Taylor Kitsch, best known as the hard-partying-but-soulful Riggins from Friday Night Lights, has been cast as Edgar Rice Burroughs' interplanetary hero John Carter, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Last seen squaring off against Wolverine in this summer's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Kitsch will play a Civil War veteran whose skills as a swordsman (and lover) serve him well when he ends up on Mars.
Some version of the movie has been in the works for a while, but this looks like a case of the right people landing the project: Kitsch should fit naturally into the role and the film will be directed by Andrew Stanton, a Pixar vet (Wall-E, Finding Nemo) making his live-action debut. Lynn Collins of True Blood has also joined the cast. (Via Vulture.)