s where Ben Mee stepped in. Since he took over the park’s name has been changed, it’s reopened, huge improvements have been made for both the animals and visitors and it’s a very different – and far better – place, where the animals seem a massively happier than they did before.

Mee’s struggle is well worth making a movie out of as it’s a fascinating story, but there’s almost a whole other film to make out of what when on beforehand and the fate Ben saved the animals from.

We Bought A Zoo is in UK cinemas on March 16th.

Writer: Tim Isaac

Cinema has always been an excellent medium to bring a novel to life. When we read, we let our imaginations create the visuals for us. While this is one of the greatest pleasures of reading a book, sometimes it’s nice to let someone else do the work and present to us their version of how a story can look!

We often feel more immersed in a story when we see the characters and sets on screen, and often our favourite story can be enjoyed in a whole new way. However, even though there are certainly good aspects to watching a film version of one’s favourite novel, these films often come under heavy criticism from fans of the book. The enthusiasts are often disgruntled about a number of things, such as; the story has been changed, the characters have been changed, the execution is poor and/or the visuals don’t live up to expectations. But is it fair for an audience to make these judgements, and how much consideration of the fans of a book should the producers and director take into account when making a movie?

The recent release of Disney’s John Carter has sparked a lot of talk about this. Few realise that the film is based on a series of novels by Edgar Rice Boroughs, starting with ‘A Princess of Mars’ in 1912. What has people on social media sites in a tizz is that many are complaining that John Carter seems like a new film made from bits from other movies – as one comment on Youtube read: “Is it just me or does this look like Star Wars episode 2 + Avatar + 10,000 B.C?”. This view is not unique, with many others saying the same.

However, the fact is this film is based on a novel that came out before any other such films or novels did, and Burroughs’ books are seen by many as the inspiration for the sci-fi stories many are complaining the John Carter movie is copying. As another comment from Youtube suggests: “The movie is based on a book written in 1911, so no it’s not Star Wars. Hell, the Book was written before George Lucas was a twinkle in anyone’s eyes.” In fact, many Science-fiction writers have credited John Carter as a major inspiration, such as Arthur C. Clarke and Ray Bradbury. James Cameron (Avatar) cited the series as an influence as did George Lucas and Michael Crichton.

At the recent London press conference for John Carter (which Movie Muser was lucky enough to attend), director Andrew Stanton (WALLe, Finding Nemo) discussed some of these issues with the press. As a longtime fan of the Barsoom (John Carter) series, Stanton was a great director for this project. The truth is, as with many other movies based on novels, there is often a lot of work needed in order to transform the book into a suitable screenplay. This is where the problems may begin.

In the press conference, Stanton talked about how they decided to extend the backstory of the characters in order to strengthen the roundness of the characters. They started with the characters from the novel and developed them from there. However, they did make an effort to stay away from clichés. Stanton went on to discuss that it is difficult staying away from clichés, especially when working with such a canonised story (in sci-fi circles at least), as Burroughs’ books are where many of the clichés originated and so in this context they can still remain to true to the character.

It’s a similar situation to how many feel when they first watch Casablanca now, as that movie can come across as a series of hackneyed lines, clichéd situations and stereotypical characters – but of course it feels like this because endless movies have been copying and referencing Casablanca for 70 years. So a film of John Carter has to deal with the fact sci-fi has been copying Burroughs for a century.

Something about John Carter that caused slight heat at the press conference was the talk about audience’s expectations. Here Stanton categorically said that the producers, writers and himself should not take the audience into consideration when making films. He seemed to suggest that this is not a good way to go about producing a film, for two reasons. Firstly, with so many fans of the original series, it simply isn’t possible to take all the different, strongly held opinions into consideration. Secondly, that as an artist himself he does not expect others to judge his work in comparison to the novel (as another artistic creation) but rather see it as its own, free standing piece, to be judged and enjoyed in isolation.

I think that although this is a very fair view, it is a very fine line for an artist directing a film to negotiate. On one hand, yes, it is not fair of an audience to judge a film such as John Carter compared to its original novel, but in this case, nor is it really fair to judge the film against others of the same genre (particularly as in this case, John Carter is a film based on the progenitor of its genre). Even though it does have striking similarities to other films in the world of science-fiction, we should look at John Carter as a film in its own right.

However the reality is that this does not always happen. Audiences are a fickle bunch and when they’ve paid to watch a film they’ll rarely think, “Well, let’s be fair to the director”. At the crux if this is the fact that the audience comes to a film such as John Carter with their own expectations. Sometimes these are given to us simply from the title or from the advertising we see. As Stanton said, they even deliberated on the title of the film, as they were worried that even having the word ‘Mars’ in the title would evoke an immediate, specific reaction from the public, who then naturally start making assumptions about the film.

In light of this I think we need to take two things away from this discussion. The first is that in some regard, directors need to take a little of the audience’s expectations into the production. Even though Stanton said that he doesn’t do this, I think that as a fan himself, he brought his own expectations about how this film should be created. Although this is what directors are supposed to do, as a long standing fan of the series, his own love for the subject brought in a fan’s perspective anyway.

The last aspect that we should consider is that we as an audience need to give a little leeway to the makers behind a film based on our favourite novel. The limitations of the cinema far outweigh the limitations of our imaginations – not to mention the way everyone imagines something will be different – and we cannot expect a film to come out just the way we imagined it. As Andrew Stanton said in the press conference, all he is asking from the audience is for us to trust him with the story and let him try him best to make a great piece of art/entertainment for us to enjoy.

Although it is often very difficult for fans of a novel to enjoy a movie based on something they love, if a viewer goes in with the correct attitude – that this is not supposed to be a perfect rendering of the book, but rather an adaptation – then the whole experience will be more enjoyable. It is not possible to take a book and make it into a film directly. Apart from the fact that it will probably be 10 hours long, film and literature have different strengths and different ways in which they communicate the story. Audiences need to understand this, and if they go in with this perception, the whole film will be appreciated so much more.