This weekend we reported on Walt Disney Pictures' recent announcement that Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins have been cast in the upcoming live-action fantasy epic John Carter of Mars, to be directed by WALL•E  helmer Andrew Stanton.

Now, during a conversation at ReelTalkTV, actor Thomas Haden Church (Spider-Man 3) revealed to critic Jeffrey Lyons that he is in talks to join the film as well.

"I'm probably going to do a huge science fiction drama at Disney called 'John Carter of Mars' and that's a very dramatic role," Church said.

Created by Edgar Rice Burroughs—John Carter first appeared in 1911's "A Princess of Mars", the first Burroughs novel set on the fictionalized version of Mars that the author dubbed 'Barsoom'.

In the book, Carter is a Virginian who served as a captain in the American Civil War, and strikes it rich by finding gold in Arizona after the end of hostilities. While hiding from Apaches in a cave, he seemingly dies, and leaving his inanimate body behind is mysteriously transported by a form of astral projection to the planet Mars, where he finds himself re-embodied in a form identical to his earthly one. Used to the greater gravity of Earth, he is much stronger than the natives.

Carter encounters both formidable alien creatures resembling the beasts of ancient myth and various humanoids, and finds his true calling in life as a warrior-savior of the planet's inhabitants. He wins the hand of Martian princess Dejah Thoris of Helium.

Lensing on the film will begin early next year.