Friday, March 9, 2012

From Taylor Kitsch to Edgar Rice Burroughs.

XMenOriginsWolverineCastConfettiPremiereApr09

TaylorKitschApr09


A few years ago I rented the movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  It was pretty cool and I really enjoyed it.  And, while I love Hugh Jackman, when the character Gambit (Remy LeBeau) came on the screen...I took notice.  "Who's that?"  I thought.  I was immediately drawn to him.  Long hair, lived in NOLA, um, okay I guess those are really my only two criteria...but seriously it was more than that. The outfit maybe, the accent he put on, but really, he has charisma.  I didn't run to the internet or anything to see who he was, I just...remembered him.

Fast forward to when the trailers of the film, John Carter, came out.  I thought, "Looks cool, but do I really want to see that?  The guy though...hmmm something about him."  Long hair...and just a certain something.  This time I did go to the internet to see what else he had been in.  To my surprise, same guy!  Taylor Kitsch! 

Fast forward another few weeks.  I'm at my brother's house and whenever a commercial for John Carter came on he exclaimed, "Alright!"  Then a few moments later, "Dejathors!"  I thought he was talking about a planet where the movie took place.  But no, the setting is the planet Mars he explained and Deja *Thoris* is the Martian princess, and also, he told me, every pre-pubescent boy's dream. Then another lightning bolt struck.  About 10 years ago I met a girl named Dejah and she told me she was named after a martian princess.  It all made sense!

Princess of Mars


My brother then showed me the book below, which belonged to our dad.  I felt so stupid.  I had no idea that John Carter was based on a series of books, which he rattled off.  A Princess of Mars, The Gods of Mars, Warlords of Mars.  There are a lot more as well.  Check out the copyright date on his edition of The Gods of Mars.  Some other facts about Burroughs that I shamefully didn't know either is that he also wrote Tarzan and named the ranch he lived on Tarzana.  The community living nearby voted to officially name their town Tarzana.   So a whole town is named after a book!

So, it is through Taylor Kitsch that I learned about Edgar Rice Burroughs.






Photos of Taylor Kitsch by:
Grant Brummett [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Book cover by Illustrator: Frank Earle Schoonover Book publisher: A.C.McClurg (BPK2 at en.wikipedia) [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons

8 comments:

Karen said...

Haha! Cool story Pam

Andrea @ The Overstuffed Bookcase said...

I haven't read any Edgar Rice Burroughs, but I loved the character of Gambit as a kid when I read the X-Men comics! ;) It's cool how that character and actor lead you to new books!

Thanks so much for your advice over at the BBPOC! I really appreciate it! I'm looking forward to reading more from you!

Andrea (New Follower) ;)

Kate @Midnight Book Girl said...

Taylor Kitsch is made of yum. He made me watch, and like, Friday Night Lights. ;)

Smash Attack Ash said...

Thank you SO much for shining light on this whole John Carter deal! And yes, Taylor Kitsch is nomable. ;)

Midnyte Reader said...

@Karen-It was an odd circuitous story.
@BU-Thx. I'll stop by soon!
@Andrea-I never read the comics, but I think I want to now!
@Kate-Yes, I may need to watch FNL on Netflix.
@Smash-Ha! Yeah, I had no clue!

Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer said...

Awesome story..now i want to read the book..so cool!

Jenny said...

TAYLOR KITSCH!!!!! Yessssssss. I love him! I took notice of him in Wolverine as well. Hugh Jackman is lovely, but Taylor is kind of delicious:) Can't wait to see John Carter! I might even be able to convince the husband to go with me thanks to that princess ;-)

Missie, The Unread Reader said...

Wow! Now I learned something new, which is almost an impossibility. LOL

I vaguely knew the movie was based on books, but only because of the hype but I didn't know they completely changed the name. Where is Tarzana? Now I want to live there...or at least visit. :)

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