Versatile Utah can play variety of roles in films

Sci-fi fans are abuzz over the news that our fair state will fill in for the red planet in the upcoming "John Carter of Mars," based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' stories and scheduled to begin shooting in southern Utah locations in November. It's a big-budget picture that marks the first live-action venture by Pixar.

But this isn't the first time Utah has been cast as another planet. The current "Star Trek" remake uses San Rafael Swell to depict the planet Vulcan; Goblin Valley portrays an alien planet in "Galaxy Quest" (1999); and the 3-D "Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone" (1983) is set on a planet played by Moab.

Of course, there's also "Planet of the Apes" (1968), which has its own "Forbidden Zone" sequence filmed at Lake Powell.

And, as it turns out, Utah has also played Mars once before, in "Rocket Man" (1997), a silly Disney comedy with the Red Planet's sequences filmed in Moab (using a red filter on the camera lens).

As varied as Utah's talent is, however, it has never been called upon to play Sitka. And it likely never will.

Even a seasoned character player has to know his limitations.

E-MAIL: hicks@desnews.com