John Carter of Mars director

Interviewed. I'm really looking forward to this. [Link]

WALL-E director Andrew Stanton told SCI FI Wire that he is working on a new draft of his proposed John Carter of Mars movie and is aiming for a realistic feel to the live-action movie, his first.

"[I'm] deep into it," Stanton said in an exclusive interview at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association award ceremony in Century City, Calif., on Monday, where he accepted the award for best picture of 2008 for WALL-E. "I'm on my next draft of it. We're in preproduction art-wise, and we're starting to talk to actors. So it's full bore."

Stanton confirmed that Carter, based on the books by Edgar Rice Burroughs, will be live-action. "Yeah, I think that's the only way," he said. "I mean, there are so many creatures and characters that half of it's going to be CG whether you want it to be [or not], just to realize some of these images that are in the book. But it will feel real. The whole thing will feel very, very believable."

Following is an edited version of the rest of our interview with Stanton. John Carter of Mars is slated for release sometime in 2012.