The news avalanche is getting started on Disney's John Carter of Mars, as the production prepares to set up in Utah this fall, and Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins prepare for their starring roles in Wall-E director Andrew Stanton's adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs series.

No other casting announcements have been made, but over the weekend Thomas Haden Church told Jeffrey Lyons on Reel Talk TV (spotted by Coming Soon) that he's preparing to take a role in the film starting this spring.

What will the role be? How big will it be? All we know is that Church is calling it "a very dramatic role," so I imagine he's more than just some goofy sidekick. Any John Carter experts out there want to speculate? Or would you rather just join me in gratitude that the super-talented Church is getting a role in a movie better than the one he went on Reel Talk to promote-- Imagine That, with Eddie Murphy. Though that movie was also the live-action debut of an animation director (Over the Hedge's Karey Kirkpatrick), I have a feeling this one will most definitely be a step up.