Director Jon Favreau ("Elf") is out doing promotions for "Zathura" this past weekend and spoke with Now Playing Magazine about what he's up to next - specifically the film adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs science fiction novel series "John Carter of Mars".

On Kerry Conran's departure from the project he says - "He developed it for a long time and then he went off of it. And as I was sitting down with the people from Paramount just having a general meeting... at the end of the meeting I asked, 'So what's happening with John Carter?' And they said, 'I think it's available.' They sent me the books, I started reading them, I came in with a pitch, and they were very excited. It's a new regime over there at Paramount. They're looking for a franchise; they're looking for something in the PG-13 world".

The project will be a challenge though - "You've got characters that are 15-feet tall and have four arms and tusks. How do you find a way to show that where I'm not dealing with the CG problem? Whether you're working on Swingers, or Elf, or Zathura or John Carter of Mars, you have to keep the characters and the emotional story at the base of everything and then surround that with effects and science and technology. But if you're not telling a good story, it doesn't matter if you're doing a cave painting or a sitcom or a science fiction movie. You will lose the audience".

Thanks to 'Casey'